Karin’s event review

and the excitement of the holiday season

As the KapWeine wine year comes to an end, I’m back today with a review of past events – the wine ship and the adventure tasting – and a look ahead to my personal wine favourites for the coming festive season.

Expovina wine boats

Ship ahoy was the motto for the KapWeine team in November. I was part of the Saturn crew for 7 days and was able to take a lot of interested customers on a trip to South Africa for a while, sometimes in stormy waters in the truest sense of the word. Exciting wine conversations ensued and many of them agreed with me that the Vilafonté Seriously Old Dirt shown at the stand is anything but «old dirt», but a truly very seriously made second wine from Vilafonté. In keeping with the style of well-known châteaux in France, this wine does not have to hide behind its big brother, or in this case its brothers Vilafonté Series C and Vilafonté Series M. With 86% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 4% Malbec and 2% Cabernet Franc, it has rich aromas of black berries, spicy notes and tobacco. A well-balanced, elegant wine that definitely stands out for more than just its name.

We had around 43 great wines on board and simply had a great time with you. Thank you very much for your visit on board of the Saturn!

Killer Deal >6 bottles
VILAFONTÉ
Seriously Old Dirt – 2021
CHF 22.90 instead of CHF 39.00

Magnum Hammer Deal
VILAFONTÉ
Seriously Old Dirt Magnum – 1.5l – 2021
CHF 54.00 instead of CHF 79.00

All Vilafonté Wines

Adventure Wine Tasting

The event continued almost straight away on the 25th of November in Wädenswil. Over 100 wines were opened which once again didn’t make it any easier for me to decide which wines I should focus on today in my review of the event, if not all of them… I decide in favour of MCC, what else?

Some of you already know about my great passion for sparkling wines, known as MCC in South Africa. As the Christmas holidays are just around the corner, I would like to tell you today about two «sparkling wines» that I am particularly fond of. The Krone Cap Classique MCCs have only been available at KapWeine for a few months. The Twee Jonge Gezelle wine estate is located north of Tulbagh, is around 300 years old and is known for its sparkling wines with classic bottle fermentation. My personal favourites are only produced in small quantities and riddled by hand. Nicky Krone produces some of the best sparkling wines in South Africa. It is therefore not surprising that a partnership with the French champagne house Mumm was established almost 30 years ago. My heart beats for the two Blanc de Blanc – as the sparkling wines are called when they are made exclusively from the Chardonnay grape – Kaaimansgat and Twee Jonge Gezellen.

The Kaaimansgat vineyard, an exquisite single vineyard, lies 700 metres above sea level in the cool-climate region of Elandskloof. A wonderfully slender, very deep wine with an extremely fine perlage. After 36 months on the lees, notes of fresh brioche and a rainbow of fruit and floral accords are perceived. Classic, whitish stone fruit flavours on the palate. Simply wonderful, a few more oysters and the Christmas aperitif is ready.

The grapes for its counterpart, the «Twee Jonge Gezellen», grow in the Tulbagh wine region on rocky sandstone soils. Its perlage is also fine and silky, with aromas of lime and pineapple emerging from the glass. The palate is characterised by a slight saltiness, purity and balance. Also wonderful, I leave it up to you to decide which of the two to toast with at Christmas.

Killer Deal >6 bottles
KRONE
Kaaimansgat – 2020
CHF 34.90 instead of CHF 49.00

Killer Deal >6 bottles
KRONE
Twee Jonge Gezellen – 2020
CHF 34.90 instead of CHF 49.00

All Krone MCCs

Christmas Time

Christmas is the key word, I promised you in the introduction to give you a preview, or rather an insight into the choice of wines that will be on my festive table this year. You already know what I will be toasting with at the aperitif with my loved ones 😉.

I love stories, not just wine stories but also family stories connected with their traditions. So at Christmas, I always put the white tablecloth on the table, my grandmother’s silver cutlery is polished, the crystal glasses are taken out of the cupboard and the precious china with the beautiful gold rim, which enchanted me as a child, shines in the light of the candles on the Christmas tree, which has to reach up to the ceiling. The white wine soup is served in my grandmother’s soup bowl. Instead of Riesling, I choose the Saxenburg Sauvignon Blanc – sometimes traditions have to be slightly modernised. No other winery has as much granite subsoil in its vineyards as Saxenburg, which gives the wines a great minerality and complexity. This makes it a wonderful accompaniment to soup. For the festive meal, I serve «surä Mockä» with broad noodles and halved warm apples filled with cranberries, just like Grandma used to make at Christmas. I serve the Beyerskloof Diesel Pinotage with it. A festive wine with not only fantastic flavours of dark fruit, chocolate, enormous complexity and depth, but also a wonderful story behind the wine. Diesel was the name of Beyers Truter’s (owner of Beyerskloof) dog. A beloved and loyal companion to his master. The dog was not only at his side in the vineyard, but also in the cellar, at the desk – simply everywhere Beyers Truter was. So it was only natural that Beyers Truter named his best wine after his best friend. A lovely wine story for Christmas.

Create your Christmas wine story now and tell me about it when we hopefully meet again in February, at the 1st event of the KapWeine wine year 2024.

In the meantime, I wish you and your loved ones a happy advent season, a merry Christmas and a healthy new year with many new wine safaris in Wädenswil on which I will be very happy to accompany you as your personal (wine) ranger.