How do I know Perdeberg Winery? As a Dutch girl living in Amsterdam, I’m a big fan of the wine shop Grapedistrict which happens to sell Perdeberg wine. I like the Grapedistrict no-nonsense, just good wine style. I’m not a sommelier but drinking quality wines makes me automatically smile. There is nothing worse than eating a good meal served with a bad wine. How to avoid making poor choices? WelI, taste, taste and taste various wines and find out what types of grapes you really like!
+ Wine tour at Perdeberg Winery
I was very keen to see the winery of my favorite Dutch wine shop, so Grapedistrict arranged a tour and tasting for me in the Perdeberg Winery, which lies at the foot of the Paardeberg Mountain. This winery exports its wines to 16 countries around the world. It was interesting to learn more about the wine making process and see the different barrels where oaked and unoaked wines are fermented.
Perdeberg buys its grapes from various vineyards over the Western Cape. They offer a wide range of grapes from the dry land which means the grapes are growing in tough conditions. These grapes are more complex and in the end, that means more flavour!
+ Time for the real fun, the tasting!
After the tour, it was time for the real fun part, the tasting! They selected eight of their finest wines for me to taste. As always a tasting starts with a light, fresh bubbly wine. The MCC Brut Reserve was so good that I could have drink it all, but with seven more wines coming up I had to behave myself. The MCC Brut Reserve is a great wine for a sunny day out on the terrace and it’s a Perdeberg Winery speciality wine.
The next on the menu was a Grenache Blanc 2015 from The Vineyard Collection. This is a crispy light coloured wine with a fruity after taste. This wine won a golden Michelangelo medal and I can understand why. This is definitely a wine for you to try out with some tasty prawns or a chicken dish.
Chenin Blanc on its best
Off to the Dry Land Collection now. There were distinguished surprises in the 2015 barrel fermented Chenin Blanc and I’m not even a Chenin Blanc fan, but this one, wow! The taste is not as sweet as a typical Chenin Blanc but it has some citrus and lemon flavours.
The next winner for me was the 2015 Resolve Pinotage. During my seven-day wine tour in South Africa, I became a red wine drinker too. The Pinotage shows spiciness with tones of cherries, prunes and strawberry cordial. Such a taste explosion in your mouth, amazing.
The wine tour through the wine region really taught me about the quality of the different brands. I can tell you the Perdeberg Winery made it to my top five of excellent South African wines. Cheers!