Wine Tasting Night

I had the most perfect evening last night. It was my very first wine tasting event at Tria Fermentation School in Philadelphia. The last night was all about the wines so close to my heart – the wines from South Africa. I have many beautiful memories of the times spent eating local cheeses, snoek pate and tasting wines under the shade of old oak trees in many of its finest vineyards. Western Cape province, where the wine is grown, is like no other place on Earth. Picture the Tuscan hills planted with grapes in little rows, but then add the drama of the Swiss mountain peaks, and the red African soil. This soil, left in a red cloud behind your Land Rover, enters your every pore, never to leave. Those who have inhaled it, are forever going to crave coming back. Returning to Africa always feels like arriving home.

With those thoughts, I arrived fashionably late, thanks to the horrendous traffic on 95. I was handed a glass of the Forrester’s Sauvignon Blanc ‘05, a wine at its very peak, crisp, dry and refreshing. I loved it and would highly recommend it. At $20 a bottle, it is a good value for such a nice wine. It turned out to be my second favorite of the evening.

All the wines tonight were from Ken Forrester vineyards in Stellenbosch area. There are three main distinctive wine regions on the Cape wine route – Paarl, Franschoek and Stellenbosch. The grapes and the knowledge of viticulture were brought by the Hugenots, fleeing the Catholic persecution in Europe. I had a pleasure of tasting three Chenin Blancs, a Pinotage, two Shiraz/Grenache blends, and a Chenin Blanc Noble Late Harvest. The last one was similar to the French Sauternes, sweet and delicate, a perfect complement to a Foie Gras.

The absolute winner in my opinion was Chenin Blanc, the FMC 2004. It retails in the U.S. for $69 a bottle and it is an ‘F’-ing Magnificent Chenin (Is that what FMC stands for?) This, without any exaggeration, is a truly beautiful wine with strong ginger overtones that has lost all the bitterness of its younger cousins. If you are a fan of great Chardonneys, you would love this wine.

I am also delighted to say that I am now a proud owner of a black Forrester cap, which I am hoping to use as a protection from the strong South African sun, preferably on the tennis court. I have no idea how I memorized this particular fact during the presentation, but I was able to answer the prize question, “When was the Pinotage introduced to South Africa?” In case you are dying to know, it was in 1925.

At the end of the presentation, I enjoyed meeting the Tria Manager who organized the event and the Manager of the Boutique Wine Collection, an importer of lesser known wines. These guys were a treasure of information on wine and an absolute pleasure to talk to. Anthony, the witty South African presenter and the wine maker, soon joined us. This man leads what others would describe as a ‘dream’ life. Living in one of the most stunning parts of the world, creating wines, travelling around the globe presenting the wine, or purchasing French oak barrels or Portuguese cork. It is hard to believe that some people get paid to enjoy themselves this much.

Full of lasting impressions, I left Tria Fermentation School. Of course, I realised that I was in no condition to sit behind the steering wheel. I decided to stop for a cappuccino at the Brasserie Perrier. Having been surrounded all evening with wine connoisseurs and sommeliers, the Universe had an interesting plan for the end of my evening. There was only one seat in the whole place where I could possibly sit down and sip my coffee. It just happened that the guy finishing his dinner at the table next to mine was a Food and Beverage Director of a 5 Star hotel in Philadelphia. To give things a bit of a spin, he also happened to be from San Francisco and had a great knowledge of the Napa Valley. This obviously was meant to be my wine night. After some more talk about wine, food and travel, he added his business card to the ones I had collected earlier.