Château le … YOU!
As temperatures drop, people are feeling increasingly hard-pressed to layer up and head out to restaurants; they’re opting to entertain at home and spend evenings around the fireplace. And while you are whipping up your favourite dishes for your guests, why not serve your signature red wine blend at the same time?
The winemakers at Grande Provence Heritage Wine Estate in Franschhoek, under the leadership of Karl Lambour, have opened the doors to their cellars and are welcoming wine fanatics to take part in a hands-on blending encounter.
During this wine experience with a difference, says the farm, small groups are guided through its more than 300-year-old winemaking heritage. In an hourlong blending session, wine lovers are shown how to create customised red wine blends from a selection of three red wine varieties.
Through the blending experience, the farm teaches novice oenophiles how to identify and combine different flavour profiles to give each wine its unique character, as well as what goes into creating blended wines.
Once blended, the personalised wines are bottled to be taken home.
“It is a fun experience that we also hope to make educational for wine lovers,” says Grande Provence’s Barbara Mouton.
Each blending experience includes a wine tasting and lunch at Grande Provence’s restaurant, under executive chef Darren Badenhorst.
“The tasting and pairing experience also allows us to show guests how to take the wine they’ve created and pair it with different food flavours,” Mouton adds.
And for wine connoisseurs, a special one-on-one winemaking and blending session with Lambour can be arranged, she says.