Welcome to the New Year! It’s summertime here in Paarl and although most people are back at work, South Africans are still enjoying the warm evenings around a braai (barbeque) with a chilly bottle of white wine. To celebrate fresh beginnings, we thought we’d start the new year with some ideas around what food to pair with some of our crisp and delicious white wines.
So, once again we have turned to our trusty white winemaker, Johann and asked his advice on simple food and wine pairing suggestions that you can use to impress your friends with.
Here are his thoughts:
KWV Reserve Chenin Blanc is a lovely crisp wine with pineapple, apple and tropical flavours. It has floral and peach notes and ends with well-balanced fruit sweetness. Johann suggests pairing this wine with strong or mild cheese, appetizers, shellfish (such as mussels) and Asian food (mild noodle or rice dishes) as well as with white meat like chicken.
Alternatively our KWV Reserve Sauvignon Blanc is a lively and crisp tropical and granadilla, gooseberry and subtle green pea flavours which are complemented by the floral notes. This wine is soft and well balanced and works perfectly with pastas served with a helping of creamy mushroom sauce as well as seafood and chicken making it a very easy wine to match something with.
Cobus, grew up in Elgin and began is career with a B.Sc.Agric. Oenology and Viticulture, after which he worked in California for three months. On his return he joined Vinpro Consultation services as Senior Viticulturist for the Paarl area.
Currently Cobus is Senior Viticulturist at KWV. He is responsible for grape procurement, producer liaison and new area developments – all in all, ensuring the excellence that epitomises the KWV Wines.
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We had a word with our viticulturists, Cobus and Unathi as well as Chief Winemaker, Richard Rowe about climate change and its effect on South African wines. This is what they had to say:
We’d like to introduce you to Unathi Montshongo, one of the KWV Viticulturists. Unathi is originally from Umtata, in the Eastern Cape, South Africa – but it was a few years later that her love affair with winemaking began at Stellenbosch University where she completed her B.Sc.Agric. with Oenology and Viticulture. She later furthered her education with an Honours in Viticulture and a Certificate in Business Communication.
