The 2010 harvest is proving to be slightly tricky because our Western Cape weather is just not playing along nicely. Today for example, was hot and muggy and the heavens have just opened so the rain is pouring down. Not ideal weather for a harvesting season. As a result we haven’t managed to take more photos of the harvest, because the grapes are coming in quite slowly. But in the meantime we have chatted to (a rather busy) Thys, our red winemaker about the harvest, this is what he had to say: 

“So far we received Pinotage, Merlot and Shiraz grapes. We are almost finished with the Pinotage and we’ll start on the Merlot shortly. The grapes are definitely coming in later than in 2009 because of the cool weather and today’s weather has made things challenging…. However, the quality of the Pinotage that has come in is amazing and from the Merlot grapes that we have seen, KWV Wines is expecting a good vintage from this year’s crop too.

Congratulations Gordon Todan and thank you for entering our global dinner party competition! We’ll be in contact shortly to arrange for delivery of our fantastic Shane Sauvage cookbook (our favorite South African chef). 

Just to recap, we’re running a global competition, 3 winning couples from around the world will be flown to South Africa to enjoy a dinner together in Paarl at KWV in November. All you need to do to enter is send us a photograph of your own dinner party, to enter click here. Each month the best picture will entry will receive a cookbook (and of course still stand a chance to win the main prize). 

Gordon enjoyed the KWV Reserve Chardonnay at his wedding and spoke about, how crazy the day was, how good the drinks were (of course) and hoping it would never end!

With Valentines Day around the corner I turned to Johann to suggest a romantic 3-course meal for two paired with the perfect wine. Johann is not only responsible for the white KWV lifestyle range; he also crafts the KWV Mentors range (and is a closet romantic I suspect).

Here are his recommendations:

KWV The Mentors Semillon 2009 is a lovely wine with subtle floral, green apple and lime flavours. With its elegant zesty notes this wine should be paired with delicate meat dishes. Johann suggests starting with oysters and your choice of a bottle of sparkling from the KWV sparkling wine Lifestyle range. For main course he suggests duck in avocado as this paired with the Semillon is “an utter delight. Johann recommends ending off with either almond ice cream or strawberries and cream, followed by one of the dessert wines from the KWV Lifestyle range.

Of course red is the colour of passion, so we thought it best to ask Johann which red wine would help set the mood. Here are his thoughts:

KWV Mentors Petit Verdot 2008 is an intense smooth wine with berry, mocha and vanilla flavours with an added hint of chocolate notes that is great with fillet or tender beef (ideally veal) dishes. Johann suggests starting off with a green salad containing avocado, nuts and pepperdew. For the main course he thought of Veal Marsala, which paired with the intense flavour of the wine is a real treat! After your food’s settled it’s time to bring out your daringly delicious dessert, chocolate fondue, with strawberries and marshmallows. Try pairing this with a port such as the KWV Cape Tawny.

Meet Angelina Swee Eng, Angie was born in Singapore and has lived in all corners of the globe before moving back to South Africa in 97. She is currently based in Cape Town and is part of the KWV commercial sales team, focusing on the Asian and Australian markets.

We asked Angie a couple of questions about her opinions of wine trends in the Asian market, this is what she had to say:

What do you enjoy most about working in Asia?
I love the food! And the melting pot of different cultures that you find in Asia. The sheer size of the market is very exciting and I am looking forward to visiting a few new places and learning a few new languages

What’s different about how wine is enjoyed in Asia compared with Europe or other western markets?
Though there have been wine producers in some Asian countries for centuries, wine drinking is largely new to Asia. Wine consumption is often about trust – if the company and the brand have a strong and proud heritage, then the products will be trusted. In a number of our Asian markets, KWV is regarded as a company to trust, because of our 90 year heritage and the quality of the wines produced.

Are there particular cultivars or styles that are particularly popular?
The Asian market is more partial to red wines than white wines. Quality wines are appreciated.

Does the Asian style of food and entertaining influence how wine is consumed?
From my recent visit to Singapore, I observed that traditionally wines do not appear to be drunk with Asian style foods, but this is changing as more people are exposed to different wines and are able to try them with different foods.

What’s the biggest challenge of selling South African wine in Asia?
In my opinion, one of the first steps is to educate Asia about South Africa as a quality wine producing country to rival any European country. Currently there is plenty of awareness about the fact that France and Italy produce quality wines, but little is known about South African wines. I do believe that the focus on South Africa in the coming months will give people a picture of South Africa and inform them about our winelands.

I will be working very closely with WOSA (Wines of South Africa) to promote South Africa as a wine producing country and to promote and educate consumers about KWV Wines.

The harvest at KWV Wines started last week, so we nipped across to Paarl to catch some of the action. Along the way, we found KWV’s Viticulturist Unathi who shared some insights on the 2010 harvest.