CORKAGE: SOUTH AFRICAN CHENIN BLANC - IN ASPEN
So, it was Saturday afternoon in Aspen, at the Food & Wine Classic, and I'd already done quite a bit of drinking (not just wine, a decent amount of tequila as well). I wanted a nap badly. I passed by the tent where a South African wine tasting was well underway. In fact, it was almost over -- maybe five minutes to go. Greedy for knowledge (and alcohol?) I figured I could slip in with my press pass, sit down at an unoccupied place which still had all six wines poured out and untouched, and slurp them down real fast. Again, for the sake of knowledge.
The first wine was a sauvignon blanc, it smelled okay, tasted like nothing special, and I dutifully spit it out. I took a whiff of the second wine, the only other white in the line up. Hello! I tasted it. Hello hello hello! I wrote one word on my tasting notes "Whoa".
I tasted the reds, some nice ones, but it was that second white that I couldn't get past. I looked in my big Aspen book to see what the wine was, when the guy next to was nice enough to inform me that the wines listed in the book were not all accurate. I asked about the second wine, and he said that indeed the wine tasted was not listed in the book, but that the winemaker himself was on the panel.
The tasting ended and I went up to the winemaker: Ken Forrester. I asked what the wine was: it was the FMC (Forrester Meinert Chenin). I showed Ken my tasting note. I kvelled.
click here for video of Ken on FMC and S.A. chenin blanc
It's kind of an unbelievable wine. I'm not a huge Chenin blanc drinker, but this wine may change that. I am tasting it again now as I think about it. My mouth is literally making sipping sounds. The wine's unctuous and luscious and at the same time there's an acidity that makes you want to drink and drink. It's a big wine, but elegant and light on its feet. The flavors are reminiscent of dried apricots and honey but there's a firmess and a zip, and some dried leaves and herbs, and it comes across like a completely dry white wine, like there's no residual sugar at all (which there is). Most of all, it's got that wonderful roundness which for me is the core quality of all truly great beverages, good water included. I have the feeling I could go through a bottle with a friend in about 15 minutes. I can't wait to try it with a meal.
Maybe I'll bring a bottle to Sona this Friday night -- if I can find one by then.
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2006, and I’m still trying to find it in L.A. I’ve been trading calls with the distributor and it’s not in any of my go-to wine shops, even though I know it’s still available in general. I’d find it and drink it.
What year was it?
Thanks for the tips.
I love South African chenin blanc, been drinking a lot of it – it’s such a great QPR. Cederberg was one that really blew me away. Also had a great chenin blanc dessert wine at my last South Africa tasting – a “straw wine” called from Fairview called La Beryl. Really great.
Yeah, you’re referring to the Late Harvest Chenin, also exquisite, but maybe a bit less surprising. The navel would take it to the next level though.
It was amazingly delicious…however the white dessert wine blew me away, and Ken was spot on with his comment on drinking the wine from a lover’s navel…now all I have to do is find me a good woman…oh and find the wine as well, a trip to South Africa may be in order…