VIDEO CHAPTER INDEX:

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“Sout Piel” with a French Twist

Winemaker Gerhard Smith is a fascinating ancestral mix. His first name, uttered with a hard gutteral “G” – in the Afrikaans tradition – is followd by “Smith” – one of the most true-blue British surnames one could hope for, and this is all complicated by what he jokingly calls a “the morsige French Hugenot name of “De Villiers”) thrown into the mix on his mother’s side.
And in some senses his winemaking follows a similar vein. His day job at Creation Wine Estate is 100% Burgundian in it’s form; focusing the majority of his efforts on vinifying the classic cultivars of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay for Creation Wines. But when he gets the chance to express his own creativity, one sees a far more obviously South African expression in his winemaking. If you want to learn more about his Kat Se Snor range of wines, we cover that all in the video.

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Now, if you have yet to sign up for your Monthly HanDrinksSolo Wine Subscription then you’ll have to hunt this wine down in your own to be able to connect the info to the wine in the bottle. But until then, I’ve left you some tasting notes and the winemaking technical specs.
That said, it’s still worth watching the video, as thre are some pretty cool revelations about new additions to the Kottabos range.

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👃🏼A beautiful interplay between rose petals, cherry candy, white pepper; raspberries and blood orange pith. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that Gerhard had imparted the spirit of Pinot Noir into splendidly complex first impression.

👄 The palate manages to present the most remarkable chalk dust like tannins. And by that I mean, the polyphenols manage to somehow both gently dry your mouyth, the way that chalk dust might do for a rock climber, but they also leave your mouth feeling almost velvety, the way your fingers feel after the chalk dust fills all the grooves in your finger tips. As for the fruit component, it is again that mix of sour cherry, sweeter raspberry sherbet, a touch of bitter citrus pith. A superbly tidy wine, albeit not overly complex.