Name dropping in Zululand

It's a wine affair.

When Zululanders get together for wine club it tends to be a jolly affair. Our particular wine club has been in existence for close to 23 years, with members coming and going, and a hard core that has quaffed through the past 21 years. 

Larry & Anita Stevens, originally from Mkuze, have religiously attended, as has the oldest teenager in Zululand, Rob Stock (he’s 61 BTW).

Left: Larry with Gavin and Bridget Dixon from Hluhluwe River Lodge.

We don’t pretend to know our wines, although as the evening progresses we do become cleverer. Our notes prove it. If you can read them. And, yes, we do have a ‘Wine File.’

Grant and Colette Tracy, of Tracy & Du PlessisGame Capture, hosted our November tasting.

The vineyard chosen was Rijk’s in Tulbach. Colette was doing a bit of name dropping as the wine maker, Pierre Wahl, is aangenaaide familie. An Afrikaans expression claiming complicated family connections. Marriage is involved somewhere along the line.

Rijk's produces older vintage fine food wines to satisfy the sophisticated palate of wine enthusiasts from around the world. Elegance, finesse, complexity and concentration of fruit are the hallmarks of their wines. And they didn’t disappoint our experienced palates.

Our host, Grant, took his presentation very seriously, having invested heavily in these somewhat pricey wines that had been shipped to Zululand for this function. He was constantly interrupted by a bleating baby goat desperate for her next bottle, followed by the baa-ing of her companion, an orphaned lamb. Both confused as to whether they are sheep, goat, dog, chicken or human.This was accompanied by a rather ruffled cockerel who had clearly lost his last fight. 
To top it all, the gods were moving furniture. Being farmers, we temporarily lost concentration. The promise of rain does that to us. We were rewarded with a huge clap of thunder and a bolt of lightning …. and a spot of rain. 

Such is life in Zululand.

But I digress.

We were treated to Rijk’s signature varieties being 
Chenin Blanc, Pinotage and Shiraz. 
Each having 3 categories:

Larry, who normally sniffs at a Pinotage, found it challenging to criticize this fine wine.

We sipped, we tasted, we inhaled the perfect bouquets and 
we all agreed that every single wine we tasted was delicious.

Speaking of which, we then had an amazing lunch produced by Colette.

The next morning, with hardly a hangover between us (good wine is kind like that) we wandered around the farm with its many creatures. Some of whom are porkers. I confess that I ooh-ed and aah-ed at the piglets and exclaimed 
“OMG is that what we ate yesterday?” 
We had beef. 
Well, that was awkward.

‘till we meet again, cheers, and thanks Grant and Col 
for another memorable wine tasting!

Above: Brian and Denise Blevin from Shayamoya

Below: Author with the oldest teenager in Zululand.