Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Products of the Slow Quarter taproom go down smoothly
CONSIDERING it has taken me years to learn only a little about wine – completely out of proportion to the amount consumed, but just enough to know what I like and don’t like, and also not appear a complete idiot – it’s not surprising that I am a useless beer taster.
When we visited Darling Brew’s taproom, Slow Quarter, staff member Chelsea SherwoodPoultney gave me a quick explanation of each glass on the tasting tray. Without that I would have been lost, and even so I wasn’t able to pick up everything she mentioned. Usually the power of suggestion is great enough to bring flavours to the fore, but perhaps I need more practice.
You can taste the full range, or just the ones you fancy. Some customers, perhaps a little less affluent, come in for a quick nip of only one. On the platter, from left to right, are the Slow Beer (a crisp, light, easy drinking lager), Silver Back (slightly sweeter with tones of caramel and molasses), Bone Crusher (the brewery’s most flavoursome beer with hints of orange peel and coriander, I am told), Native Ale (the spiciest of the range), and Black Mist stout, which is similar to Guinness but lighter, with a very distinctive coffee taste. That one I got. The bonus beer is the seasonal limited edition one with cinnamon and nutmeg, which is available until the end of this month.
Once you’ve picked your favourite, you can order a full bottle or from the tap to enjoy at the taproom, or buy to take home (at a slightly lower cost and quite reasonably priced).
● Slow Quarter (5 Main Road, Darling) is open Mondays to Fridays 9am to 8pm, Saturdays and Sundays 9am to 5pm.Telephone 022 492 3798, or go to www.darlingbrew.co.za for more information.
The wine tasting at Ormonde, especially since it was a pairing with chocolates, was more in my comfort zone. The vineyards near Yzerfontein, which languish in cool, salty ocean breezes, produce several ranges including the flagship Ormonde, a Rhone and Bordeaux blend, the speciality Ondine range much loved by restaurants because they pair so well with food, and the Alexanderfontein retail range.
Ondine and Ormonde labels are selected for the chocolate pairing, beginning with chenin blanc which goes with a chenin blanc truffle. It’s followed by an elegant sauvignon blanc with caramel and rock salt “because of the minerality of the wines; the coolness of ocean adds a bit of salt on the grapes”, explained marketing manager Zia van Rooyen du Toit, who conducted my tasting. All Ormonde’s white wines are aged for at least a year in the bottle before being released, so these were 2013 vintages from the Ondine range and priced around R55 a bottle.
For the third and fourth wines we went back to 2010 for pinot noir and cab franc, matched with double chocolate mousse chocolate and hazelnut praline respectively. The fifth and final pairing is a 2008 shiraz/grenache Rhone blend with an espresso chocolate.
● Ormonde’s tasting room is in Mount Pleasant Street, Darling. Tasting hours are Mondays to Fridays 9am to 4pm, and Saturdays 9am to 3pm. Telephone 022 492 3540, e-mail info@ormonde.co.za or see www.ormonde.co.za for more information.