The Devon Valley’s Lastest Edition – Aaldering Wines
If life’s too short to drink bad wine, it’s also too precious to drink the same wine day in and out. Even if you like it. It’s easy to get stuck in a rut when it comes to buying wine so whenever a new winery arrives on the scene it calls for a celebration.
Aaldering Vineyards and Wines are situated in the beautiful Devon Valley outside Stellenbosch. The owner of the estate, Fons Aaldering, is a well known Dutch businessman and entrepreneur. He has enjoyed a long career in the luxury food industry and to date he has secured over 250 restaurant listings for the brand across the world. Fons and his wife Marianne started the estate in 2004 and the winemaking team released Aaldering’s maiden 2007 vintage in 2010.
Fons Aaldering and winemaker Dustin Osborne
For the Aaldering family it’s important to make wines that will rate among the top 10 in the country within a decade. The pressure is therefore on for winemaker and hottie, Dustin Osborne. Dustin replaced Helene van der Westhuizen as winemaker three months ago which means the current wines does not really reflects his style and talent.
Obtaining a balance is the primary driving force in the estate’s wine making process. For me, the wines are more old- than new- world in terroir and character. The four wines in the Aaldering range are big and bold and made for food.
I found the nose of the Aaldering Chardonnay enchanting with some tropical fruit and a touch of nuttiness. The palate is clean and crisp with a dry finish. The Chardonnay retails at around R115 a bottle.
The Aaldering 2009 Shiraz was my favourite out of the lot. On the nose the wine displays a variety of forest fruits with spicy notes. This rich, full bodied wine shows powerful berry fruit flavours on the palate, it has an elegant finish but lacked on length. I found it slightly expensive at R165 a bottle but, considering the fact that it’s selling like sweet cake internationally they must be doing something right.
Black cherry, spice, pepper and dark chocolate are noticeable on the Aaldering Cabernet Merlot. Made for food, this is a big wine that deserves a few more years in the bottle. The same goes for the Pinotage. I believe with a little ageing the wine will display stronger and more notable flavours. Both wines retail at around R165 a bottle.
The current wines from Aaldering is definitely not for the light-hearted wine drinkers. These wines should be enjoyed with food, and not just any food, rich and decadent food. The menu of the Greenhouse restaurant brought out the best in the wines which was a true treat to the taste-buds.
Dustin is very excited about his new challenge at Aaldering. He feels that the farm has a unique terroir. The variation of soils, altitude, orientation and clone gives him a solid foundation to work from. They are fortunate to be able to add a new state of the art winery to the production of the Aaldering wines, which will without doubt ensure that the estate becomes one of South Africa’s top boutique wineries.
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