Interesting white and red wine that I have tasted over the past two years

Tannat? What the heck is Tannat? This is what raced through my mind after my oenology lecturer informed me that Tannat would be my red varietal for the 2014 harvest at Elsenburg cellar. I had never heard of it before, and as soon as I set foot in my hostel room (in its perpetual state of distress) I scrambled to find my laptop. I vowed to Google, and not stop Googling, until I knew all there was to know about this varietal. As far as my white - well, it was easy enough. I was allocated the Chardonnay/Chenin Blend, which would be made into a port-style wine. This, as far as underestimations go, ranked well up there when it came to my idea of the process for port wine.

Throughout sampling, harvest and maturation, these wines were my responsibility. My ‘wine babies’. I had nurtured and taken care of them to the best of my ability. This would show in the final product, or so I hoped. Tannic, meaty, full-bodied, liquorice, red fruit. These were some of the descriptions for the Tannat. The Chardonnay/Chenin Blend however, had been a bit of a problem child from the start. Having raisoned quite quickly due to dry-land irrigation, it fell a bit short on sensory evaluation.

However, when you have worked so hard at making something, no amount of bad criticism will deter you from fully enjoying and appreciating the product of your labour. The Tannat, a wine very rarely produced on its own is considered a blend cultivar for adding colour and tannin (Tannat = tannin), so you could barely drink it without having a glass of something else on standby. The white blend was phenolic and slightly overripe.

However, both wines marked my entry into ‘winemakerdom’. And as any parent would agree, though they sometimes deviate from expectations, we love our children unconditionally. As did I.