Avondale: The Naked Truth
When I saw the naked man in the vineyard, I had to avert my eyes. I mean, as a dedicated and professional wine drinker the only type of outgrowth I want to see in the vineyard was the type you harvest.
Thankfully the naked people were merely part of a publicity campaign in the printed media that emphasised how “natural” a certain wine brand was thanks to its unspoiled vineyards.
One could of course assume that sufficient consumption of the wine could make you and your friends so frisky - just like when you were students in the Boland - that it would tempt you into frolicking naked in the vineyards.
The brand concerned is Avondale, a wine farm on the open side of Paarl, direction Franschhoek. In other words, not by the rock or the pole to tote Afrikaans.
There are about 100 ha of vineyards, used for an ambitiously wide range of wines. So far Avondale was but another winelands wonderland waiting to be colonised by big money from Gauteng.
At closer inspection the winemaking process at Avondale is all about managing nature. The truism that good wine can only be made of good grapes is taken one step further. The theory here is that good grapes can only come from earth and an environment that was fiddled with as little as possible.
Slugs and other bugs are nibbled by Avondale’s hardworking flock of ducks instead of dying a painful death in a cloud of poisonous chemicals. The little beetles hiding in the vineyard are air raided by a platoon of killer wasps that are released into the vineyard to act as insecticide. Where pesticides are needed, only natural substances are permitted.
In this day and age where Green and Environmentally Friendly has become non-negotiable, Avondale’s natural image is in perfect sync with the national and international market trend. One day all wine farms are likely to look like this.
A fuzzy green feeling stirred by pecking ducks and untarnished grounds is one thing. But what about the wine?
Well, long before I knew anything about this “natural” image, Avondale’s chenin blanc was somewhat of a hidden gem. With neighbouring brands like Perdeberg, Backsberg and Simonsvlei, good chenin blanc was nothing new to the region. And Avondale was right up there with the rest.
The Avondale Chenin Blanc 2007 has that slight fruitiness of a modern chenin blanc, unlike the sour stingers the industry believed in two decades ago. The wine is light in colour, delicate and perfumy on the nose. With that first sip your palette is smacked with a wide range of flavours that invite a wide variety of adjectives. I’ll be sticking to “vrek lekker”.
The freshness of the wine is maintained and the slight wood component gives the wine just enough muscle to keep the flavours lingering in your mouth.
Since it’s a Paarl cellar, I had to investigate the shiraz. (Avondale prefers the “syrah” etiquette.)
It really deserves more than just a recommendation. The Avondale Camissa Syrah 2004 is part of the cellar’s reserve range.
I mention the price upfront, because its clear that Avondale punches above its weight class with this wine. From start to finish it is one of the best South African shiraz wines I have tasted in a long time. It even smells like a showstopper, with a deep classic shiraz-nose of dark fruits. Who among us still remembers Fortris, that dark purple juice made of blackberries? Well, that’s how this shiraz smells, with the addition of old leather and all spice.
In terms of taste, the Avondale Camissa proves again that especially red wine should not be judged on the first mouthful. The first two glasses are full of New World fruit intensity. Deep. Solid. Lush.
But as the bottle is emptied and the wine gets to breathe, it gains a firmness with distinct spice flavours - more Rhône. Tremendously tasty.
Interestingly, this wine was not leant any new oak and was aged only in second and third fill barrels for 18 months. The final product exhibits no rough wood finishes, only a sensual sensation owing to extended aging.
Its my wine find of the year so far. And that’s the naked truth.
To view Avondale wines online….click here
