Good day all girls of Cape Town and other miscellaneous readers,
I trust you are all well.
I apologise for my long absence. You see I was travelling Europe meeting
beautiful people just like you (think Milano_Girl: long legged and immaculately dressed;
Amsterdam_Girl: hair let down, relaxed, has a whip in the closet; Napoli_Girl: loud, forthright,
proud; etc) and finding out what wine they drink so I could come back and offer you some of their
vinous preferences.
But before I get into any of that we must get our own house in order. You see Cape Town girl
opened a bottle of wine this weekend that I had given her for her birthday a while back. (I know, it should have been Champagne – I still can’t look her in the eyes).
The wine, Miles Mossop’s Saskia 2007, is a robust blend of Chenin Blanc and Viognier. The end result
is a wine that has rich flavour, think honey suckle, apricots and mangoes, with an alcohol of 14.5%. It
is a wine that is delicious on its own, but a slightly spicy dish would compliment it tremendously.
When I asked Cape Town Girl if she ate anything alongside the wine she responded:
“We have
stopped eating and come to terms with the fact that it’s either food OR wine. For the sake of
summer.”
This is completely understandable. As the days grow longer and the temperatures rise clothes
are naturally shed. And as much as a healthy portion of foie gras or pork belly would have been a
delightful pairing with the Saskia, they do nothing for the waistline.
Here are some recommended wines for wines sake, food-free-friendly wines;
wines that need
neither sauce nor soup, rib-eye nor relish; wines whose most important character is drinkability and
calling card is freshness.
The most obvious white wine to sip on in summer without having to chew on anything is Sauvignon
Blanc. So obvious it hardly needs writing about, so obvious that I feel compelled to suggest you try
something new this summer. But if you must here are two
Steenberg make a variety of Sauvignon Blancs that all offer something a little different. I’d go for the
standard offering for summer. It’s crisp and clean with some tropical fruit flavours as well as a little grassy action. A class act.
Buy a bottle of Iona to impress your Sauvignon fanatic friends. From the cooler region of Elgin this is
easily one of my favourite Sauvignon Blancs. It is always elegant with gooseberries, herbaceousness
and some flinty bits. To personify: It turns heads without its tits hanging out.
Harry (left) taking in some foreign culture (by hugging some foreign people)
Another crowd pleaser is Chardonnay. One of the aspects most loved about chardonnay is its
buttery creaminess. While this is delicious, it can get out of hand and you end up with a wine that is
goupy, oaky and sweet; in other words FAT. So to avoid this here are two wooded Chardonnays that
give the butteriness but are lean, angular and refreshing.
I freaking love Paul Cluver’s Chardonnay. It’s full of lemon and zingy lime with that toastiness that
you all love. The refreshing acidity means that you can drink glass after glass without your palate
getting tired.
OK, this is a pricey one, but should you require a treat this summer or have someone to impress who
likes Chardonnay, then this is the one. Ataraxia’s Chardonnay is pure, creamy, bright with pear and
almonds and oh god oh god I want one now.
Harry practising his 'snifting' skills
The last suggestion of food-free-friendly white varieties is Chenin Blanc. Chenin Blanc is starting to
be drunk more but tends to be forgotten, finding itself in a supporting role to the more illustrious
Sauvignon Blanc, and showy Chardonnay. So which Chenins are good for a summer without food? I’d go for those with as little wood influence
as possible. Two to try would be Beaumont’s Chenin and the Raats Original. These are both
excellent Chenin Blancs at good prices. Offering freshness, complexity and richness without you
having to sell a kidney for a good bottle.
I don’t really care which ones you drink, but start drinking Chenin. There is one for every type of
palate. Don’t believe me? Mail me what you normally like and I’ll find a Chenin for you. – harryhaddon@gmail.com. Another option is white blends. My white blend of the moment is Hermit on the Hill’s Sauvignier – a
spunky blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier. It’s a wine with pigtails; joyous and relaxed. I will be
drinking cases of this during summer.
Next up… food-free reds, but that is a tale for another day. Read more from Harry on his blog Wine&I here.
