South African Wine Dinner

A fine group of gourmands asked me to host a wine dinner at the Oregon Club tonight, Wed. May 12th. The wine theme was South African reds. We ordered off the menu.

The 2008 DMZ Shiraz was the steal and deal. Retailing for $14.99 at the store, it has more French stylings than Aussie. It does has some fruit, but not the over the top ripe blackberry commonly found in Aussie wines at this price range. The DMZ has more complexity, like a Rhone, but none of the barnyard stink, that many people like. It is clean, with balance between fruit, alcohol and acidity. It worked very nicely with a delicious bowl of Bolognese. Later in the evening, when I snatched a last glass, it had developed more flavors and richness. Probably worth more than twice the price. I called in and ordered a ton more.

Something I ordered a ton of in March but it didn't come in til yesterday was the Graham Beck 2008 Pinotage, the hit of the Cape show. Alas and alack, the 2008 was lacking, really lacking, they shipped in the 2009. No more 2008! I was ticked!! So I tasted the 2009 with this group and it didn't taste bad. Many times Pinotage has an unpleasant aroma that never goes away. This one was clean, but, it was in shipping shock stage. To quote Elvis, it was all shook up. I will reserve judgement on this wine for about a month to see how it calms down. I am mildly optimistic.

The BIG hit of the night was the 2002 Sadie Family Columella. A meticulous picking of Syrah and Mourvedre grapes from the Swartland region of South Africa yields one of the country's best wines. $100.00 a bottle and worth it. You can use all the great wine buzz words to describe this wine and you still need more. I had the world famous Oregon Club sirloin cooked in a pan that is over 100 years old. The wine food pairing was better than Fred and Ginger, or even Fred and Wilma.