Welcome to the Western Cape Wineries - a kiwi's opinion blog

I originally set up this blog to help foreigners have an enjoyable experience when visiting the western cape wineries in South Africa.

I realised that it is very difficult for a tourist to choose where to go and which wineries to visit, when you have 600+ wine producers to choose from.

When I first moved to SA December 2010, my palate struggled to adjust to SA wine, b
ut after living here for a while and after visiting over 100+ wine estates, I have found many wines which I really like and can highly recommend.

Admittingly, when you come from another country it is hard not to compare the wine in SA to what you are used to back home. However, once you realise they are not the same (they have their own characteristics due to the different soil, climate etc) and appreciate their wines for being SA wines, it will improve your opinion and experience of the wines immediately.

If you are staying in SA for a while, don't dispair, your palate will change, and you will soon find yourself liking SA wine over your home countries wine!!

I hope my blog will help wine lovers have an enjoyable wine experience while in SA.

Please note: I am not a wine connoisseur. The comments I write about the wine is mostly for my own benefit of having them on record.



Saturday, 27 October 2012

Mellasat

We visited this winery today because I remembered from Omniberg festival that they had a very nice white Pinotage. I wanted to go back so that my boyfriend could try it and so that I could try it again and buy some if I still liked it.

 
The drive up to the winery is very nice, you go past the fields with plenty of horses. There were many fouls, so that was very cool to see. At this time of year there are a lot of beautiful purple flowers in the fields, so it is very pretty.

The tasting room is nicely designed with several tables around so that you can sit to do your tasting.


It was everyones first time at this winery (except for mine), there were no other customers there, so we were able to sit down and enjoy our tasting at a relaxed pace. The lady serving us was pleasant and friendly.


We went through the entire list of 8 wines, which costs R20 per person unless you buy wine. We tried the Dekkers Valley Chenin Blanc R40, Mellasat White Pinotage 2011 (R120), Mellasat Chardonnay 2010 (R90), Dekkers Valley Shiraz Rose 2012 (R40), Dekkers Valley Shiraz 2010 (R50), Dekkers Valley Revelation R45, Mellasat M 2005 (R80) and Mellasat "tuin Wyn" R60.

Sadly we were not keen on any of the wine. We found they lacked flavour and several did not have such nice aftertastes. However, the nice thing about the wine is that the majority of them were balanced and smooth.The White Pinotage I tried at the Omniberg festival was a 2010 vintage, so perhaps there is quite a difference between the 2010 and 2011?

No comments:

Post a Comment