Creation Wine and Food Pairing

Wine Village is situated at the foot of the Hemel-en-Aarde (Heaven and Earth) Road. This road has become known for its’ natural beauty and award winning wines that are produced from the clay-rich, stony soils, and cool climate being unusually close to the South Atlantic Ocean.

One of the many wine producers that stand out is Creation Wines, situated 18km from the Wine Village on the Hemel-en-Aarde Road (the R320). 

Our team attended one of the famous wine and food pairing experiences at Creation Wines. They have put one of the most remote cellars in the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge on the map as a gourmet destination - by offering some of the most sublime wine and food pairings.  

The winemakers, JC Martin and Christoph Kaser, along with Carolyn Martin and the rest of the team give you an experience that is close to heaven on earth! Their tasting room shows how it should be done and the views and welcoming atmosphere makes the trip out there worth it!  

André van Vuuren, owner and chef of one of the local restaurants in Hermanus, Season To Taste, is responsible for the delectable food creations that make their way on to the plate with the wine and food pairing and the rest of the menu for Creation’s tasting room. 
For bookings to Season click here.

You can look forward to Asian salmon dumplings,  spicy chicken and apricot satay, cauliflower soup, springbok rillete with cherry jelly, bobotie spring rolls…to name only a few.  Each of the wines is paired with a particular bite to enhance both the flavour of the wine and the food. 

To book a tasting or for directions to the farm click here.

 

QR Codes

The wine industry has always been innovative and in today’s fast moving world you have to keep up or you will quickly fall behind in the masses!

QR Codes are the latest craze in the wine industry as more and more wine producers are adding these codes to their labels.

QR-Codes are being used world-wide to provide information to consumers in a quick, easy and accessible format. QR-Codes are an image which is printed on a product or label which can be photographed or scanned by a (smart) mobile phone and is then a quick link to a web page/mobi page, without having to type in the website address.

By placing a QR-Code (Quick Response Codes) on say a back label, a wine producer can supply much more detailed information about their wine, directly to the consumer, at the time of purchase.

If you do not have a QR or barcode reader on your mobile phone you will need to download one from your ‘Android Market’, ‘BlackBerry App-world’, ‘I Phone Store’ or similar site depending on your phone.

You then hold your phone’s camera over the square until your phone beeps.  Within a few seconds, the home page will open on your phone’s screen and you can scroll through the information on the web pages.  Hence the name Quick Response Code

Many of our local wine producers have now added these codes to their labels. Ataraxia, Creation and Hermanuspietersfontein are just a few who have taken the step in their marketing approach. 

 

Under the sea

Following the fascinating experiment into the benefits of ageing bottled Southern Right Sauvignon Blanc in the sea versus on land in the cellar, the team at Southern Right decided to repeat the experiment this year (the 2004 vintage was taken out of the Walker Bay waters on 16 September 2010).

We were very fortunate to have received 180 of these bottles last year and they sold out in a few days at R60 per bottle.  We have kept a couple of these bottles for ourselves and they are currently on display in the shop, but not for sale.

On August 3^rd, 2011, the second consignment of Southern Right Sauvignon blanc was floated out into the cold Walker Bay waters and sunk in approximately 10 meters of water. This time they have submerged two vintages – 200 bottles each of the 2010 and 2011. They have sealed each vintage with a wax capsule of a different colour, to avoid confusing the vintage with barnacle and seaweed encrusted bottles and to minimize the risk of seawater getting around the cork.

With this trial they will be able to determine (with the 2011) the possible benefits of submerging the wine immediately after bottling. Having two vintages ageing together will help get an idea if different vintages react differently to sea ageing versus land ageing.

Both vintages will be tasted once a year and compared to the same vintages ageing in our cellar. All the wine will be raised from the sea for sale in local restaurants (barnacles, seaweed and all) in September 2016.

We hope you will get a chance to taste the wines then!

Sulfites

We get so many requests for "sulfite free" wines and organic wines.

This might come as a shock to some people, but unfortunately there is no such thing as a sulfite free wine.

Totally sulfite free wines are an accident of nature; but wines low in sulfites or free of added sulfites do exist. Let me explain. Sulfites are a natural byproduct of the fermentation process. Fermenting yeasts present on all grape skins generate naturally occurring sulfites in amounts ranging from 6 to 40 parts per million.

An organic wine is first and foremost a wine made out of grapes that were grown organically. Organic wines are produced using organically grown grapes. No pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, chemical fertilizers, or synthetic chemicals of any kind are allowed on the vines or in the soil. Strict rules govern the winemaking process and storage conditions of all imported and domestic wines that acquire certification. Moreover, organic winemakers often avoid many of the chemical substances used to stabilize conventional wines.

Even if no sulfur dioxide is added to wine, fermenting yeasts will produce SO₂ from the naturally occurring in organic sulfates in all grape juices. It is impossible for any wine to be completely free of sulfur dioxide. Although technical advances permit the industry to add much less sulfur, most serious winemakers and enology professors concur that to make a consistently stable wine, some sulfites must be added to those naturally present. A handful of winemakers go beyond that; they use no added sulfites at all. However, sulfite agents, when properly handled, are not intrinsically toxic to humans or to the environment, and many feel they are essential in order to prevent oxidation or bacterial spoilage. Therefore, American and European organic winemaking standards allow for the addition of strictly regulated amounts of SO₂.

Sulfur has been used as a preservative in winemaking for quite some time. To prevent wine spoilage, European winemakers pioneered the use of sulfur dioxide (SO₂) two hundred years ago. Unfortunately, freshly pressed grape juice has a tendency to spoil due to contamination from bacteria and wild yeasts present on the grape skins. Not only does sulfur dioxide inhibit the growth of molds and bacteria, but it also stops oxidation (browning) and preserves the wine's natural flavour.

According to doctor’s studies, only about 0.4% of the population, is considered highly allergic to sulfites.  Sulfites pose no danger to about 99.75% of the population; the highest risk group is asthmatics (about 5% of the population) and only about 5% of this group is allergic to sulfites.
Many people, however, have little tolerance for sulfites. They are considered sulfite-sensitive.

Even for moderate wine drinkers, the average level of sulfites found in many commercial wines can cause heartburn or other side effects. Unpleasant reactions include burning sensations, hives, cramps, and flushing of the skin. For them, organic wines are an especially good choice since they contain minimal amounts of sulfites that will in most cases lie below their threshold level.

Sherry

For many people sherry is a sweet sticky thing they stole from a half forgotten bottle when they were young. While there is sweet sherry - and it can be particularly delicious with cheese or desserts - a lot of sherry is quite dry and also delicious on its own.

Sherry will not last forever in the bottle after opening. While some of the richer and sweeter styles will last for a while once opened, all sherry tastes better the fresher it is. Lighter, dry sherry such as fino & manzanilla are best drunk within days of opening.

It is best to keep sherry chilled. Not only does sherry keep better when chilled it also tastes fresher.

Sherry is a fortified wine, originally made from white grapes that are grown near the town of Jerez, Spain. In Spane, it is called vino de Jerez. The word "Sherry" is an anglicisation of Xeres (Jerez).

After fermentation is complete, sherry is fortified with brandy. Because the fortification takes place after fermentation, most sherries are initially dry, with any sweetness being added later. In contrast, port wine (for example) is fortified halfway through its fermentation, which stops the process so that not all of the sugar is turned into alcohol.

Sherry is produced in a variety of styles, ranging from dry, light versions such as finos to darker and heavier versions known as olorosos, all made from the Palomino grape. Sweet dessert wines are also made, from Pedro Ximenez or Moscatel grapes. Sherry is regarded by many wine writers as "under-appreciated" and a "neglected wine treasure".

There are four different styles of Sherry: Fino (Dry and light in colour), Oloroso (sweet and fairly dark), Amoroso (lighter in colour and sweeter than Oloroso) and brown (dark and sweet) blending different wines.

Sherry is traditionally drunk from a copita, a special tulip-shaped Sherry glass.

 

 

Wine Glasses

Not sure of which wine goes in what glass?

Just keep in mind that wine glasses were not designed to merely impress your guests.

A bit of history...The Pleistene age saw the Iberians and later the Britons using baked clay goblets to drink from. The Phoenicians taught the Britons to make a copper alloy giving rise to the Bronze age, timber and bronze tankards came into existence. The Romans introduced silver and pottery goblets characterised by (in the early days of the Roman Empire) by ornate scroll work of pairs of leaves with buds. The Romans also produced some lead goblets.

The 5th century AD saw a shallow cup with a fine stem used by the upperclasses down to sturdy pottery goblets for the lower classes. The invading Saxons from the north brought with them not only fine glassware, gold jewel encrusted goblets but also horns. These, having no legs, had to be finished in one drink so they could be laid down. The horns were also used as titles to property, a legal document in the past.

The 700-800’s AD saw horn and silver flagons used, the Church disallowing horn cups to be used in communion. Wooden tankards were in common use by the late 900’s and clear glass tumblers appeared in the late 1000’s throughout England.

There is no shortage of quality wine glasses. The most famous being Reidel glasses, specially shaped for each variety to put the wine onto the correct area of the tongue to taste the best. 

More that 250 years ago Claus Riedel was the first person in the long history of the glass to design its shape according to the character of the wine. He is thus the inventor of the functional wine glass.

Red wine
Red wine should be served in a glass with a large, wide bowl. This allows air to circulate more freely within the glass, which releases more of the aromas and allows the flavours to distribute more evenly. A wider opening means your nose can get closer to the wine before drinking. Some red wines, such as Pinot Noir and Merlot, can do with a slightly narrower opening, while more robust wines are generally better drunk from wider glasses.

White wine
For white wines, a narrower bowl helps keep the wine cooler for longer because less of the surface of the glass is in contact with the surrounding air. Additionally, a narrower glass slows down oxidisation as less air can circulate within the glass. A narrower opening guides the more delicate aromas of white wine up to your nose.

Champagne
Champagne is traditionally served in a “flute”, a tall, narrow glass specially designed to enhance the flow of the bubbles and to concentrate the aroma. Champagne can also be served in a narrow, tulip-shaped white wine glass. Provided that the rim of the glass is narrower than the midpoint, maintaining effervescence, this type of glass may be a good choice as it allows for the drink to be swirled and the aroma to be better appreciated than in a flute.

The curious case of the cork

There is no best way to seal wine, there are only better ways under different circumstances with different trade-offs.

There are all sorts of ways to keep wine in and air out of a wine bottle.  Wineries can choose between natural corks, composite cork stoppers, screw caps with tin liners, screw caps with plastic liners, plastic corks of many types and elegant glass stoppers.

Natural cork closures have a centuries-long heritage; however, they allow for a bottle of wine to be “corked” as the saying goes or suffer from TCA contamination (a substance used to sanitize the natural cork prior to bottling). A “corked” bottle has a musty smell and taste. The result is a flat, moldy flavour devoid of fruit-filled taste and aroma.

It is estimated that about 5-10% of wines available on merchants' shelves are “corked.” Some winemakers use certified corks that are treated to be bacteria free. This is a necessary expense as they can not afford the negative publicity and in today’s economic climate, winemakers can not afford to loose 5%.

Well over the last couple of centuries the wine industry has been using more and more cork, however as cork is harvested from trees that are approximately 6 to 9 years old the supply has not managed to keep up with the demand, this has led to a much higher use of pesticides and wood preservatives to get the cork ready sooner. These treatments on the trees are what most people are pointing at to account for the large increase in corked wine.

Synthetic corks, derived from plastic, appeared to be a viable alternative to traditional corks. However, their track record has been tarnished due to their inability to keep oxidation at bay for any real length of time, significantly decreasing the shelf life of a wine and short-changing the maturing process of select wines. Plastic corks usually won’t contaminate the wine, but they don’t always seal tightly over time, so the wine can be oxidized after a couple of years. The eco-friendly debate also comes into play here.

Screw caps provide the best seal for bottled wines, and eliminate the “corked” and oxidation problem in one fell swoop. While, screw caps do diminish the drama and romance of bottle opening it is well worth the sacrifice to ensure a taint-free wine that offers consistent aging, maintained flavour and freshness with optimum quality control. Screw caps are TCA-free, but they, can seal too tightly, with the result that the wine can suffer sulfur reduction, which gives it a rubbery or rotten egg smell, and screw cap wine can fail to develop as it ages.

Corks seem headed for the endangered species list for all but the most precious age-worthy wines.  Non-cork closures including screwcaps were nearly invisible just 10 years ago (with perhaps 1 percent of the bottled wine market), but this is changing quickly.

Screwcaps have long been associated with inexpensive wine, but this is no longer the case. Some of the top wines in South Africa have switched to screw caps. Paul Cluver, Tokara, Constantia Uitsig, Fleur du Cap and Iona are just a few of the premium wine producers that have been using screwcaps, and they have been raking in the rewards.

Economics is behind the move away from cork. Screwcaps are not remarkably cheaper than cork, but they avoid the loss of good wine to cork taint. A shipment of tainted cork almost ruined one of the American wineries some years ago and destroyed forever the reputation of its Chardonnay wines. It had to rebuild (successfully) as a Pinot Noir maker.  In Great Britain, it is apparently getting somewhat harder to find a natural cork in a popularly-priced wine because the supermarket buyers, who wield such market power, are strongly biased in favour of plastic and screw top closures. Like many in the business, they have been burned too many times by problems they associate with bad corks.

No matter what stopper winemakers use, they can never be sure that the wine they put in will be the wine that you pour out.

You might think that global wine market competition would have produced a “best practice” solution for wine closures, but the market is too complicated and diverse for that. The science may be universal, but the people (both producers and consumers the middlemen in between) have their own quirks. In France, for example, it is hard to sell a screw top wine, at least for now, because of the strong attachment to tradition.

Tradition, ageing of wine, quality and price aside the sound of a cork being pulled out of a bottle is still music to our ears.