A bottle of Nurok 2012 from Fairview for lunch at Il Leone today in De Waterkant. A suburb that reminds me of Platter sighted taster Tim James, I know not why. The wine, not Dr. No, is a great match with a fagiolana salad of anchovies, beans and greens. A quartet composed of Chenin, Rousanne, Grenache Blanc and Viognier. Last year Anibal Coutinho and I gave this wine five hearts blind in our 2013 Winelands Guide and I see no reason to revise that opinion for this vintage. Even given the luxury of seeing the label just like a Platter poltroon.

The label (above) features a bell and the impossibly romantic story of how a Jewish diver (Nurok) saved the bell from an icy river. It was destined for the Catholic cathedral of Šiauliai, fourth largest city in Lithuania, where Di, the wife of Farrview owner Charles Back, hails from. Which made me think that the best music to listen to this wine with is Ring Them Bells by that American-Jewish troubadour Bob Dylan.

Ring them bells, ye heathen
From the city that dreams
Ring them bells from the sanctuaries
’Cross the valleys and streams
For they’re deep and they’re wide
And the world’s on its side
And time is running backwards
And so is the bride

Bells, streams and brides about sums it up. The song comes from the 1989 LP Oh Mercy, recorded when the late Nelson Mandela was a prisoner on Robben Island. Mercy was certainly shown to SA in the person of serene Madiba. “What did he die of?” asked my friend the artist Chris Denovan last night. One piece of information strangely absent from all the emo-hysteria blowing around like an Idiot Wind.

How strange for a big mouth like moi to come over all tongue-tied when asked to record a tribute to Tata by Classic FM yesterday. And I do have such a nice face for radio, too.