Learning all about the art of nosing & tasting with CWWU, Nederburg Wines & the Southern Sun The Cullinan Hotel

by Karisa

Last week Wednesday I joined the team from Come Wine With Us at the Southern Sun The Cullinan Hotel to learn all about the art of “nosing and tasting” with Nederburg Wines.

All of the action went down in the elegant dining room of the hotel’s Peach Tea Restaurant where Tsogo Sun Sommelier, Georgio Meletiou, shared his top wine tasting tips & tricks with us.

Right, let’s do this…

The 4 Nederburg WineMaster’s Reserve wines we used for the tasting…

The Peach Tree dining room (Photo by Bernard Bruwer)

To simplify the often complex world of wine tasting, Georgio broke it down into 4 easy steps:

1. Check for clarity.
2. Give the wine a quick swirl to release the aromas.
3. Nose the wine – ie. get your nose in there and give it a good sniff.  Remember to take note of the aromas you pick up.
4. Finally, you can go ahead and taste the wine.  Just be sure to take a big enough sip to completely cover your palate.

Sommelier Georgio showing us how it’s done (Photo by Bernard Bruwer)

To show us how food pairings can really influence the taste of a wine, Georgio also prepared a little taste test for us, pairing the 4 wines with rather interesting mini tasters.This was then followed by a beautiful 3 course dinner paired with a few more wines from the Nederburg Winemaster’s Reserve wines.

Top left: The ultimate taste test – the tomato & lime wedge went with the Sauvignon Blanc. The banana muffin went with the Pinotage. The spiced pastry went with the Shiraz, and the tea went with Cab Sav; Top right: For starters we enjoyed some French onion soup with a toasted gruyere brioche paired with Nederburg’s Winemaster’s Reserve Chardonnay 2014; Bottom left: For mains we had braised pulled lamb shoulder with a pea puree, Pommes dauphinoise and a Parisienne vegetable casserole paired with Nederburg Winemaster’s Reserve Merlot 2013; Bottom right: For dessert we had poached pear with walnut Malva pudding, butterscotch sauce & honey comb dust paired with Nederburg Winemaster’s Reserve Noble Late Harvest 2012

Looks good, doesn’t it… #FoodComa

This was yet another great evening coordinated by the Come Wine With Us team.  Not only was the food, wine & company top notch, but I also picked up some cool wine tricks & facts that I’ll be sure to flaunt at the next dinner party.

Be sure not to miss out on their next event which is taking place on Wed, 1 July 2015:

I really love Durbanville Hills, so I just know this one will be a really fun night out.

xxx

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