Held at Auslese, Tuesday 17th May
Higgo Jacobs, Chairman of South African Sommeliers Association, introduced a splendid South African brandy tasting by reminding us that we have ‘A treasure under our noses which we’re not tapping into from a sommelier point of view. There’s a great opportunity for a young sommelier to specialise in brandy.’
Winnie Bowman, who claims to drink a glass of brandy every evening, judges on the IWSC and who presented the tasting, wondered why we don’t know about our prize winning brandies. ‘These regularly pick up trophies and golds on the IWSC, the International Spirits Challenge and San Francisco Spirits Challenge,’ she pointed out, ‘where they are judged alongside Cognacs. The international judges, including some from top Cognac houses such as Hennessy and Courvoisier, also rate them highly.’
After giving a little history of brandy in South Africa – the first was distilled in Table Bay Harbour in 1672 – Bowman handed over to KWV Brandy Master, Piet de Bod, who provided some essential facts and figures about production:
- Varieties used are mainly colombard, ugni blanc and chenin blanc, though chardonnay, clairette blanche, cinsaut and pinotage are also used.
- The best growing areas for brandy grapes are Worcester and Robertson, with Vredendal and Upington also good.
- The grapes are harvested around 18° Balling to give an alcohol of 10%
- Vin 29, a yeast that produces less methanol, is used to ferment the juice.
- Five litres of base wine is required for one litre of brandy
- Potstill brandy has to be matured for a minimum of three years in French oak barrels.
- For first eight years, the barrels can be no bigger than 340 litres; after eight years, barrels can be no bigger than 1000 litres.
- The oak is drawn from Limousin and Troncais.
- While brandy doesn’t age in the unopened bottle (it can pick up volatile acid in an open bottle), it does in cask; de Bod explained it’s important to know when to remove it before it dries out.
- Tasting an aged spirit of any sort – brandy, rum, whisky - in black glasses can make identification difficult.
We’re now ready to taste, but brandy is approached in a very different manner from wine. De Bod gives some step-by-step instructions:
- Don’t swirl the glass, as you would with wine; this will release the alcohol fumes and dampen the actual smell of the brandy.
- Don’t cup the base of the glass in your hand; this will warm the brandy with the same reaction as swirling it.
- Don’t warm the glass with other heat (eg a flame), it will give the same result.
- Best serving temperature is 15 – 18 C
- Sniff first from about 5 cms above the glass, then from glass rim, finally with your nose in the glass. Each reveals different aromas
- Take a sip of neat brandy, squash the tongue against the roof of the mouth to get full effect of flavours.
- Repeat after adding a drop of water, to see how the flavours are enhanced.
- It’s important to swallow rather than spit, to appreciate the full aftertaste (don’t ask me how you’re supposed to taste through more than two or three brandies at 30% or 38% alc. let alone drive afterwards!)
- Unlike wine, when drinking brandy with food, take a portion of food first then brandy.
With the help of the South African Brandy Aroma Wheel (constructed along similar lines to the wine aroma wheel), we then tasted through 10 brandies, from youngest through to oldest (and for those without a driver, much spitting!)
The first four were the youngest, ranging from five year olds to an eight year old, ie indicating the minimum age of the brandy in the bottle.
Hess – mainly from colombard – coconut, oaky notes. Sweetish, buttery with spirity finish R480
Laborie Alambic – this was noticeably different from the others, very floral, fruity with marzipan, creamy and intense, dry finish – so easy to guess it wasn’t made from colombard, ugni blanc or chenin. In fact, it’s made from chardonnay and pinotage. Good value at R180
Windfall The Hunter 6 year old – from 100% chenin – brand new from this Robertson wine farm. Grapey, green apple aromas. Robust firey spirit, oaky. R500
Boplaas 8 year old – 100% colombard unfiltered – darker colour, the previous were all lemony with a green rim. De Bod did say that darker doesn’t mean older. Herbal, fynbos, tinned pineapple aromas. Very smooth with a balanced spirit and dry finish R480
The next four were a minimum of 10 years old. Varieties weren’t mentioned.
Van Ryns 10 year old – officially a vintage brandy, which doesn’t indicate it is from a specific year, it was a classification, which has now been discontinued. Pale gold centre, green rim. Concentrated spice, caramel and dark chocolate with oak aromas. Rich with upbeat spirity finish. R250
Boschendal 10 year old – another on its first outing. 100% potstill. Multi-dimensional aromas of citrus, grass and florals. Softish, slippery with slight sweetness and spirity finish. Aromas more appealing than taste R699
KWV 10 year old – 100% potstill. Strong gold centre green rim. Subtle, sophisticated aromas of cinnamon, citrus peel and caramel. Very smooth, yet fresh and prolonged finish. Voted World’s best brandy nine times. Warmer weather brandy. Great value R220
Oude Meester 12 year old – Reddish gold. Dried peaches, raisins, dates and some oak on nose. Robust, tasty but obvious. R800
KWV 15 year old – Lemony centre, green rim. Dark chocolate, clove, spices and citrus aromas. Fruit cake and crème brulee flavours. Rich, smooth and warming. Winter time, after dinner style R600
KWV Nexus – Brandies aged between 30 and 43 years. Deep gold with vivid green rim. Subtle, deep dried fruit, citrus peel aromas giving both sense of age and freshness. Roundly mature, warming but not spirity. R23000 The bottle, each hand blown, weighs around 4 kgs, its stopper contains amber and it’s held in a wooden cage.
The evening was punctuated by many questions from guests, several from the off-trade. It suggests there is interest in brandy from their guests but that more education is necessary to allow sommeliers and wine stewards to properly promote our local treasure.
Thanks to SASA, Winnie Bowman, Piet de Bod for an excellent tasting, to producers for the brandies and Harald Bresselschmidt for the venue.