Following my tasting with David Trafford at the de Trafford winery I was on my way to the Ken Forrester Winery. You may indeed recognize the name as some of Ken’s wines have been on the market here in the past.

I was greatly looking forward to tasting his wines as Ken is likely the world’s biggest booster of Chenin Blanc, and certainly South Africa’s Chenin Blanc specialist.

To really understand how important Ken is to Chenin Blanc in South Africa, you first have to understand how important Chenin Blanc is to South Africa’s wine industry.

Chenin Blanc is either the most planted or second most planted white grape in South Africa depending on who you talk to. South Africans drink more whites wines than red (conversely more red wine than white is exported) and Chenin Blanc shares top spot with Sauvignon Blanc(I think that these two stats alone show us how isolated from the South African wine scene that we have become). Chenin Blanc is considered the daily white wine much like we would treat Pinot Grigio or Chardonnay, so you can imagine how competitive and demanding the local South African market is for Chenin Blanc. So for Ken Forrester to become a specialist in developing Chenin Blanc is gutsy and requires the ability to thrive under a lot of scrutiny. My guess is that it would be like playing goal for the Montreal Canadiens.

Upon arriving it was apparent that Ken not only has a huge heart but a bigger than life personality. This was the first wine farm that I came across that provided housing for the families of its workers, schooling for its workers kids and a multitude of recreational opportunities.

I was greeted by AnthonyVan Schalkwyk the Brand Manager for the winery and guy who is responsible for the wineries representation in Canada and the US. This guy is full of energy! Like a guy with a lot on his plate and itching to tell the story we sat down and got right at it.

Ken has 3 levels to his wines – Petit (entry or ‘lifestyle’ level), Ken Forrester (mid-level) and a higher tier that is only made in vintages that warrant. Each level features a Chenin Blanc in addition to other varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon, Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz and some very intriguing red and white blends.

Each of the wines showed style and class and their levels were loosely based on the age of the vines. For example the Petit level Chenin Blanc was sourced from 14 year old vines, while the Ken Forrester Chenin Blanc was sourced from 30 year old Bush Vines. After gaining this knowledge I had to pause.

Consider that in total we have 8 different Chenin Blanc’s from around the world through which we can gain an understanding of this incredible diverse grape. 8 is a pretty weak number as I doubt that much thought has gone into the the Liquor Board’s consideration of how these 8 represent to grape. Mind you there are some truly inspiring examples a couple of which are local (Road 13 Chenin Blanc – sold out; and the Quail’s Gate Chenin Blanc). Yet Ken has invested in this varietal to the point of caring for 30 year old vines that yield tiny amounts of grapes each year. How is it this story has never reached us?

Time was getting short so after running through the tasting which included the FMC and the Gypsy (these wines are sinful, curvaceous, and encourage you to daydream about days spent reading great literature and listening to great music from the deck of Caribbean/Amalfi Coast/Provence/Cowichan Lake Estate while considering the quality of life of others- approx. $60/bottle), we ran down the road to the wineries restaurant called 96 Winery Road. I grabbed the bottle of the Gypsy, named after the energy and joie de vie of Ken’s wife, as I had to come back to this wine no matter what was on the menu.

At this point in time I had been in South Africa for about 24 hours and I was filled with questions. Political, cultural, economic, gastronomic, environmental so I gabbed on with Anthony who was very patient and answered everything quite thoroughly. The menus arrived and I desperately wanted something that was truly South African. Turns out that Ken was a Chef in Johannesburg and had his own restaurant in which he created a dish that is famous in South Africa – Duck & Cherry Pie. I settled on this as it promised to be tremendous.

The conversation quickly turned to the challenges of our market. Why had South African wines been neglected for so long? How is it possible that there could on be 30 offerings from a country that producer 3% of the worlds wine? All very good questions to which I answered with the key difference between the monopoly (LDB) system and the private system. The LDB waits for the world to come and visit them thus filtering out any who could not afford to make the trip, whereas the private sector, to constantly improve the quality of their customers lives must be on the look out foir items that represent better value. The simple fact is that the LDB is my competition and our competitive advantage is our agility. Anthony seemed to quickly grasp this concept like most suppliers do; with an element of surprise- “I thought that the LDB controlled everything?” “My agent tells me that our business has declined because the LDB has chosen to delist wines. Never have I been made aware of the private sector.” I love this part of the conversation.

All the while we were sipping on a wine that would help to form my ideas about how to express what Chenin Blanc is. We were tasting the 2003 Ken Forrester Chenin Blanc. That’s right the 2003. If you remember from the last blog I had tasted a 2001 and now I was having the 2003 that was sourced from 30-50 year old bush vines with a yield of less than 5 tons/hectare (I will get into this in another blog). The wine was lush and yet incredibly fresh on the palate. The nose had lively aromas of orange blossom and jasmine flowers with some lemon zest and tropical stone fruit (pretty amazing nose for a white wine that was now 7 vintages old), while the palate was long and seductive. I let the wine caress my palate as with every additional second more character seemed to pop out; with every additional sip I took the story that the wine was telling me got better and more colourful. I said to “Anthony everyone should taste this wine to understand how age can benefit a wine; how the wine will tell a story if you let it.” With that our main courses arrived.

The Duck & Cherry Pie arrived in two stages. the first was the light puff pastry that was placed on my plate following by a steaming cast iron skillet of the Duck & Cherry filling. Ken developed this recipe himself and it is a winner, provided you like Duck Confit and I love Duck Confit. The rich savoury flavours of the duck are enhanced by the delicate sweetness of black cherries. It is a rich dish but I, like the food trooper I am, powered through every last bite.

I believe that what made the whole meal, and what is in fact an integral part of the whole meal was the wine. We enjoyed a bottle of the 2005 Ken Forrester Gypsy which is a blend of Syrah (80%) and Grenache (20%). The nose on this wine is absolutely tremendous. I am telling you that if you lined up this wine with other wines from the Cote Rotie, or Crozes Hermitage of the Northern Rhone Valley, I suspect that most people would not peg the Gypsy as being South African. The nose is filled with black fruits and smoked meats that have been gently rubbed with rosemary, sage and oregano. The palate is deep, rich and languid. It massages the palate and brings out deep character and layers of flavours that are uncompromising as they are delicious. Put the Gypsy and the Duck & Cherry Pie together and you get an amazing food-gasm that you will remember.

Time was running late… of course. We had to wrap up our engaging conversation over a lovely dessert wine called Noble T which is named after Ken’s wife Theresa. This is opulently flavoured late Harvest Chenin Blanc (quite fitting) that has been boytritis affected which is referred to as Noble Rot.

The wine, although sweet with flavours of honey and apricots, is delicate on the palate as the fresh acidity keeps it from being syrupy or cloying.

If time is the awareness of change, then already, barely one day into my trip, I felt that I had been gone for 1 year. My assumptions about South Africa, South African wines and the people of South Africa were exploding all around me and I still had a week to go.

We shook hands and promised to keep in touch and just like that I was on my way to my next experience – The Winery of Good Hope.