Wonderful wine tasting at Ken Forrester Wines yesterday. We went there to secure some of the Chenin Blanc that bagged the Decanter Best in Class award in this year’s competition, and instead, discovered some delicious wines in a warm and cozy setting.
You’re supposed to call ahead and book if you want the cheese platter with your tasting but we rocked up without a booking, and although the kitchen was closed the staff still managed to rustle up a snack platter for us which was probably one of the best I’ve had. Lovely selection of cheeses, fig and orange preserves, breads and biscuits, and wagyu biltong. The snack platter was so sumptuous we cancelled our plans for lunch.
You can choose from different wine tasting combinations – one of our party had the Reserve tasting, and I had the Iconic tasting.
There were some delicious wines on the Iconic tasting. The estate is renown for it’s Chenin Blanc’s, and my favorites were the FMC and the Dirty Little Secret. My favorite red was Three Halves.
I loved Dirty Litte Secret but thought it was a bit pricey to take home.
I was making notes on the wines while tasting and somehow the voice to text suddenly activated on my phone so this was my notes on FMC, exactly as it ended up on my notepad:
“FMC – their flagship – Rich coating on the tongue and then hits the back of the pallete with a bit of a bitter smack. Delicious. Syrupy. Thank you for comparison else covered with a piece of brick”
I’m not going to tell you what we were talking about at the time, but I did buy a few bottles of the 2007 FMC. The unofficial name for this wine is F**ing Magic Chenin and it is.
The Three Halves is a red blend, with meaty aromas – tastes like eating a chauciture in a glass.
My best discovery though, was the Stained Glass bubbly.
My wife is extremely allergic to sulphites in alcohol, so much so that she erupts like a three year old with a head cold after so much as one sip of wine made with sulphites – basically 99% of the wines out there. Even the Organic ones. The Stained Glass bubbly is made in Methode Ancestrale, and has a sticker on it that says 0% sulphites, so my wife gave it a try. Apart from tasting absolutely delicious, like a tiny goblet of bubbly strawberries and cream, my wife had no reaction to the wine. So for all of you out there with wine allergies, put this one on your list.
There’s no restaurant on this estate, but there are plenty nearby. Book your tasting in advance, definitely book the snack platter, and if there’s more than one of you doing the tastings, get the Reserve and Iconic tasting and share. The Stained Glass is not on any of the tasting options. You have to order a bottle but it’s well worth it.
