Next Level Red Blends

“The future of SA wine is more Mediterranean than Bordeaux” announced Neil Ellis over slow cooked lamb with lemon, tomato and thyme. Today’s paschal lunch was cooked by Jef Schuur who knows a thing or three about Little Bo-Peep’s friends. In fact the salt marsh Texel lamb of his native Dutch Frisian islands is the kind of terroir-driven delicacy for which the French would declare a special appellation. Neil made his point by matching Jef’s lamb with his own 2007 Rodanos blend of Shiraz and Grenache. As delegates make their way back from the Grenache Workshop in France earlier this month, how delicious to drink the best SA Grenache blend with stellar food at Neil’s new winery at the foot of Hell’s Hoogte in Stellenbosch. “They invited me to the Workshop, but I sent them some wine and had a knee replacement operation.”

Neil Ellis in Messiah-mode

Neil Ellis in Messiah-mode

“Cinsault on the right sites made with integrity has potential” announced Neil as a waking dream of Adi Badenhorst on the Partyberg flashed through my mind “and Carignan is interesting if you can find its rightful place. Pinotage can also perform, although unfortunately it’s not respected by its own people – there are some good examples and plenty of bad ones. As for Cabernet, in fifty years time Stellenbosch will own Cabernet as here is where it performs best.” Which whetted my appetite for the August launch of the Webersburg 2004, rumoured to be the finest example to date.

Our corner of the spectacular lunch consisted of Great Grapes importer Marita de Beer and Willem Kool, social columnist for De Telegraaf. “I’m the Page Four man. I’ve been with the paper 25 years (five of them as London correspondent) and get half a page in the paper each day for social matters.” The kind of space any journalist would kill for and the stuff of blogging heaven. “We invited Willem to show him there is more to life than Simonsig, Boschendal and Vergelegen” joked Marita. And Marita will have plenty of time to change his mind as Willem intends to be the first person to live to 125.

Marita de Beer and Willem Kool

Marita de Beer and Willem Kool

Neil’s Grenache hails from the Piekenierskloof. “You head towards Malmesbury and then on to Piketberg. Take the pass to Piekenierskloof and then the Paleisheuwel turn. The vines were planted by the father of a friend of mine in 1954. Grenache gives you a fruit sweetness you don’t get in Bordeaux varietals,” a statement with which we all concurred, the rich lamb gravy dribbling down our chins. This is Next Level SA wine and significantly raises the game for SA red blends.