Drunk!

I’ve always wanted to blend wine. To be honest, it’s the only bit of winemaking which has ever interested me as I love my sleep far too much to do round-the-clock punchdowns and simply cannot be bothered with all the legwork of crushing, fermenting, pumping etc etc which making a bottle of wine involves. But I am quite keen on the subtle art – or science, depending on your view – of blending so when Klaas Coetzee of Swartland Winery invited me to join his friend Hugo Basson for a spot of magical mixing, I was straight up the N7 with no further delay.

Hugo Basson is one of three brothers who farm and make wine at Annex Kloof in Swartland and our fellow blenders were the Swartland’s newest and most outspoken ‘winemaker’, Sunday Times journo Neil Pendock and his partner Luan. Hugo has a barrel of Neil’s wine waiting for release and before we got down to the blending, we tasted it and a few other oddities including a fabulous barrel-fermented, oxidative-style Sauvignon and Hugo’s baby – the Malbec which was particularly delish.

I have never blended wine before but it seemed to me important that I knew what the difference was between the batches on offer, so I immediately tasted each component on its own and jotted down a note or two. We had three different Shirazes and a Mourvedre and the goal was to make a flagship Rhone blend for Annex Kloof. My first attempt was too heavy on the Mourvedre and in fact all of us agreed that Luan – the only non- wine professional there – had actually made the best blend. A slight adjustment to add a little extra length and structure to the wine and – voila! A totally more-ish fab and groovy wine!

Over lunch at Barry’s Barrel & Beef (‘the ONLY place to eat in Malmesbury’) we drank Hugo’s ridiculously-priced Sauvignon Blanc which he didn’t quite know what to do with – it’s had 9 months on the lees, comes unlabelled in a screwcap and sells for a stupidly cheap R25 (give him a call on 083 284 8645 and go and get some – it’s totally worth it!) and chatted about what he should call his new wine. Any suggestions gratefully received!