Right… We waited a year for this.  Literally scheming about how we’re going to pay for THE event of the year on the wine calendar.  We scraped, begged, borrowed and … well you get the drift, and we’re here in Riebeek Kasteel on 11.11.11 (the hippies get quite excited about the date, I get excited because the date means the Swartland Revolution!)

The afternoon kicked off with a nice relaxed bottle of Bosman Chenin Blanc Sur Lie 2009 at the Royal Hotel.  If there’s one weak point of the Revolution, then it’s the fact that the Royal Hotel is the venue for the event.  Nothing wrong with how things look, but the hotel’s arrogance is beyond compare.  We drank a Wellington Chenin Blanc, because the hotel says they don’t stock local wine as they cater for an international clientele…  Have you ever heard bigger horseshit than that?  The Chenin went down like a homesick mole however, and we moved on to some Pongracz (sadly the only MCC on the mediocre wine list of the hotel).  By the time registration for the event was finished, and things were starting to move along we were 100% oiled for a proper Northern Rhone tasting.

Domain Clape in Cornas is a family run operation that is considered a bench mark of the Cornas appellation.  Cornas is a small appellation, with only about 120 ha under vine.  No other varietal, other than Syrah, is allowed to be labelled as Cornas, so strict control is in place.  The farm has been in the Clape family for over 200 years and was for many years run by the women of the family.  Currently the operation is run by Olivier, who hosted the tasting for us, and his father.

And what a tasting it was!  The wines of Domain Clape of Cornas in the Northern Rhône show why the top end producers in France are so highly regarded in the rest of the world.  The wines were an absolute triumph.  We tasted 3 flights of 2 wines, all 100% Syrah, and each flight from the same vintage.  Starting with 2009, we tasted the Renaissance and Domaine Clape of the vintage.  The Renaissance label is something of a second label, it seems, but the quality shows only that it is slightly less complex to the Domaine Clape, but barely so.  The Renaissance is made from slightly younger vines (12, 16, and 25 years old) while the Cornas (Domaine) is made from vines 30 to 80 years old.  The other difference is the different blocks (parcels) that are used.  Renaissance comes from 4 different parcels, while the Domaine is sourced from 12 different vineyard parcels.  I did a quick research of the Renaissance on the net, and found it to retail for roughly $63 a bottle in the US.  Not exactly 2nd label prices!  I found the 2009 wines to be too young, and the consensus at the tasting was that it needs a good few years still before it is ready.  2009 was also a particularly difficult vintage in Cornas, and Olivier mentioned something about them not being too happy with the quality.  I also felt both wines were a little jammy.

We tasted 2008 and there was a marked improvement on the 09, but the real jump in quality (and age) came when we tasted the 2001.  My first impression of the 2001 Renaissance was minty toothpaste, with a herbaceous note.  Only thereafter came the much restrained fruit.  The 2001 Domaine Clape showed an incredible purity of fruit.  I made copious notes on the tasting, but won’t bore you with too much detail, other than to say… if you have an issue with paying the price to attend the event… the Domaine Clape Cornas 2001 sells for roughly $140 a bottle.  Now tell me again the Swartland Revolution is expensive!

The Bollinger Exceptional Service Award

We ended off the tasting in the Royal Hotel’s amphitheatre with the announcement of the Bollinger Exceptional Service Award for the best local sommelier.  The award was given to Joachim Hansi Blackadder (I shit you not – I thought only James Bond villains were given names like that) from The Roundhouse.  A glass of Bollinger was shared in congratulations.  See a nifty video clip of the process here.

The After Party – Reuben Riffel’s famous Braai.

We made it across the road to the big braai.  Last year we froze our nuts off, and this year planning was obviously done to counter act the cold.  A more sheltered venue was chosen and loads of braziers were put out to supply plenty of heat.  As previously, copious amounts of the locally produced wines were available for us to help ourselves, and the Baardskeerdersbos Orkes was there to supply the tunage.  You can eat yourself to a standstill and drink yourself into a coma at this braai – I saw a few who tried.  We headed home at 23:00 as tomorrow is going to be another HECTIC wine drinking day.  Catch up with you all later.