Groot Constantia

One of the great things about living where I do, is that there are wine farms less than two kilometres away, including Groot Constantia, the oldest wine farm in the country. On late Tuesday afternoon we headed off to have a picnic there.

Upon arrival, we stopped at the wine tasting building at the entrance. We ended up buying tickets (having not eaten since breakfast) for the wine tasting.

There were ten wines for tasting, and five wines each per tasting ticket, so each of us ended up tasting everything.

The Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc 2004 is a full-bodied 60%/40% blend with faint melon flavour. Like quite a few of the white wines, it had a fizzy feel in the mouth, which may be a sign of its youth.

The Sauvignon Blanc 2004 is a raw, green wine, which would go well with seafood.

The Chardonnay 2004 has the fizziness I mentioned before, but more subtly. Citrus flavours, lightly-to-mediumly wooded.

The Bouquet Blanc 2004 is so named for its sweet, fruity fragrance (they suggest Muscat character), which belies an otherwise standard offdry taste with faint apple flavours, and a somewhat harsh aftertaste.

The Blanc de Noir 2004, a 60% Cabernet Sauvignon/40% Merlot blend, is probably my pick of the lot although it is underdeveloped. The tasting sheet suggests it has a delicate salmon colour, and you can see for yourself in one of the pictures I took. It's slightly underdeveloped, with berries in its flavour and subtle fruit fragrance.

The red wines disappointed, unfortunately, as they are usually my favourite.

The Constantia Rood 2002 is a 60%/20%/20% Cab Sav/Pinotage/Merlot blend, but it's dominated by the Pinotage. Only the Merlot really has a chance to come through; the Cab Sav is totally overpowered.

The Pinotage 2003 is light-bodied, but structured, and leaves a pleasant aftertaste of currants. Rather go for older Pinotage from Warwick or Avontuur if you want to enjoy this South African varietal.

The Merlot 2002 is an interesting sample, at least in my experience. Medium-bodied, but with fewer of the soft Merlot tanins than the norm, with a complex, bitter, flavour. With a bitter fruit aroma, it was initially quite enjoyable, but suffered afterwards.

The Shiraz 2002 is lighter and less bitter than the norm, with the usual smoky aroma. The tasting sheet suggests it would benefit from further bottle maturation.

Finally, the Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 is exactly as the tasting sheet suggests, full-bodied with loads of ripe black currants, very fragrant. Possibly the best of the reds, but that doesn't say much.

We then enquired into picnics, and were directed to the Jonkershuis. Deciding instead to be served, we took an outside seat overlooking the vineyards and a picturesque lane.

Jeremy chose the Cold Vegetarian Platter, while I used up my fish portion for the month on Smoorsnoek.

Snoek is an already-flavourful local game fish. Smoorsnoek is flaked snoek served mixed with tender diced potato and packed with flavours and layers of spices. Smoor being an Afrikaans word connoting jam-packed, I think meaning a bit closer to being knocked over. But what do I know about Afrikaans? While a bit polished and soft for a traditional Smoorsnoek, it was a great meal. (And, if you're a pisco-vegetarian, it may be the only popular Cape Malay dish you can eat?)