Franschhoek Uncorked pops out at Solms-Delta
Spring has been a little late coming to the Boland this year. The weather on the weekend of 4 September, date of the Franschhoek Uncorked Festival, started off looking threatening enough to pop the corks right back in the thousands of bottles of wine that awaited the festival-goers. So the staff at the Fyndraai restaurant stood about a bit nervously as the first musical act, the Klein Handjies mini-choir from the crèche, assembled on stage. By the time the ultra-cute choristers, all decked out in the blue and white klopse costumes, started to sing at 12.:30 a trickle of guests had started to come in. By 13:00 it was a stream, and at 13:30 Annelize, the manager of Fyndraai rallied her troops, “Get your takkies on, we’ve got a flood here!” Extra tables were set up on the lawn and a steady flow of Kaapse kos was soon issuing from chef Shaun Schoeman’s kitchen.
A celebration van die Kaap at Solms-Delta for Franschhoek Uncorked
Welcome Spring with a visit to Solms-Delta wine estate during the Franschhoek Uncorked festivities over the weekend of 4th and 5th September.
The wine meander is one of the Valley’s annual highlights and participating farms proudly welcome visitors to enjoy their own special wines, food and entertainment. Take a turn into Delta road off the R45 where a celebration of everything ‘van die Kaap’ awaits you at Solms-Delta: Kaapse music, Kaapsekos and Kaapse wine.
Wine tasting can be enjoyed with a wine pairing option where, for R50 per person a wonderful selection of delicious Cape snacks and local cheeses can be ordered. The food will be paired with each of the Solms wines and comes with pairing notes to take home and keep.
Community music development project launch in Kylemore
“The Hills are Alive to the Sound of Music” memorably sang Julie Andrews to the Hills of the Tyrol as she attempted to instill the love of music into the von Trapp family kids. Well, much the same thing is happening on Solms-Delta “The Mountains are Alive to the Sound of Jazz” sings Adriaan Brand. Not quite as sweetly as Julie Andrews, but every bit as persuasive and he blows a mean trumpet too! And his music family is growing by the day.
The Drakenstein Mountains and the impressive Devil’s Face to the west have been ringing to the sounds of the various groups in the Solms-Delta Music Education programme for some time. Now, thanks to a generous grant from the Department of Arts and Culture, the programme has expanded to include Pniel and the adjacent village of Kylemore.
Dik Delta Culinary Gardens bears fruit at Solms-Delta
A treasury of nearly forgotten indigenous plants and trees is now firmly rooted at the new Dik Delta Fynbos Reserve, on Franschhoek’s Solms-Delta Wine Estate, thanks to the collaborative efforts of plant and cultural preservationists. At the heart of the reserve is a Fynbos Culinary Garden, its beds yielding edible plants and herbs used in the heritage cuisine of the estate’s Fyndraai restaurant.
Dik Delta was officially opened on Thursday 19 August 2010 with the staff of the reserve lighting a huge bonfire performing a traditional Khoe blessing ceremony.
August Cellar Door Special
Our August half case promotion (from the tasting room, email or phone orders) is three bottles of Solms-Delta Hiervandaan 2006 and three Solms-Astor Cape Jazz Shiraz for R300! The perfect winter party partners, whether you are staying in or going out! Buy it at the farm (open 7 days a week) or phone 021-874 3937 or, to have it delivered to your door email your order through now to Therese on orders@solms-delta.co.za.
Hiervandaan CD Launch CT Fri 13th
Join us for a musical treat on Friday 13 August for the launch of Solms-Delta artist-in-residence Les Javan & die Delta Vastrap Genootskap’s Hiervandaan CD, hosted by Rhythm Records, at the Dorpstraat Teatre Kafee on the R44, Summerhill Farm Stellenbosch. (GPS 33.52.57.63 South / 18.50.49.66 East). R120 per ticket, with an a la carte menu available. To book call Michelle at 021-8899158 or 0727355696.
Woman’s Day Weekend
We’re celebrating Women throughout the long weekend from Saturday 7 to Monday 9 August, with a special menu at Fyndraai, gifts for girls and a fabulous Facebook competition with a prize that’s redeemable anytime during August.
On our Facebook page every fan who nominates the most inspiring woman they know (with a short explanation why) will be sent a R80 voucher to spend at Solms-Delta during the month of August. We’ll vote on Facebook for the best entry to determine the most inspiring Woman and the nominee will receive a R400 voucher to spend at Fyndraai restaurant during the months of August or September, or on any of our wines from the estate.
AND there’s more…. Any Facebook fan (females only of course!) who books at Fyndraai for lunch on the 9th will get a free bottle of Cape Jazz Shiraz – tell us when you make the booking that you are a fan on Facebook and give us your Facebook Name!
AND yet more….. Anyone who spends R650 or more in our Tasting Room over those three days will get a free Solms-Delta T-shirt or Sporty Water Bottle. Our 50th visitor to the farm on the 9th will also receive a gift of our new Hiervandaan CD.
Fyndraai Feast!
Our special Woman’s Day Menu will be available at Fyndraai on Saturday 7, Sunday 8 and Monday 9 August and all ladies will receive a glass of Cape Jazz Shiraz and a red rose. Feast on Curried tiger prawn and smoked snoek cakes or a warm spicy root vegetable soup for starters; freshly baked pickled line fish, local lamb curry or vegetable rice masala for mains, and end off with vermiceli flavoured with rose water, stewed prunes and cardamom ice cream for dessert. R150 for two course selection and three for R195. Call Annalize on 021 874 3937 ext 115 to book. Click here to see the full menu.
Twin lambs Coffee & Cappuccino born on Solms-Delta this week!
On February 11 we reported that a small herd of fat-tailed sheep had arrived at Solms-Delta. On Sunday afternoon the herd was augmented by two. By twins, to be exact.
Bastille Day Parade
Bastille Festival Saturday 17 & Sunday 18 July - Make your way to Franschhoek over the weekend of 17th and 18th July for the annual Bastille Festival. As part of the celebrations on Saturday 17 July, starting at 11.30am, the Delta Valley Entertainers will lead the people of Solms-Delta down the main road of Franschhoek. This newly formed marching band is currently the proud flagship of the Music van de Caab project and was formed when the Delta Bluestars (previously the project’s largest musical ensemble) merged with the Pniel Brass Band. Follow in their footsteps to the Food and Wine Marquee and enjoy a Shiraz-themed tasting (R4 per coupon) of Cape Jazz Shiraz, Hiervandaan, Africana and of course the new Gemoedsrus (for R25 for a glass), at the Solms-Delta stand. You can also buy our wine at a special Festival wholesale price! Head Chef Shaun from Fyndraai will also be there pairing with snoek and pepperdew twister as well as smoked beef and biltong. Come and join in the fun and festivities as Franschhoek celebrates Liberty, Equality and Fraternity in our Winelands, our country and world wide.
GEMOEDSRUS … ‘something new from Africa’
Pliny the Elder’s famous words - Ex Africa semper aliquid novi (’there is always something new from Africa’) – have never been more true, especially in view of the fact that they originally derived from a similar observation by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle.
Solms-Delta first re-discovered the ancient Greek practice of desiccating grapes on the vine with a portion of the Shiraz component in their 2004 Hiervandaan blend. Next we introduced a white blend – Amalie — with another desiccated component (Grenache blanc), which we progressively increased over several vintages. We likewise increased the desiccated Shiraz component in the Hiervandaan. Then took the bigger step of introducing 100% desiccated wines: a Muscat-led blend called Koloni and a single varietal Shiraz called Africana. Now, in what must surely be the culmination of this process, we introduce a triple whammy of innovation: a fortified, desiccated Shiraz called Gemoedsrus.
Gemoedsrus is truly ‘something new from Africa’. Its closest relative is the fortified (port) wine of Portugual; but there are many differences. First, whereas port is typically made from Tinto’s or Touriga’s, Gemoedsrus is made from Shiraz (a grape that does brilliantly in South Africa). Second, whereas port is typically made from conventionally harvested grapes, Gemoedsrus is made from grapes that were desiccated on the vine (see below). And third, whereas port wine is typically fortified with brandy, Gemoedsrus is fortified with husk spirits (grappa) made from residues of the desiccated Shiraz bunches from which the wine itself was fermented. The resulting product is something completely different … and dangerously delicious.
The name Gemoedsrus (‘Peace of mind’) extends another Solms-Delta tradition: their ongoing commitment to the Cape’s unique musical heritage. The name refers to the title track of the last album of Cape Band - Gramadoelas, produced by Les Javan and Alex van Heerden, who was resident musician at Solms-Delta from 2007 until his death. Alex was responsible for researching and recording the old traditional folk songs of the rural Cape, as well as writing new ones with Solms-Delta’s farmworkers and the Delta Vastrap Genootskap. He was tragically killed in 2009, in a car accident, at the young age of 35, just weeks before the Gemoedsrus album was released. Les Javan, who wrote and composed the song Gemoedsrus, now continues the work as artist in residence at Solms-Delta.
Master winemaker, Hilko Hegewisch, who crafted this new South African wine in Alex’s honour, insists: “Gemoedsrus is not a port; I refuse to call it that”. “I believe that we make wines with a much stronger sense of place, and this is a very individual and unusual South African wine.”
The Shiraz grapes were desiccated (dried out) on the vine by clamping the stems of the bunches several weeks before harvesting, which was done in two tranches. While the second tranche was being fermented (in 300 liter barrels with their domes removed) into a wine very similar to Solms-Delta’s Africana, Hilko distilled the skins of the desiccated Shiraz bunches that had been harvested a few weeks earlier into a husk spirit (grappa), which he then used to fortify the wine once its sugars had reached the appropriate level. The final step was a brief period of maturation in new French oak barrels.
“We see the Gemoedsrus as the next logical step in our search for truly local wines” says Hilko, who points out that he used only Solms-Delta’s own, very best Shiraz grapes for this flagship experiment.
“We aim to capture the intense and concentrated fruit flavours that desiccation delivers, and use them to produce wines with both elegance and power. Gemoedsrus really encapsulates the whole Solms-Delta story, and is therefore a very suitable tribute to that young man who loved this place so much.”
The Gemoedsrus fortified wine is an elegant but potent affair, with complex flavours of raisins, white pepper, black cherries, leather and dark chocolate, all enlivened by a distinctively delicious twist of orange peel. Well-integrated alcohol gives off whiffs of warm brioche and a smooth, long, silky finish that rounds off the wine with previously unknown pleasures.
Chef Shaun Schoeman from Fyndraai restaurant on Solms-Delta estate recommends pairing it with farmhouse cheeses or rich, dark chocolate desserts. Mark Solms, on the other hand considers it to be a vino di meditazione – a wine for thinking with. Gemoedsrus sells from the farm and at specialist wine retailers for R188.
Desiccation – a Mediterranean tradition rediscovered in Franschhoek
The ancient art of desiccation was revived at Solms-Delta in 2004. First used by the Ancient Greeks, desiccation was fashionable until the fall of the Roman empire. Throughout the Middle Ages in Europe, and still today, its only remnant is the famous Reciotos and Amarones of the Valpolicella (‘valley of many cellars’). This is due to the fact that when new European wine cultures emerged in the cooler and damper climes of France and Germany, weather conditions did not support the method (which is probably what gave rise to the ‘noble rot’ that characterizes the equivalent wines of these regions).
Solms-Delta has been using desiccated grapes for its flagship wines, Hiervandaan, Amalie, Africana and Koloni. The desiccated proportion was increased gradually in the Hiervandaan and Amalie, until Africana and Koloni were introduced, which are made entirely from desiccated grapes – in a unique style from South Africa. Gemoedsrus is the culmination of this process.
The desiccation method reduces the water content by as much as 40%, concentrating the juice while simultaneously retaining good acidity and assuring full ripeness, leading to intensely-flavoured and deeper-coloured wines. These factors contribute significantly to the wines’ longevity.
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