the do's and don'ts of wineTASTING

Hi All

Me again, Arno. Time for a bit of education before the December holidays...If you want to look cool in front of your friends and family:

So here it is, the "don'ts" of wine tasting:
　
Don't wear aftershave / perfume - The scent of the aftershave will interfere with the smell of the wine. No one will ever take you seriously again if you say that your Chardonnay shows subtle yet elegant hints of Britney Spears - Curious!

Don't brush your teeth - The taste of toothpaste tends to stay in your mouth for quite some time after a brush, and will definitely affect the taste of the wine. If you did brush your teeth, eat a cracker biscuit and rinse your mouth with water to try and get rid of the toothpaste aftertaste.

Don't wear lipstick - Ladies, this is especially important when you are tasting sparkling wine. Believe it or not, lipstick makes the bubbles disappear at a much quicker rate than they normally would. Lipstick marks also doesn't look very nice on a wine glass, so should you insist on wearing it, make sure it is smudge proof.

Don't eat any strong foods like cheese, eggs, vinegar or peppermints before or during your tasting - Strong and overpowering foods will dull your pallet and deaden your taste buds, which will change the taste of the wine completely. Eating an apple is a very good way of cleansing your pallet.

When rinsing your mouth with water during a wine tasting, make sure that the water is at room temperature. Water that is too cold will numb your taste buds, and you won't be able to taste as effectively. Water that is too hot, might burn your mouth.
　
Hope this was insightful!!!

Till next time

Arno Albertyn
(Winemaker)

Windy Months

Hope you all are well. So sorry for being so quiet the past few months. I was in France for the harvest and have been busy ever since. This year has been GREAT for Knorhoek, winning alot of accolades at the various competitions in South Africa and abroad. Finally we have a range of wines where all of them are performing. 3 Gold Medals, 1 Diamond Award, 3 SA National Terroir Awards including best Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc in Stellenbosch, a few silvers and bronzes, to mention but a few. As winemaker, it is the nicest thing to hear that people enjoy your wines and that is why I want to thank you for your support these past 12 months. We all know that the recession is taking its toll, but with support like yours we can't complain. From my side I will do my best to ensure the quality is kept as is and the prices to match your budget.Well, this was not only a year for the wines. We openend our NEW restaurant. Some of you may know it as "Die Lapa" and some of you even my have been married there, but, as time goes on and the world is changing, so have we. The new venue is called "Towerbosch". What an amazing and DIFFERENT venue. Hansie and his team did a great job in creating something for the imagination. Besides a choice of scrumptious menus for the functions, Towerbosch is open delicious for lunches from Wednesday to Sunday. The Sunday Asado braai, South African style is not to be missed – particularly for the carnivores! . Some nice "boerekos" being served, yum yum.As you all may know, the Cape has had some strange weather these past few weeks. First a gale force wind that did huge damage

to
our vineyards, followed by rain for almost 2 weeks - WINTER RAIN in Summer. Oh no, still early to say, but most of us winemakers believe that 2010 is going to be difficult... ONLY TIME WILL TELL. So please guys, hold thumbs...See you soonArno Albertyn(winemaker)

Harvest is OVER

SUMMER: The time when winemakers are not as palatable as their wines. This is a time when we are irritated, short tempered and just plain unpleasant to be around. We are usually stressed out of our shoes and we call this period of time “harvest”.

BUT 2009 has proven the opposite here at Knorhoek. Finally a year when everything came together. No sleepless nights, no breakage in the cellar and no work stress.

Such a pleasant harvest deserves a prize and the Emmy/Oscar goes to (drum roll), A GREAT CELLAR TEAM!!

This year we were assisted by two students from the University of Stellenbosch, Andre en Stephan. With an already excellent team consisting of Cornelius who finished his SKOP 3 course at Elsenburg and with over 30 years of winemaking experience; he was always somebody to count on and also my eyes when I was busy in the vineyards. And then there is Willempie who finished his SKOP 1 and also completed a year long government wine program. Willempie always ensures that the job gets done. The two students (Andre en Stephan) brought something new to the table. That extra something that is probably the most important aspect in winemaking: TIME.

The Sauvignon – and Chenin Blancs had a nice, long fermentation which is good for white wines and the reds had enough time on the skins, some for up to 37 days.

Time also allowed me to do some experiments which came out great. It gave me the opportunity to oversee everything to assure that breakage was kept to a minimum, to see that the grapes were picked at optimum time, to make sure that everybody knew what to do and to choose the perfect oaks for the wines. Time gave me the opportunity to do everything on time.

But of course, none of this could have been done without the team, I call them “The A-team!” My Oscar winners!