Wine Safari

This past Saturday brought the return of Amanda Lester from South Africa and with her a variety of South African wines. We headed over there on Saturday night to welcome her back and have a mini-wine tasting.

I haven't had a lot of experience with South African wines - we didn't have very many on the Earle wine list, and other than a couple interesting and very cheaply priced Trader Joe's experimental purchases (none good or bad enough to stand out) I had never purchased any.

Amanda really enjoyed the Zevenwacht winery on the Stellenbosch Wine Route. We started with the Zevenwacht 2006 Chenin Blanc. This was light, citrusy, and refreshing with a hint of something more - maybe pineapple. (I'm sure that John, otherwise known as CTWineGuy, will review these wines and provide a much more thorough description - check him out.)

After we all agreed that the Chenin Blanc was indeed delicious, we moved on to the Zevenwacht 2004 Syrah. It smelled fruity and slightly smoky - and that smokiness multiplied by ten when I actually tasted it. It was a little spicy, too. I enjoyed it.

Properly impressed by the Zevenwacht wines (and Doyle's cocktail party attire, which included a skull and crossbones bow tie) we moved on to the 2005 Auret, a Cabernet Sauvignon/Pinotage blend from Clos Malverne, also on the Stellenbosch route.

Clos Malverne considers the Auret to be their flagship wine. It's worthy of the title - dry, spicy, and just kind of nice all around. It didn't stand out to me the way the Zevenwacht Syrah did (seriously, that smokiness has to be tasted to be believed) but I enjoyed it just the same. The winery recommends aging this wine 5-7 years, an experiment I'd like to try if given the chance.

Overall, a great evening - good wine and good company.

In other weekend news, Noe and I checked out Iron Man and both loved it. I have been a Robert Downey Jr. fan since seeing Heart and Souls in eighth grade (yes, Heart and Souls is a stupid movie, and yes, I still love it). I am glad to report that he is the perfect Tony Stark.

Sunday was mostly spent reading vampire novels (sigh - more about that later) and working in the garden. Although I've had herb gardens for a couple years now, this is my first attempt at actually growing vegetables (other than tomatoes). I picked up some bell pepper and cucumber plants and Amanda has some tomatoes started for me at her house. So far all I've really done is prepare the soil and get my herbs in pots (I like to be able to move them around), but (weather permitting) planting should commence this week. I'm a little bit obsessed with the idea of growing my own produce, so it will be interested in to see how this experiment turns out. I'll keep you posted!