South Africa goes sparkling

The sparkling wine Simonsig from South Africa I had during New Years made me interested in South African wines so I had the chance to try two more wines.

First up is another wine from producer Simonsig, a chardonnay from 2013. Very nice wine with a taste of butter, citrus and some apples. Yet another good wine from this producer. Will have to check them up more.

South Africa also produces sparkling wine the Boschendal brut is my first taste of South African sparkling wine. This sparkling wine is made of the grapes Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, the typical champagne grapes. But this sparkling wine left me dissapointed. Sure it has bubbles and some bread taste but nothing else. There are much better sparkling wines around.

One much better sparkling wine is Doppis from 2012 by producer Tre Monti from the area Colli D'Imola in Italy. It is made from the local grape Pignoletto and is slighty sparkling since the name Pignoletto Frizzante. It has a very good taste, bread and citrus and tastes like a more expensive sparkling wine. Excellent. I think that Pignoletto wines are underestimated.

New Year is sparkling

Sparkling wines and new year go hand in hand and this year is no different. The first sparkling wine were a champagne, namely a Taittinger Millesime from 2004. I bought it five years ago and it was time to try it now. The bouquet was wonderful, a lot of floral notes. The taste were of strong notes of citrus, bread and apples. It had a very long lingering aftertaste. Excellent champagne.

The second sparkling wine of the evening were a South African sparkling wine. From producer Simonsig comes Kaapse Vonkel Brut from 2011. A first time for me. Very good wine. Complex taste with citrus and some almost smokiness in the aftertaste. Delightful, I hope I can taste it again soon. The grapes used in this were the same as used in Champagnes (Pinot noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier.)

The evening finished with Cremant D'Alsace and a bottle of Kabir (Moscato di Pantelleria) from producer Donnafugata. The Kabir taste better now after a year of storage so will the last bottle taste better in one years time? Only time will tell.