Looking for a ‘white’ Christmas? Then you’re spoilt for choice
Even without the inducements of Black Friday promotions (many of which anyway look suspiciously like the sweepings of the cellar), year-end wine purchases have much to recommend them.
First, for many of us there’s the prospect of a little downtime. Good wine needs a relaxed frame of mind if it’s not to be used solely as a social lubricant. Second, with a leisured browsing time there’s no need to help yourself from the nearest gondola end at the wine store or the supermarket. The very act of shopping has a recreational component.
Online purchasing — the low-fuel cost alternative — is a viable option: Port2Port offers an extensive range of vinous collectibles, not all priced for Digital Vibes beneficiaries. Many of the bricks-and-mortar retailers also have user-friendly websites. (Even those with frustrating functionality should be considered: bear in mind that festive season roads can make even the slowest and most poorly designed site appear a Teflon-coated experience by comparison). Try Norman Goodfellows and Ultra Liquors online, as well as the respective chains’ larger and more extensively stocked outlets. The Tops at Spar shops are also often impressively supplied.
Then there are several very successful (and slightly geekier) specialist shops: Wine Menu in Marlboro Sandton, Winery Co and Forti’s Liquor Emporium, both in Pretoria, and Caroline’s Fine Wines in Cape Town. To guide your online or on-shelf browsing I have looked through my white wine tastings of the past month to add some interesting choices for both party and fine dining purchases.
Aficionados of chardonnay are spoilt for choice. For a little over R100 there’s the Warwick First Lady, fresh crisp and very pretty; there’s more weight and volume to the Le Bonheur (of which a 30% portion gets thoughtful oaking). This is the biggest selling premium Cape wine in the whole of the Canadian market, and it does SA proud.
From a high-altitude cool site in the Elandskloof comes the Cape of Good Hope Serrruria 2019, creamier and more intense. If it’s weight you’re looking for on your chardonnay, you could also spend about R150 on the Alvi’s Drift Reserve.
If you’re ready to drop about R400, the sumptuous and beautifully packaged Quoin Rock 2019 should be on your shopping list. For a more linear and flintier alternative try De Grendel’s Op die Berg Chardonnay 2022. If you prefer something more old-fashioned and polished, there’s the Baroness Nadine 2022 priced at R350 and worth the spend.
Among the sauvignon and sauvignon blanc blends there’s ample choice: the Strandveld Pofadderbos is zesty and concentrated — and a deserving Platter five-star award. In that same cool climate style look for Fryer’s Cove, made from vineyards within sight and smell of the sea, far up the West Coast in Bamboesbaai.
For something that delivers super-easy drinking try the Neil Ellis West Coast Sauvignon 2022, priced at under R100. You might also seek out the Glen Carlou 2022. If you want complexity as well as palate weight consider the Vergelegen Estate White (the semillon adds texture and longevity to the sauvignon). For a pure semillon there’s the Old Road Wine Company’s award-winning wine from the La Colline heritage vineyard.
Looking for something completely different? Try the Niel Joubert Gruner Veltliner (the fragrant but dry Austrian variety). Alternatively, there’s Hungarian harslevelu — richer and more intense, and therefore more versatile when it comes to food pairing. The Yethu 2021 from Tulbagh is worth tracking down.
I’m one of those wine consumers who thinks that rosé only makes sense if you treat it as a white wine in wolf’s clothing. The category keeps growing, so there’s plenty of choice. The shortlist includes a delicious La Motte Vin de Joie 2022, the Neil Ellis Wild Flower Rosé, and a very good everyday drink from Arniston Bay.
Add to this a decent cinsaultbased wine from Marras made from Piekenierskloof fruit and priced at R80. Then there’s the most Provençal Cape rosé of all, the Pink Valley, a blend of grenache, sangiovese and shiraz.