I popped into a few wine farms today during Franschhoek Uncorked today. It’s a festival where wineries offer music, food and leisure activities on their farms in the hope of attracting carloads of Capetonians. And hopefully sell a lot of wine…
Môreson wines were in good company on Happy Valley Road with Bread & Wine Vineyard Restaurant converting into “market stalls” selling fresh produce, buffalo mozzarella, homemade boerewors rolls and my favourite - Neil Jewell’s delicious softly poached Scotch eggs (coated in pork, sage and onion sausagemeat and a strip of homemade bacon). We stocked up on extra Scotch eggs (R15 each) and saucisson Sec to eat at home.
My visit to Lynx Wines was a first. It won’t be the last. I’ve heard wonderful stories about the personal wine experience people receive when they arrive at Dieter Sellmeyer’s small tasting room opposite his vineyards. Peeping into the cellar I’m not sure if it qualifies as a micro-winery, but with red wines punched down in cement tanks and a few wines vinified in a couple of tiny stainless steel tanks, it should be!
German-born engineer-turned winemaker Sellmeyer was raised in Spain, studied in the UK and has worked in a few countries around the world before deciding to put down roots – literally – in Franschhoek soils. Three attractive daughters and a few friends were roped in to dispense tapas to the crowds today.
Spanish-style calamari strips in chilli, and skewered prawns with lime were both delicious with the Lynx Viognier 2009 (R90). Confession: I don’t enjoy most Viogniers as the variety’s stone fruit overtones are often drowned in new oak, reminding me of a reduction of apricot Liqui Fruit instead of white wine. Even if a winemaker incorporates two or three percent of Viognier in a wine I often sniff it out. The Lynx Viognier was such a refreshing change and I happily drank more than a glass. The Lynx secret to refreshing Viognier is sandy soils, and only fermenting and maturing 50 percent of the grapes in barrel; the rest from the tank. Delicious stuff.
I can recommend the Lynx Shiraz 2007 too. Again planted in those sandy soils, acting as a natural vigour control to keep yields low, this vintage made it into WINE magazine’s 2009 Shiraz Challenge top five. Expect a lovely savoury quality, perhaps biltong with coriander seeds. It’s as elegant as its Viognier counterpart, thanks to the use of second and third-fill barrels. Nice price too for a red at R90 per bottle.
BREAD & WINE VINEYARD RESTAURANT, Happy Valley Road, Franschhoek. Tel 021 876 3692, http://www.moreson.co.za/
LYNX WINES, Wemmershoek R301 Road, Franschhoek. Tel 021 867 0406, http://www.lynxwines.co.za/