1. HOME
  2. NEWS
  3. Oddballs
  4. « go back

Oddballs

Friday, 22 March, 2013
wine.co.za
We give you a small insight into some highly acclaimed South African wineries that are doing things a little differently.
Spice Route:
Not content with offering amazing wines, they have revamped Spice Route (once Seidelberg) and are now fast becoming one of the ultimate tourist spots in Paarl.

It’s perhaps not enough these days to simply have great wines, in an age of instant gratification and information overload, the lure needs to be even bigger.

Spice Route grab your attention and they keep it with their new additions of Biltong, Beer tasting, chocolate tasting and food and wine pairings. One could spend the entire day there.

This month, take beer lovers to Barley and Biltong and sample their craft beers with delicious biltong.

For chocolate addicts, on the premises is DV Chocolate, one of SA’s only bean-to-bar producers, and cocoa connoisseurs.

Blaauwklippen
Apart from being one of the oldest established wine farms in the Stellenbosch/Helderberg region, they are also one of the few wineries to grow California’s most-loved grape, Zinfandel.

It's difficult to grow as it has a rather annoying tendency of ripening unevenly but Blaauwklippen did not let this put them off. They overcome the problem by cutting the bunches in half as an early stage of the ripening process.

In 2007 they made history by producing and bottling the first white Zinfandel in South Africa. This accomplishment alone is worthy of a visit to their winery.

De Morgenzon
You may be aware of the ‘Mozart Effect’, the belief that playing classical music to your baby when still in the womb, can have a positive effect on their IQ.

De Morgenzon go one step further:
‘We pipe Baroque music through our vineyards 24x7 and believe that the power of music positively influences the ripening process.’

The reasoning is not based entirely on a bad case of ‘wine-brain’, but rather from scientific proof that sound can effect growth in a plant. Indeed, The Telegraph Plant (Semaphore Plant or Dancing Grass) is a type of leguminous shrub whose leaves ‘dance’ rhythmically to harmonious music and it is only through music that it gives any response.

The proof is in the sipping so we suggest you head to their winery and be inspired, both through sound and taste.

Reyneke:
Hailing from the Stellenbosch wine region, Johan Reyneke has made a name for his wines by employing organic farming methods in line with biodynamic principles.

"The farmers work with natural and cosmic cycles, rhythms and forces that regulate all life on earth to create a harmonious whole."

Such is their passion for organically grown grapes, their Reserve Red 2009 has won Best Wine and Best Red in the Nedbank Green Awards proving that adopting a sustainable and eco-friendly way of farming, does not compromise on taste.


WineLand