White Wine Capensis Chardonnay 2015. No need to decant. The Capensis winery, owned by the Jackson family since 2014, owes its name to the Latin translation of the definition “from the Cape This is one of the most important Chardonnay producers in all of South Africa, and its vineyards extend over nearly 20 acres on the granite and arenaceous soils of the best sites in the Stellenbosch, Overberg, and Robertson regions. Chardonnay Capensis is produced in the Western Cape wine region of South Africa. The grapes selected by the winemaker Graham Weerts and by Rosa Kruger, a world-famous vineyard director, come from the best vineyards that Western Cape has to offer for this grape variety. Capensis Chardonnay ages for ten months in French oak. This wine is fragrant and fresh and shows an elegant aromatic profile with scents of citrus, tropical fruit, and vanilla, combined with floral notes. The lemon flavors reappear on the palate and are wonderfully balanced by a nice acidity and a slight saline note. Its rich texture gives it an exceptional mouthfeel and makes it an excellent partner to first courses with seafood, but also fish or poultry served with white sauces. The finish is long and persistent.
2015
White Wine Capensis Chardonnay 2015
White Wine Castello di Volpaia Vin Santo del Chianti Classico 2015. Serve slightly chilled. The modern history of Castello di Volpaia begins in 1972 when the winery was given as a wedding gift to Carlo and Giovannella Mascheroni by Giovannella’s father, Raffaello Stianti. Since then the couple have completely modernised the winemaking facilities and replanted much of the estate vineyards while still preserving the beauty of the 11th century walled village. Today the winery is best known for being Chianti’s highest altitude producer with vineyards set at 400 to 640 metres above sea level. This helps give their wines a distinctive elegance and freshness along with plenty of polished fruit. The signature house style continues with their opulent single vineyard Vin Santo which is made from top quality Trebbiano and Malvasia Bianca del Chianti fruit from their tiny 1.53 acre Casalino vineyard. The wine is made according to labour-intensive traditional methods, with the best grapes carefully selected, harvested in bunches, and hung from the rafters to dry out over the winter. The fruit is then vinified in small oak barrels where it is left to mature for five years before bottling. This complex process gives the wine its stunning amber hue, intense sweetness, and seductive notes of ripe apricots, cane sugar, toasted almonds and tropical fruit. A great wine to enjoy instead of dessert or alongside fruit-based puddings and tarts.
2015
White Wine Krauthaker Kuvlakhe Grasevina 2015. Located in the winemaking region of Kutjevo in eastern Croatia where wine has been made since at least 1232, Krauthaker winery was founded in 1992 with just 1 hectare of land. Today the estate has grown to encompass 110 hectares and specialises in the Grasevina grape, the local name for Welschriesling. The vineyards are planted on the slopes of Krndija with excellent sun exposure and top quality soils which allow them to produce a range of styles ranging from crisp, dry white wines to sweet late harvest Grasevina. This bottling is made as an orange wine with the must left to macerate on the grape skins for 60 days. This extended skin contact helps to extract plenty of aromas, flavour and tannins from the grape skins, producing a robust and characterful wine which opens up and evolves in the glass over time. Dried apricots, baked apple, bright citrus and seaweed dominate on the nose, while the first sip reveals a generous full body, subtle tannins and well-defined structure. On the palate there are multiple layers of flavour, moving from dried fruits and tropical fruit to herbs, hints of leather, and wild mushrooms. The complexity makes this a great wine to pair with food, especially roasted chicken, goat cheeses, or fish dishes served with a rich sauce.
2015