The Perfect Match: Bellingham Small Barrel SMV with Chorizo, Chickpeas and Kale in Spicy Tomato Sauce

If you look at a wine like The Bellingham Small Barrel SMV 2014 and see the awards is has won, you would want to buy the wine on that record alone. The range honours Bernard Podlashuk, the man who bought Bellingham in the late 1940s and transformed it into a modern wine estate.

The blend is made up of 87% Shiraz, 10% Mourvèdre and 3% Viognier.  The grapes were all hand harvested from one farm in the Agter Paarl region. The vineyards are planted in decomposed granite and overlying clay soils which have good water retention for hot summers.  The vines are trellised and low yielding.

Bunches were selected in the vineyards, followed by berry selection in the cellar. All three varieties were co-fermented. The wine underwent malolactic fermentation in French oak barrels and then left to mature for 14 months before being prepared for bottling.

It’s good with

Perfect as a post prandial philosophical glass, perhaps with a snappy bar of dark Belgian chocolate. It is of course a red meat wine, happy to tackle spicy foods. Perfect partner to a lusty vegetarian main course, Iberian sausages, roasted lamb or braaied rib eye steaks. Carey Boucher Erasmus’s Chorizo, Chickpeas & Kale in Spicy Tomato Sauce is a great partner.

Click here for her recipe.


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