De Wetshof Edeloes 2006, perfect with a slice of my Simnel Cake for Easter…
De Wetshof Edeloes 2006
I am a total sucker for sweet wines. Add a touch of Botrytis Cinerea to a Riesling grape and you have me captured. De Wetshof Wine Estate in the Robertson Wine Appellation is well known for its superb Chardonnays, a Pinot Noir and one or two other fine wines. This is also the home of the De Wetshof Edeloes 2006. The soils and the climate are all perfect for grape growing. Danie de Wet, the patriarch, and his sons Johann [Marketing & Vineyards] and Peter [Winemaker] own and manage this beautiful gem in the Robertson Valley.
Botrytis Cinerea on a bucnh of grapes
The grapes for the De Wetshof Edeloes 2006 are harvested on the estate. This natural dessert wine is only made in years when higher than average humidity allows the Riesling grapes to develop to the exquisitely ripe stage when the feature known as Noble Rot sets in. During the middle of the harvest the benign fungus, Botrytis Cinerea, ennobles the grapes. It creates the tiniest of whole in the skin of the grape through which internal moisture escapes, thus desiccating the grapes, building sugar content and acidity while the flavour and aroma components are concentrated to divinely decadent levels. The fully ennobled grapes are carefully selected by hand and the juice is transferred to stainless steel tanks to ferment. The wine is then prepared for bottling.
De Wetshof Wine Estate from the air
Pour
From a 500ml Bordeaux shaped bottle closed under natural cork. The labeling is in gold and very fitting for a truly noble wine, made from what is regarded by some as the finest of white wine grapes, Riesling. In the glass, the wine is a rich golden amber in colour. The aromas rise up rich and certain, the wonderful whiffs of botrytis, the intense apricot and desiccated pineapple, fynbos honey and rooibos tea. The palate follows on from the nose and the flavours are intense and billow out in the mid palate with a thread of perfect acidity from entry to tail. It ends in a long and gently waning refreshing aftertaste. The wine is already twelve years old and good to go for a few more years,
My Simnel Cake for Easter, baked and photographed by Colleen Grove
Pair
Perfect with foie gras or a smooth chicken or duck liver paté at the front end of the menu. It is a wonderful partner for a rich creamy dessert. The perfect excuse for. Glass of fine wine at afternoon tea. My Simnel Cake is very seasonal, a lovely rich Easter spicy fruit cake with the traditional layer of marzipan in the middle, a layer on the top and 11 marzipan eggs. One for each disciple, Judas does not get one as he betrayed Jesus. Baked and photographed for me by Colleen Grove. Click HERE for my recipe.
Colleen Grove, food writer, photographer, blogger