Passion

Think of all the hits I will get with that title.

Had dinner with one of the most passionate, good guy winemakers in the world the other night, Bruwer Raats of Raats Family Vineyards of South Africa. He makes what he likes and he makes them world class and keeps the price to quality ration extremely consumer friendly.

He loves Chenin Blanc for white wine. He loves Cabernet Franc for red wine. He makes two Chenin Blancs. An un-oaked version that retails for $14.99 has perfect balance between fruit and minerality. What does minerality taste like? Try his Chenin Blanc! This is the ideal wine for summer sipping on hot days with a variety of salads and finger foods. Take time to smell the glass when empty, the aroma of golden delicious apple in harmony with peach is amazing.

His slightly wood aged Chenin Blanc retails for $24.99. This has some additional aromas and flavors of earth and mushroom with the apple-peach minerality. It was served with a 4 different appetizer plate. Any wine that can handle rhubarb, chicken livers, Andouille sausage and spicey calamari can handle just about any dish. It fits nicely in between over the top Chardonnay and refreshingly light Sauvignon Blanc. It lets the chef get credit for his food, but the wine stands up on its own.

Raats Family Cabernet Franc is $34.99. You can drink this or, for $349.99, you can drink Cheval Blanc. At a recent "brown-bag" even, I couldn't tell them apart. So either I stink as a wine taster, or the Raats is wicked good. At the dinner, it was served with a pan seared Rib-eye steak. Awesome! The 2007 in the market now is a bit rougher around the edges. With food it was perfect. I have put a few bottles in my cellar waiting for time to smooth out the wine. The 2006 is already smooth.

Now if you do want to spend a lot of money, Raats makes a wine in partnership with his friend Mvemve, the first black winemaker college graduate. The have a wine called MR de Compostella. Rough translation, compostion of the stars. They take the 5 great grapes of Bordeaux, vinify them separately, and then create a blend based not on quantity that they bought, but on the QUALITY of each individual barrel. The final blend is never the same. Each vintage is unique. There are only 400 cases of this wine. It ages amazing. At the event we drank the 2004. It has won a bunch of awards around the world. If you can find any of them, buy them. I am sold out. I begged him for some more. Time will tell if grovelling works.