This week we’re not featuring one bottle of wine, but rather two, as a treat for all of you. One of them is local and one of them is an International brand.
Michael comments:
Just before Christmas, I had lunch with Emmanuelle Giraud from Ay in Champagne who was in Cape Town with Inke Gouws, a Stellenbosch based Champagne Negotiante, promoting her family¹s wonderful Champagnes. The Girauds have been in the Champagne business for generations. Inke herself is a second generation wine person her father the well known Ernst Gouws if the eponymous wines.
We tasted a raft of Emmanuelle¹s wines. The one I loved the most was, by chance, one which Jancis Robinson, acclaimed British wine writer, chose as her favourite. While I would not suggest that my palate is anywhere near that of Jancis, it does show that we both like something which was so different and, for me anyway, so deliciously refreshing.
It is called Espirit de Giraud Blanc de Blancs. This is a 100% Chardonnay, beautiful golden yellow in colour with some green flashes.
Nuts, candied citrus peel, honeysuckle and orange flowers on the nose. Some whiffs of limestone and the oak barrels in which the wine is matured there too
The palate is so wonderfully fresh with the fine bubbles adding to the experience an again that limestone shows in the flavour.
Lovely long aftertaste. Perfect with fish or seafood like stir fried prawns but hey, it would be great with fried hake and chips too.
I like it as it is such a different champagne experience, fresh, inviting, crisp and refreshing.
It is amongst the most reasonably priced Champagne I have come across and for a special or not special occasion, well worth a whirl.
Inke can be contacted on 079 268 3779.
The second review we have for you goes as follows:
I was in Stellenbosch yesterday with Liandra Kotze who is the Brand Manager for Sparkling wines for Distell. I spent an hour with her and came away with a couple of bottles, one of which is the JC le Roux Pinot Noir Rosé 2006.
The House of J.C. Le Roux was South Africa’s first cellar dedicated entirely to the craft of making sparkling wine.
This wine is made in their state-of-the-art cellar in Devon Valley, Stellenbosch, in the French method of a second fermentation in the bottle,
known as Méthode Champenoise. The French have a monopoly on the word Champagne, so in South Africa, this style of wine is called Methode Cap Classique [MCC].
Lovely salmon pink in colour with the finest of bubbles rising languidly to the surface. In the four years since its manufacture, the wine has
developed delicious characters of fresh baked brioche and toasted nuts and the classical bright red berries of the Pinot Noir grape coming through. A serious wine with lovely round mouthfeel.
Drink on its own or with strawberries and shortbread!
J C le Roux Pinot Noir Rosé 2006 is available from specialist wine shops.
My thoughts:
Just elaborating on what Michael said.. For those of you who enjoy champagne/sparking wine, here’s a tip – When drinking sparkling wine, the secret is to make sure that the bottle you buy is MCC (Method Cap Classique is our South African version of Champagne). MCC verifies the process in which the sparking wine is made, it means that the sparkling wine is made in a similiar manner to real champange, this means the bottles will be more delicious and it won’t give you such a terrible headache in the morning.
Thanks again to Michael Olivier, author of The People’s Guide, for all the wine reviews!
I prefer the Bon Courage Vin Doux to the JC Le Roux. Goes down well with strawberries, just there is really limited stock so I make sure to buy a few boxes every year at Wacky Wines.
I’m not sure if I’ve tried Bon Courage Vin Doux. I’m not the biggest JC Le Roux fan to be honest, I prefer Moet & Chandon, however, we all know that Moet isn’t exactly cheap, so I’m very limited in my purchasing. What does the Bon Courage Vin Doux retail for? I presume it’s MCC?
Price range from R35 – R50 depending on where you buy. On Wacky Wine weekend you can get it for R20 per bottle from Bon Courage.
Not bad! I must have a look at a couple bottle stores and try track some down and test it out :)
The Bon Courage is a semi sweet “Blush” sparkler using the carbon dioxide innoculation method much like the way sparkling mineral water is made. There is no second fermentation in the bottle. Cheap and cheerful, pretty ‘n pink and flavours of muscat grapes. Yum with desserts or mixed with fresh squeezed orange juice for a drink called Buck’s Fizz – breakfast drink no doubt for the young Bucks arriving home at dawn! Jacques Bruwer makes serious MCC bubbles at Bon Courage too.
By the way – the Bon Courage Vin Doux is by no means comparable to the J C le Roux I speak of above. The J C Le Roux La Domaine is the semi sweet sparkler – also tones of muscat. The JC le Roux La Vallée is the semi sweet MCC bubbly.
The JC le Roux of which I speak above is in no way comparable to the Bon Courage Blush Vin Doux, you cant compare apples with pears. The wine above is classical and dry using the Pinot Noir grape, traditional in Champagne making, while the Bon Courage is made from a beldn of grapes. The comparable JC wold be La Domaine – also a carbonated fizz also using muscat. The JC le Roux La Vallée is the semi sweet MCC in the range – deliciously sweet and spicy.
Hi Michael,
Thanks for popping in and giving us some more knowledge. I love learning about all these great wines/champagnes/bubbly :)
There’s just such wonderful stuff out there. Life’s too short to allow one to get round to all of them!! Off to Jordan Winery today to have lunch at the new restaurant there run by George Jardin. Wine Magazine Chenin Blanc Challenge Awards to be made. Interesting to see to whom Mooiplaas – last year’s winners – will pass the crown.
Exciting! I’ll be in the office in front of my laptop ;)
Enjoy yourself!
I tried the Wildekrans MCC over Christmas, and it’s fab alternative to the Moet! About R100 at Wine Concepts.
@Sarah – Thanks for sharing, I’ll add it to my getting-very-long alcohol-to-try list :)
Why not try our gorgeous Graham Beck Brut NV. It is fit for presidents and you will always have a bottle in the fridge after the first try
@Pieter – I have actually tried it before and it is delicious :) Send me some bottles to give away on my blog won’t you *wink*