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Just after I opened the shop today, I had Thys Lombard from Oldenburg Vineyards and Tom from the UK importer swing by for a very impromptu tasting, and I'm rather glad they did. I've tasted several of the Oldenburg wines  before at previous tastings but never the range from start to finish as I got to today.

They are a small family owned winery in Stellenbosch, South Africa. The estate was originally a fruit farm with some small vineyard holdings dotted around, then in 1993 the previous owner unfortunately passed away and the estate went into a trust and the vineyard sites were left to decline. Then in 2003 the current owner Adrian Vanderspuy , who had been born on the neighbouring property, decided to replant the vineyards and let the estate recognise its full potential, with there maiden vintage coming in 2007. On the estate they grow a number of different varieties including Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Syrah, Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and a few other.

On tasting today Thys had brought on the white front the Chenin Blanc and the Chardonnay. Now both of these wines have about 30% fermented in 2 - 3 year old barrels with the rest fermented in stainless steel, and the 30% that is in barrel is also allowed to go through Maloctic Fermentation, which helps to soften the overall acidity of the wine. The Chenin, on the nose had plenty of lovely fresh green fruit aromas then from the background you got little nutty hints coming through, on the palate these came through with a lovely balanced and rounder acidity perfectly. The Chardonnay had the real new world fruit characters, but hints of butterscotch coming through from the background, and again the plentiful but slightly softer acidity just worked perfectly together.

On the red front we started with the Syrah, which is far more Francophile than new world, soft and elegant with the tannins, lovely fresh red and dark fruit both on the nose and palate combine with some gentle hints of spice, minerality and acidity perfectly. We then moved onto the Grenache Noir, very pale in colour and full of red berry fruit, soft and silky tannins and just a touch of acidty to make your mouth water and help the flavour to hang around. The Cabernet Franc was not what I had expected, not as rustic as many others, much more fresh fruit characters and hints of spice, it did have more tannins than the Grenache but they were still very fine and a lovely acidity all combine perfectly. We then moved onto the Cabernet, and this was exactly what it said in the tin, as it were, loads of big dark berry fruit, lovely juicy tannins and again a balanced acidity. Finally we moved onto their flagship wine the Rhodium, now this is a blend of 75% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 5% each of Malbec and Petit Verdot, a real homage to Bordeaux, and they did not disappoint. Full of big dark juicy berry fruit, plenty of tannins, although this was the 2013 which had softened out considerably, plenty of spice, there was a lot going on on the glass with this wine, and if your a Bordeaux fan you really would not be disappointed.

Now I know I've used perfectly quite a lot, but, and it's rare that I do say this, all the wines in the range we tasted today were just perfect, from the fruit to the spice, the tannins to the acidity they were all so well made and balanced I didn't want to stop drinking any of them, but the real favourite for me was the Grenache Noir, full of bright red berry fruit, perfect for the hot (hopefully) coming months, you could even chill it down slightly.

I think I've managed to twist Thys's arm enough to get him to come and host one of our Supper Club's later in the year and you'll get to taste some of the amazing wines from the Oldenburg Estate, I'll keep you posted once we've got a date confirmed.

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I’ve long been a fan of wines from the Northern Rhone, the elegance, depth and complexity you get from the Syrah, and the richness and power of the Viognier you get from villages such as Condrieu are difficult to find anywhere else in the world, and there aren’t many better producers than Domaine Paul Jaboulet Aine. The domaine itself, dates as far back as 1834 when Antoine Jaboulet set up his business in Tain l’Hermitage, with an idea and passion of producing great wines, over the years as the domaine was passed through the family, they added parcels from across the region including in the appellations of Saint-Joseph, Cornas and Saint-Peray.

In 2006, the domaine was purchased by the Frey family, who were already the owners of Chateau La Lagune in Bordeaux, and Caroline, the eldest daughter in the family and who had gained her degree in Oenology from Bordeaux took over the winemaking. Since 2006 they have earned Sustainable Farming status and are slowly working towards there biodynamic certification.

We’ve been fortunate enough to have had the guys from Paul Jaboulet host one of our Supper Clubs here at The Wine Twit, and while their wines are stunning, when you pair them with food they just get better and better. This week I had the opportunity to meet Caroline Frey and taste through their 2016 Northern Rhone reds, which I have to say, even though they haven’t been bottled yet and are still in their infancy, they were amazing and are only going to get better and better.

All of these wines are produced from Syrah and are all vinified using the same processes, yet you still get a real sense of individuality from each wine. The Crozes Hermitage ‘Domaine de Thalabert’ had lovely dark fruit and a beautiful fine tannic structure, the ‘Domaine de Roure’ while it had similarities was a little bit richer with the fruit, a minerality not found in the ‘Thalabert’ and finer tannins. The Saint-Joseph was big and powerful with plenty of fine tannins that gave the wine a real grip to it, where as the Cote-Rotie was far more elegant with the fruit and the tannins were so fine and silky, it was hard to believe it was so young, but it still had plenty to it to allow it to age. We then moved on to the Cornas, which was a big dark fruited wine with a tannic structure more akin to the Saint-Joseph but more depth all around. Finally we came to the two jewel’s in the crown, the ‘La Chapelle’ Hermitage and the Hermitage ‘La Maison Bleue’, this is only the second vintage of this particular cru and shows big rich dark fruit, with spice and toasty characters and a velvety tannic structure to it, while the ‘La Chapelle’ has more elegance and integration than the ‘La Maison Bleue’ while keeping a similar flavour profile.

I have to say, the 2016 vintage has been stunning for the Northern Rhone, and by looking at what the critics have been scoring these wines I’m not alone in thinking this. Throughout the tasting the thing that struck me the most, was despite their youthfulness the tannic structure was so fine and silky, but there was still plenty of them. For me this will help the wines to be more approachable in their youth and give them the ability to age, they really are some stunning wines, and while the likes of Bordeaux and Burgundy get ever more expensive, the Rhone still shows value for money.

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