Wine Tasting: South Africa with Tiaan Straus - Sydney May 14 2008 Tuesday, May 13 2008
North Sydney Cellars “Meet The Maker” Tasting:
South Africa With Tiaan Strauss
¨ When: Wednesday May 14
¨ Time: 6.15pm SHARP until 7.30pm
¨ Where: North Sydney Cellars, 189 Miller Street North Sydney (cnr. Berry Street)
¨ RSVP: Essential – email shop@northsydneycellars.com or phone 02 9960 5828
¨ Cost: FREE!
¨ Why?: Read on…
Join us as Tiaan Strauss, dual international rugby player and owner of Stellenrust Wine Estate in Stellenbosch, talks us through the rich history of South African wine while we taste current South African offerings from North Sydney Cellars.
What we’ll be tasting:
* Boschendal Chenin Blanc
* Engelbrecht Els Guardian Peak Frontier
* Engelbrecht Els Guardian Peak Merlot
* Pongracz
* La Motte Millennium
* La Motte Shiraz
* Rust En Vrede Estate
* Rust En Vrede Cabernet Sauvignon
* Stellenrust Sauvignon Blanc
* Stellenrust Simplicity
* Vergelegen Sauvignon Blanc
* Warwick 3 Cape Ladies
About Tiaan Strauss:
Tiaan Strauss, was born in Upington, South Africa in 1966. He read law at Stellenbosch University, which is situated in the heartland of the South African wine industry.
He represented Western Province and South Africa in Rugby Union. He first cap for the Springboks was against France in 1992. His last match representing the Springboks was against Argentina in 1994.
Tiaan and his family emigrated to Australia in 1995 and he commenced his professional rugby career playing Rugby League for the Cronulla Sharks, where he stayed for 2 seasons.
However, the lure to play union again was too strong, and he joined the NSW Waratahs in 1997 and earned his Wallaby cap in 1999. His first match for the Wallabies was against Ireland and he debuted scoring 3 tries. He represented Australia at the 1999 Rugby World Cup and retired from competitive rugby in 2002.
Hurry! Places at this tasting are strictly limited.
TO RSVP: Simply reply to this email or phone 02 9960 5828
Cheers,
The North Sydney Cellars team.
Drink Better Wine!
North Sydney Cellars
189 Miller Street
(Cnr Berry St, Opp Rag & Famish Hotel)
PO Box 6001
North Sydney NSW 2060
Tel: +61 2 9954 0090
Fax: +61 2 9954 0903
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4 Responses to “Wine Tasting: South Africa with Tiaan Straus - Sydney May 14 2008”
May 15th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Unfortunately I couldn’t make it last night but was wondering if you/Jules could provide a quick note on the Rust En Vrede Estate. My father-in-law gave me a bottle of the 02 last year.
cheers
SanjayC
May 15th, 2008 at 11:49 am
Sure thing Sanjay.
We tasted the ‘04 vintage (second time I’ve tasted), and it was quite tightly coiled.
The nose, with air, reveals complex cedar, tobacco, cassis, lead pencil and earth aromas. The are hints of dried herbs as well.
The palate is tight, but is layered and has good depth. It reflects the predominantly savoury, Bordeaux-like aromas of the nose, underpinned by some nice cassis fruit. It’s quite a well integrated wine - the oak is there but fairly well folded in, I would say. The tannins are plentiful but very nicely polished. Great smoothness here. Very modern. The fruit and tannins are nicely interwined on the long, savoury finish.
I recommend a bit of a slosh in the decanter if opening any time soon.
I kept thinking about this wine after I first tasted it and that generally means I like it a lot.
The ‘02 should be pretty good. Apparently this had a good run of Top 100 appearances in Wine Spectator.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Thanks for the winorama guest review.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:05 am
I just realised I wussed out on scoring it.
94 points I reckon.