Sunday, October 25, 2015

Reciprocal Trading tasting of imported wines at The Vineyard

It is a special occasion when we are invited to taste good French and other nations wines like Spain, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand and South America. This event is held annually for the trade and media and good customers and we were delighted to be invited
Welcomed with a glass of Tio Pepe Palomino Fino (very dry) pale sherry. We think fans of Swartland wines should reacquaint themselves with sherry, which is an oxidised wine, matured in barrels for several years. It is delicious and a lovely aperitif
Then on to the Champagne stand to taste three Roederers. The Millesime was quite wonderful, mature, deep full of citrus and buttery lees and still lots of promise
We also tasted the Benoit Lahaye and Gratio Champagnes
and the Jacquinot Champagnes. Reciprocal is the importer of these French marques
Owner and MD of Reciprocal, Michael Fridjhon tells us about the wines on show
It was a very well attended tasting with lots of sommeliers, hoteliers, restaurateurs and media. We so enjoyed tasting both the Burgundy Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays and other white Burgundies. When Lynne tasted the famous Corton Charlemagne again, she could see the style that so many of the South African chardonnays are aiming to emulate as the beautiful minerality of this crisp elegant wine shines
It was also interesting to taste Cloudy Bay - so jam packed with asparagus, tinned peas and acidity and other similar New Zealand Sauvignons Blanc. We think we offer more variety with our local Sauvignon Blancs. The Bordeaux reds were amazing, but still too young to drink. They have layers of flavour, but lots and lots of chalky tannins to protect them. Some are still closed and need time to age and develop. You have to buy and put them away for a few years and hope to see the reward
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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