The Great Wine Thread

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Durbanville hills merlot!! 

 

First date wine, wedding wine, and every anniversary!!

 

My wife did not drink red wine before we met, and now she is the one with the Wine academy certificate. 

Durbanville Hills Sauvignon Blanc is also spectacular. 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I ran a competition with a couple of mates during the Tour de France.  The price being a nice bottle of red wine, need to source 5 bottles for the winners to be handed out after the DC, something rather unique and special...

 

Any recommendations...

I would say any of the Rust en Vrede Reds, the Syrah is spectacular, Cabernet Sauvignon as well,...depends what you prefer, they are excellent wines for all occasions, highly awarded and still not ridiculously overpriced. 

[cat-i]

I ran a competition with a couple of mates during the Tour de France.  The price being a nice bottle of red wine, need to source 5 bottles for the winners to be handed out after the DC, something rather unique and special...

 

Any recommendations...

 

Springfield Thunderchild - You're not only giving proper wine as a gift, you're also contributing to a charity project.

[Slowbee]

I ran a competition with a couple of mates during the Tour de France.  The price being a nice bottle of red wine, need to source 5 bottles for the winners to be handed out after the DC, something rather unique and special...

 

Any recommendations...

I will see if I can find the link.

 

Why not "give" them a line of vineyard.

 

Basically you buy a line of grapevines for the season and the farmer takes care of them. In conjunction with the guidance of the winemaker you make your own wine. You can even bottle and label it yourself.

[Boerklong]

I will see if I can find the link.

 

Why not "give" them a line of vineyard.

 

Basically you buy a line of grapevines for the season and the farmer takes care of them. In conjunction with the guidance of the winemaker you make your own wine. You can even bottle and label it yourself.

.

Buying a row will be expensive and the wine you get wont be only your row.

Maybe get a descent red wine thas bottled without a label and design your own label at your local sign shop

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I will see if I can find the link.

 

Why not "give" them a line of vineyard.

 

Basically you buy a line of grapevines for the season and the farmer takes care of them. In conjunction with the guidance of the winemaker you make your own wine. You can even bottle and label it yourself.

I think cost will be quite high slowbee, I have a mate who lives on the Zevenwacht estate, they have a similar thing in that the grapes they grow on the estates communal property is turned into wine for only the estates residents under a private residents label. Trouble is the low yield (grapes, bottles, labels etc) means they cant amortise costs sufficiently, so total cost per finished bottle is too high to make it viable. 

 

However, I recon it could be an interesting "pass time" for someone who is passionate about wine making, certainly I think I could quite enjoy it, there would be a great deal of satisfaction in producing my own wine and keeping it in my cellar.   

[Face Plant]

Durbanville hills merlot!! 

 

First date wine, wedding wine, and every anniversary!!

 

My wife did not drink red wine before we met, and now she is the one with the Wine academy certificate. 

Excellent choice! One of my favorites too

[Dogs]

Both the reds and whites from Hermanuspietersfontein go down well and definitely worth it, although the top-end is a bit more expensive.

Boet Erasmus from Vrede en Lust is a favourite.

[DPG]

Alcohol is necessary for the "taste" of wine, it rounds the wine off and gives it that "feel" in the mouth, so its unlikely you will ever find a non alcoholic wine that actually tastes like a "normal wine".

I dont know of any SA brands of non alcoholic wines but here "Ariel" is the most popular, its cheap its very popular and its everywhere, it might be worth a try.   

Hi GoG,

You are absolutely right! There are non alcoholic wines which are just like grape juice, then there is Ariel and one other that use a process of spinning where they actually remove the alcohol from wine made in the traditional process. Even though it wouldn't taste the same as a full bodied red  Im hoping it tastes more like a red wine than just a juice! Is it freely available near where you are? If so, If I send you 10 dollars could you get a bottle and taste it and see how close or far it is? I'm just reluctant to order a case at 100dollars and it gets here and I may as well have bought a case of Monis grape juice!

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Hi GoG,

You are absolutely right! There are non alcoholic wines which are just like grape juice, then there is Ariel and one other that use a process of spinning where they actually remove the alcohol from wine made in the traditional process. Even though it wouldn't taste the same as a full bodied red  Im hoping it tastes more like a red wine than just a juice! Is it freely available near where you are? If so, If I send you 10 dollars could you get a bottle and taste it and see how close or far it is? I'm just reluctant to order a case at 100dollars and it gets here and I may as well have bought a case of Monis grape juice!

Hi DPG,

I didn't want to say anything before as I didn't want to sort of let you down, but I have tried the Ariel (a few times) and in my opinion its just like ....sadly Grape Juice.

 

To be honest I dont think you will be impressed, its just my opinion I guess, but if it was me, I wouldn't buy it. 

[Face Plant]

I am wondering what the effect would be if you boiled off the alcohol and then let it chill again? maybe it could be worth doing a test on a cheap bottle? Ethanol boils at 78.3 deg C so theoretically it should be possible.

 

It does however defeat the whole purpose of drinking wine

[Spokey]

I am trying the wines of my region now and really enjoy the the Herold Wines from up behind George.You should also try the couple of wineries up the road at The Crags. The dry whites, especially Bramon and Newstead are nice everyday drinking wines.

Thanks, I will check them out. I have been past a few of the estates, I need to make a dedicated day trip to visit them, perhaps now before the holiday season.

[Kranswurm]

I am wondering what the effect would be if you boiled off the alcohol and then let it chill again? maybe it could be worth doing a test on a cheap bottle? Ethanol boils at 78.3 deg C so theoretically it should be possible.

 

It does however defeat the whole purpose of drinking wine

Practically....how to ****Up a bottle of wine

[Spokey]

For those that like a bit of variety i.t.o cultivar, a few suggestions:

 

Barbera from Altydgedacht

Sangiovese from Antonij Rupert's Terra de Capo range (stunning wine)

Gamay Noir from De Kleine Zalze

Cinsault from Darling Cellars (a real steal)

Tannat from Fairview

Rousanne from Fairview

I like this....a lot, thanks, am off to explore the local wine stores!.

 

Am enjoying the thread, some new (to me) names coming to the fore plus some great reccomendations from estates that I have not tried in ages.

[Face Plant]

Practically....how to ****Up a bottle of wine

Totally agree with you but this is in response to Grumpy's post about non alcoholic wine, we could of course take it a step further and distill the wine.. nice way to make some home made brandy DPG could take the left overs and we could get smashed  

[Spokey]

Both the reds and whites from Hermanuspietersfontein go down well and definitely worth it, although the top-end is a bit more expensive.Boet Erasmus from Vrede en Lust is a favourite.

That Kleinboet and Post Master from HPfontein are really excellent.