.: Lunch at Societi Bistro with The High Road

Monday, October 12, 2015

Lunch at Societi Bistro with The High Road

Another jam packed week with so many different events it made our heads spin

My Road or ...

Our week started at Societi Bistro in Cape Town, with a tasting of The High Road wines. Owners Les Sweidan and Mike Church, who used to be in the insurance world, are Negotiants, which means they do not own any vineyards, but buy in the grapes each year to make the wine and blend them to their satisfaction before marketing them. The winemaker is Mark Carmichael Green and the consultant viticulturist is Paul Wallace. Their cellar is in Stellenbosch in the Bosman's Crossing complex

They make a classic Cabernet Sauvignon and two classy Bordeaux blends. The sources of their grapes might change every year, so they don’t aim to make the same wines, but they promise to make the best the grapes can produce, to keep them elegant and of high quality. The current releases are a 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon at R100, The Directors Reserve 2012 at R275 and the High Road Classique 2012 at R140. Les says they are aiming for the top level and world class

Les Sweidan with Journalist Graham Howe

We tasted all three. The Cabernet Sauvignon is a food wine and went very well with lunch. The Classique has soft vanillins; a cherry and blackberry fruit bomb with a hint of smoke. The Directors Reserve will have Malbec added in this year's vintage. It has beautiful fruit layers with vanilla. At the moment it is crisp and tight, but with good fruit and wood, so we think this is one to lay down and age

Les spoke amusingly about the wine business and making a profit, confessing that he didn’t know what he was doing when he started. They will only buy a farm when the wine is profitable and making money has taken them not the five years they estimated, but ten years. It will make money this year. He says they have had a lot of assistance from helpful neighbours, other wine makers and farms, which has assisted them very much. People he mentioned were Mike Ratcliffe of Warwick and Giorgio dalla Cia