In Which I Pair Chocolate And Wine, Thus Negating All Existence

In South African Wine on 20 Dec 2013

I used to teach wine and chocolate pairing classes back in Buffalo at the wine store where I worked; nearly every time I did, I got some snide comment on twitter about how there will never be a good wine and chocolate pairing. Yet my attendees were happy, everyone said they’d tried something new in the class and discovered a pairing they liked, and the class, which repeated, inevitably filled up far in advance. Read the full article.

• Edgebaston
• Southern Right
• pinotage
• pairings

Lessons from my first harvest in Wisconsin

In Winemaking on 13 Dec 2013

At a holiday party this week I had the chance to catch up with my Mitchell Vineyard coworkers after a few weeks of post-harvest rest; they’re planning trips to South America and ski expeditions this winter before it’ll be time to get out to the vineyard again in the spring. Over a few really cool homemade wines––especially a bottle of 2009 marquette and 2013 aromella that was still in progress, but already tasting lovely with great muscat character––I realized how much I still had to learn if I want to make great wine in this fascinating location. I also realized how incredibly lucky I’ve been to fall in with these folks, especially Dave Mitchell, and I was inspired to compile an (incomplete) list of what I learned about wine this season. Read the full article.

• Wisconsin wine
• Mitchell Vineyard
• 2013 harvest
• marquette
• aromella

Goodbye, Nelson Mandela

In South Africa on 06 Dec 2013

The policy of apartheid created a deep and lasting wound in my country and my people. All of us will spend many years, if not generations, recovering from that profound hurt. But the decades of oppression and brutality and another, unintended effect, and that was that it produced the Oliver Tambos, the Walter Sisulus, the Chief Luthulis, the Yusuf Dadoos, the Bram Fischers, the Robert Sobukwes of our time––men of such extraordinary courage, wisdom, and generosity that their like may never be known again. Perhaps it requires such depth of oppression to create such heights of character. My country is rich in the minerals and gems that lie beneath its soil, but I have always known that its greatest wealth is its people, finer and truer than the purest diamonds.

• South African Politics
• Robben Island

The Happiest Place on Earth is wherever there is braai

In South African Wine on 22 Nov 2013

Disney World is a surprisingly fun place to be a wine drinker. While the up-charges at restaurants are almost always jaw-dropping, if you’ve saved up for the trip and you’re willing to splurge here and there, the wine lists and even some of the wine shops offer an interesting selection of world wines. I was excited to find Black Pearl’s Oro at the resort bar near where my family and I were staying, but that pleasure paled in comparison to my reaction when I first spotted the wine list at Jiko Restaurant. Read the full article.

• Thelema
• Glen Carlou
• Warwick
• Rudi Schultz
• Kanonkop
• Raats Family
• Vilafonte

Moving Shadows

In South African Wine on 15 Nov 2013

People who know me personally might be aware of (or, perhaps more accurately, tolerate) the fact that I love the early music of Barenaked Ladies. One of my favorite of their songs, “The Old Apartment,” recounts the experience of coming back to a place you once lived, finding it changed, remembering the good and the bad in every room, and recalling the “broken glass, broke and hungry, broken hearts and broken bones” of those years. Read the full article.

• Rustenberg
• Bordeaux blend
• Simonsberg