Nick Plummer Blog

Song and Wine

Tue, 20 May 2025 09:44:48 GMT

Add a little West End glitz and glamour to your wine tasting!

"A Great Night Out"

...the sentiments of many of our very happy guests who have attended our Song and Wine evenings.

For these events, we take away the formality of "normal" wine tastings, and bring you LIVE performers to entertain you while you enjoy the wines.

We'll bring a winemaker to present his creations, while our experienced trio of artists perform some of the greatest songs from the movies and the West End (and because they're so versatile, other genres are also available!).

How cool is that?

Here's a sneak peek of what we do

Chanel No 5 and Ralph Lauren are NOT tasting notes!

Sun, 23 Feb 2025 11:13:06 GMT

It has been mentioned before that wine tasting is a completely immersive and sensory experience:

SIGHT, TOUCH, TASTE, HEARING and SMELL all contribute toward an enjoyable wine tasting experience.

When you know you're going to taste wines, you should try to eliminate external factors that could influence these senses.

SIGHT - this is an easy one - don't look at anything except the beautifully-hued liquid in the wine glass - anything else that is going on can be generally ignored, and doesn't affect what you see in the glass.

HEARING - try to taste wine in a generally quiet area, as external noise can affect your perception of taste. Yes, this is true - read the blog on Music and Wine pairing for a few more deets. Also, the stories behind the wines can be romantically evocative...

TOUCH and TASTE - I'll lump these two together, as they are relevant to what's happening in your mouth. Avoid heavy flavours prior to your tasting - for example, garlic, onions, peppermints, cigarettes, vapes, salty snacks etc. Anything that can have a lingering taste or texture in your mouth will affect how you experience the wine.

SMELL - this is the real elephant in the room. What we smell can significantly affect our taste. There is nothing worse, and I repeat NOTHING worse than one of your fellow wine-tasters reeking of perfume, cologne, deodorant, cigarettes, etc. Firstly, it negatively affects YOUR wine tasting experience - any nuances in the wine, large or small, are completely drowned by "L'Aire du Whatnot." Secondly, if YOU are the one who splashed it all over before you came out, you won't taste a thing, and worse still, you may probably find the wines not to your liking, as the perfume will negatively affect the smell and taste of the wine.

HERE'S MY RANT OF 2025 - PLEASE DON'T TRY TO SMELL PRETTY WHEN YOU'RE GOING WINE TASTING, WE DON'T LIKE IT, OR APPRECIATE IT!

ANYONE WHO TURNS UP SMELLING LIKE AN AMSTERDAM WINDOW-BOX OR THE SMOKING ROOM AT DUBAI AIRPORT WILL BE GIVEN A SEAT FAR AWAY FROM THE MAIN TABLE!

I recently had the misfortune of hosting a wine tasting evening, where a so-called "wine influencer" arrived. We can only assume that she had been on fire earlier in the day, and could only find perfume to douse the flames.

Mentioning the above reasons, we politely asked her to leave.

By all means, have a wash and shower before you go out (body odour is just as bad), but if you have an issue with perspiration and insist on spraying, please find an odourless deodorant or antiperspirant.

It's not just for the benefit of YOUR enjoyment of the wine, it's out of consideration for everyone else. So do the right thing (by not doing the wrong thing), and you'll be surprised at how much more you will get from your wine tasting experience!

Organic wines - overturning preconceived ideas

Wed, 16 Oct 2024 11:42:04 GMT

One ingredient - grapes.
Nothing more, nothing less.

Let's get the fundamentals first:
Organic wine is made with organic grapes. Meaning that during the farming bit of grape growing, there are no chemical agents used - this includes pesticides, herbicides and non-organic composts and fertilisers.
Wine producers can choose to be a certified "Organic Wine Farm," which, in South Africa, requires a number of years of stringent inspections by "the suits," and standard and practices must be maintained, AND the farm must pay for the pleasure of being certified.
In these financially squeezing times for wine producers, being fully certified as an organic producer isn't a viable option, but many farms choose to adopt organic crop control practices, sustainable agriculture methods and "minimal intervention" in the cellar (more of this later).

If farms operate to these quite exacting and manually intensive standards, they will be glad to make you aware of them - they are justifiably proud of working solely with nature to nurture their crops.

That's the farming bit, but there are also additional "organic" measures that take place in the cellar, once the grapes have been harvested.

Minimal- or non-intervention is a phrase you'll hear quite often. Simply put, it refers to the absence of artificial stimulants that assist in the fermentation or maturation process - the grapes are allowed to ferment on their own, which may take a little longer than normal due to the natural chemical breakdown of the fruit, and once bottled, only a very small amount of sulphur dioxide (up to half the content that is added to conventional wines) is added.

At this moment, I refuse to go down the rabbit hole of the discussion of the addition or presence of Sulphur Dioxide / sulfites in wines - but there's a well-explained article on the Wine Spectator website here .

There are a number of theories surrounding Organic Wines, most of which are unfounded:

It's vegan. Nope. Some organic wines may use animal products in their production processes, such as egg whites or fish bladders, which are added to clarify the wine, and to remove some of the more hash tannins. Sounds a bit yucky, but it makes the wine look clear and pretty.
The date on the bottle is a "best-before" date. Yeah, I guess you're somewhat glibly referring to the vintage, intimating that the wines don't have a long shelf life. Regardless of the lower sulfite levels risking the stability of the wine, if it's stored correctly (stable cool, dark conditions), it should last.
Not the best quality. You could say this about some expensive wines, made using conventional chemically-intervened processes, but that's down to very good marketing. The quality of a wine depends on the base product, the grape: how it is grown, when it is harvested, and how it is vinified.
You can't keep "left-over" organic wine. I'm not too sure what "left-over" wine actually is, but I guess you're talking about the wholly unacceptable practice of popping the cork back in and saving it for another day. Anyhoo, organic or not, wine will last perfectly well in this status of "left-over" for 3 to 5 days, if it is properly closed and refrigerated.
Organic = very expensive. True to a point - if you're after a cheap everyday wine, you won't find one with an "organic" label, and organic wines do tend to cost a little more due to the increased number of manual interventions in the winemaking process. But compared to a wine of equivalent quality, there really isn't a cost difference.

There are fewer than 30 officially certified organic / biodynamic wine producers in South Africa. But many more do operate a strict (un-certified) policy of organic practices, and minimal intervention.

Why not try a wine that contains just grapes?

Here are just a few of the producers we represent; who follow organic, sustainable or minimal intervention practices:
Avondale

Bosman

Botanica

Hughes Family Wines

Jacaranda

Kanonkop

Kleinhoekkloof

Nitida

Radford Dale

Reyneke

Allocation Wines

Fri, 13 Sep 2024 14:14:45 GMT

Unicorns, or a lot of hot air?

There are, in certain rarified wine circles, frissons of excitement when a new vintage allocation comes around.

From a producer's point of view, it's a very special time:

A time to stamp your mark on the industry with more blockbuster wines that will undoubtedly attract very high scoring points.

A time to maintain the aura of exclusivity and elusiveness that surrounds your brand, and the justification in asking very high figures.
A time to scratch your name even deeper into the tree trunk of the wine world.

But why?

Why do wine producers offer their wines solely on allocation?

Well, it undoubtedly serves as a massive cash injection into the bank account - for example, it was calculated that a well-known South African producer netted themselves something upwards of R10 million in a matter of weeks, if not days, when their new allocations were released recently. But even if they do sell all their new releases in less than a month, they still have to pay their bills and survive for the rest of the year. Still, it keeps the bank manager happy to see a lot of zeroes on the statement.

But from a consumer perspective, what does it mean?

Well, if you're hoping to pick up a case direct from the farm, you'll have to express your interest, and get onto a waiting list which may extend a few years. Otherwise, you have to shop around the retailers, which again can entail time served on a waiting list.

But why do you, as a consumer want to get your hands on these allocation wines?

There is a very small percentage who will professionally cellar these wines as commodities, with a view to selling them on in a few years time.

Others will cellar them for consumption at a time (often) dictated by the winemaker for maximum quality.

Others will open them, drink them and enjoy them. I like these people. As I've mentioned before wine is a drink. Drink is a noun AND a verb.

Now, there are some unicorn allocation wines that are of extremely high quality and utmost rarity, and they have achieved legendary mythological status because of their continuous high-level achievements over the years. You can't take that away from them, and they've earned their highly-desirable labels.

BUT , there's a growing number of wines that suddenly appear as allocation wines, which have little or no proven track record of magnificence, and their earlier iterations have been anything but stellar. New producers and itinerant winemakers (who select their grapes from a variety of locations) who declare that their low-volume production wines are now allocation only, are driving up their prices to gullible consumers who haven't researched the brand or its history.

Caveat Emptor, I guess.

Beware the over-marketed wine - and don't forget that you can try before you buy. If you're not allowed to try the wines first (at the farm), you can allow those alarm bells to ring.

To paraphrase the well-know saying:

Life's too short to drink expensive wines that have reached the dizzying heights of mediocrity.

What is the problem with Pinotage?

Fri, 03 May 2024 11:44:17 GMT

PINOTAGE – the truth.

What I’m about to say may get me into a lot of trouble, but frankly I don’t care.

It was Abraham Perold who, nearly 100 years ago, thought it would be jolly good fun to cross-breed Cinsault and Pinot Noir to create a new grape. Why? I can’t be bothered to research it, but does it matter why? The result was Pinotage, a legitimate grape. But the wines created from Pinotage have struggled to get a reasonable foothold in the market.

There was a recent article by that well-know commentator on the industry Michael Fridjhon, who was asking why South African Chenin Blanc has become so globally successful, yet Pinotage has really struggled to gain traction.

My opinion about this (note: "my" opinion!) is that Chenin Blanc had a proven track record, being produced successfully in many countries for quite a long time before it became the South African champion. Thanks to the efforts of Ken Forrester and Martin Meinert, South African Chenin now stands out as one of the all-time success stories, and top quality SA Chenins now command eye-watering prices around the globe. So why has Pinotage not taken off in the same way?

Firstly, it’s still considered to be the new kid on the block (remember, the world only started to find out more about South African wines after the early 1990s) – wine consumers around the world are often creatures of habit, loyally sticking with a cultivar / style / producer that they like (which is usually not Pinotage) and won’t even consider a Pinotage unless it’s poured for them (for free) at a wine tasting function. From my own experience, at one such function in Cape Town, where a selection of different wines were being sampled, a guest refused to taste the Pinotage, stating that he didn’t like it. I casually mentioned that he’s paid for the whole flight of wines, so he could taste it, spit it out, chuck it away and move along, but at least give it a try. Cutting a long story short, he ordered 12 bottles of that particular Pinotage. I’ll put that down as a win.

But if you’re trying to convert the Pinotage infidels one unbeliever at a time, it’s going to take a loooong time.

Enter Diemersfontein, the elephant in the room that, for some reason, is hiding in plain sight. The COFFEE PINOTAGE has divided the wine world. It’s a huge success story – but Diemersfontein have created a monster. A wine that tastes of coffee suddenly became trendy around the globe, but it remains a trend, and quite honestly doesn’t reflect the true nature of the wine. Yes, there are almost unique coffee notes, which is why Diemersfontein chose to "enhance" that unique characteristic, but Pinotage shouldn't just be about coffee. If I want to taste coffee, I'll drink coffee, thank you.

The truth is that while many in South Africa see it as a brilliant marketing move, the Coffee Pinotage isn’t considered a world-class wine.

The likes of Beyers Truter et al (Kanonkop, Beyerskloof, etc) have been making “true” Pinotage. Big, bold, balanced and making a statement. Yet still no global domination.

WHOAH, LIGHT BULB!

“Big… bold…”

Take it right back…

Think about the Pinotage parentage.

Cinsault and Pinot Noir.

Notice anything peculiar? Cinsault and Pinot Noir are generally recognised as elegant, light red wines. You’ll find very little evidence of “Big and Bold.” Why should their child be expected to behave with the subtlety of Oliver Reed and Richard Harris at an all-you-can-drink party?

Well, the good news is that change is a-coming. There is a new style of Pinotage emerging, that may well be the saviour of the cultivar. A lighter style, elegant and delicate, with an alcohol under 13%, behaving like its parents. Lucinda Heyns at Illimis is taking this fresh approach, as are a number of other smaller producers, and the results are mightily impressive. The challenge facing the industry is that this re-invention of Pinotage will take a long time to reach the consciousness of the wine-drinking world, and it will involve a complete marketing overhaul of the cultivar.

Another challenge to consider is that I don’t forsee the likes of Kanonkop, Beyerskloof, Bellevue, Ashbourne et al ever considering changing the style of their Pinotage – they have their own market share with their big, bold (and often highly-priced Pinotages, and won’t want to lose that particular revenue stream.

So what will become of Pinotage, now it has an additional identity? Will it become Jekyll and Hyde, forever doomed to appeal to some of the people, some of the time, or will there be widespread change to the newer, brighter style?

The answer may appear if producers hold the faith and refer to the success story of the “new-style” Chenin Blanc – if you build it, they will come. Either a small number of big name producers have to buy into the dream, or a large number of smaller producers have to become household names. But both of those scenarios will take some time.

Music and wine pairing

Fri, 03 May 2024 10:27:28 GMT

Tasting Notes (get it?)

"Oenesthesia" describes the way in which what we hear can affect how we taste...read on!

When we taste wine, we use at least 4 of our senses - smell, taste and touch. Sight, even though it doesn't directly affect the taste of the wine, does affect our perception of it - imagine a (trendy) cloudy, unfiltered Swartland Chenin, or a pale, bright Cinsault - even before we've given it that first sniff.
Of course, we could close our eyes to avoid this first impression...but that's not where I'm going with this. We're going to use all five senses...

Imagine, if you will, a warm summer's evening, and you've just opened up a chilled, crisp, refreshing Grenache Blanc (just as fruity and tasty, but a lot less acidic than most Sauvignon Blancs).

Time for some music.

Because you're a fan of classical music, you choose Carl Orff's Carmina Burana . Hit play, turn it up to 11.

Oh, no. The wine has suddenly become almost undrinkable - your subconscious is letting the music influence your tasting senses.

Now, you could switch to a big, bold, bombastic Cabernet Sauvignon, that would be more appropriate for the music.

Or, and preferably, because it's cheaper than opening another bottle of wine, you could play something more appropriate, maybe the Air from the Goldberg Variations by Johan Sebastian Bach . Crisp, clear, chilled and pure. Just like the Grenache Blanc.

Try it out - choose a wine, then see if the music you choose enhances the wine.

Are you ready to experiment with music and wine choices?

A big oaked Chardonnay ?

Try something complex and sensual - click HERE to here one suggested musical pairing, and if that doesn't get you, try THIS track instead.

Now what about that big, powerful Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon?

Well, you could go straight for the aforementioned Carmina Burana , or try a little experiment with THIS . The wine should smooth out.

By way of contrast, see if that Cabernet Sauvignon works with THIS - did the wine become really harsh?

Naturally, as with food and wine pairing, individual taste has to be considered, and depending on your own opinion of the wines or the music, you may get different results, but music and wine pairing? There's definitely something to it!

Why not come along to The Wine Hive on Friday 24 May for a guided evening through Music and Wine?

Click on this link HERE to book your seat - there are still a few places remaining!

Let's dispel a few myths...You don't have to be a wine snob to enjoy wine!

Tue, 16 Jan 2024 14:22:17 GMT

Let's dispel a few myths...You don't have to be a wine snob to enjoy wine!

Wine tasting has an ‘elitist’ reputation, loads of strange people slurping and sniffing away, and mumbling in hushed tones about the “sense of place,” “poise,” “elegance” and “tannic grip.”

Sheesh.

The reality is actually a lot more relaxed, fun and informative.

Preconceptions, myths and misgivings abound. For example, people are reluctant to go to wine tastings – they worry that their palate isn’t suitably refined; that they need to appear knowledgeable; or that their lack of wine knowledge will be shown up. It’s simply not true. And if you go in with that attitude, you’ll have a dreadful time. Or feel obligated to buy one or two bottles of wine, and leave with the next-to-cheapest bottle under your arm as a guilt purchase. Don’t be that person!

We leave the ‘elitist behaviour’ to the folks who have probably never paid for a bottle of wine, and spend their lives swirling, sniffing, slurping and spitting. There’s no real fun to be had there! The good news, is that you’ll rarely come across those people at social wine tastings.

A good wine is one which YOU enjoy

When you're wine tasting, you have the perfect opportunity to try a wine without buying it (although most wine tasting events do give you the opportunity to purchase or order wines at great prices).

Importantly though, remember that no two people have the same taste, and every wine is appreciated on an individual basis. Don’t think you have to like a wine simply because everyone else is going crazy over it.

From this alone, a ‘good’ wine is one which you enjoy personally. It can be R50 / bottle, or it can be R1000 / bottle. It can be a name that everyone knows, or it can be from a completely obscure brand. It’s all down to YOU! The most expensive wine isn’t necessarily the best one for you.

Dump the tasting notes

The actual tasting of a wine is a personal experience. Tasting notes are there as a guide, not an instruction, as to what aromas and flavours to expect. Your senses may pick up something completely different from the person sitting next to you.

Nick’s top tip: Don’t look at the tasting notes before, or while tasting the wine. Draw your own conclusions and refer to the notes if you want to identify a particular taste. Because our memories associate flavours with texture (such as biting into a crisp Granny Smith apple), the flavour of a Granny Smith apple may be present in a wine, but without the actual texture of the apple, you may not be able to identify the actual flavour.

Forget about wine as an investment. It’s a journey of discovery

Tue, 16 Jan 2024 14:22:17 GMT

Forget about wine as an investment. It’s a journey of discovery.

There is a tiny percentage of people who buy wine as an investment, but going to a wine tasting doesn’t generally lead us down that path, instead it should be a journey of discovery.

Whether it’s a social event, such as one of the numerous wine evenings that Nick will host, or a trip to a wine farm, it’s all about:

· Discovering new names and labels – so what if you’ve never heard of the farm before?

· Discovering new varietals and blends – you only buy sauvignon blanc or shiraz at the store? NOW you can try something new, and something different, without any obligation to purchase.

· Discovering new aromas and flavours – coming hot on the heels of new varietals, blends AND brands, there are many wines that have unique aromas and flavours, we just have to find them.

· Discovering new favourites – often something you may never have considered before.

· Discovering new friends – whether you’re at a farm or a wine tasting function, remember that there are other people in the room who have a similar interest in discovery that you have.

Prepare to engage all five senses when you taste wine

Tue, 16 Jan 2024 14:22:17 GMT

Wine tasting is a completely immersive and sensory experience:

· SIGHT – swirl the wine in the glass and see the colours in the middle of the wine and around the edges. See how the light dances through the liquid (sorry, getting a little poetic!)

· SMELL – get your nose right inside the glass and take a deep sniff. You don’t have to be able to identify any particular aromas (leave that to the really tiny percentage of people who can), but simply savour the smell. Over time, you may even find that you have a better sense of smell in one nostril than the other!

· TOUCH – wine has a texture. Your tongue not only identifies taste, but texture, better known as “mouthfeel.” It can be dry, crisp, sharp, smooth, creamy, grippy, gritty, to name but a few textures. When you sip the wine (remember to slurp it as if nobody else is there, to get a good amount of oxygen in with the wine), give it a good swish around your mouth – almost like chewing the wine – to feel the texture.

· TASTE – the main reason we drink wine. It’s got to taste good, otherwise we won’t enjoy it! After you’ve swished the wine around your mouth, slurp in a little more air over the wine already in your mouth, and consider the five different elements of taste perception: saltiness, sourness, bitterness, sweetness and umami (from the literal Japanese for “delicious taste,” savoury, in other words). After you’ve tasted, feel free to either swallow, or spit the wine out of your mouth (into a spit bucket, it’s generally frowned upon to spit wine on the floor), and observe how the textures and flavours linger in your mouth.

· HEARING – yes, hearing. Not by listening to the wine (unless you can hear all those tiny bubbles popping in a glass of Champagne), but listen to the winemaker. Boutique and family-run wine farms have fabulous stories to tell; about their adventures, their journey to winemaking, the characters on the farms, and the inspiration behind the labels and the wine names!

Nick’s top tip : If you want to really engage with a winemaker at a wine tasting, don’t ask them HOW they make the wine, ask them WHY they make the wine. Give them a moment to work out the question (nobody will have asked it before!), then enjoy their passion!

Also remember the emotions that are generated by a taste of wine are similar to those experienced when hearing different types of music – come to one of Nick’s Music and Wine evenings and find out!

Nick Plummer Blog

Song and Wine

Add a little West End glitz and glamour to your wine tasting!

Chanel No 5 and Ralph Lauren are NOT tasting notes!

Organic wines - overturning preconceived ideas

One ingredient - grapes. Nothing more, nothing less.

Allocation Wines

Unicorns, or a lot of hot air?

What is the problem with Pinotage?

What I’m about to say may get me into a lot of trouble, but frankly I don’t care.

Music and wine pairing

Tasting Notes (get it?)

"Oenesthesia" describes the way in which what we hear can affect how we taste...read on!

Let's dispel a few myths...You don't have to be a wine snob to enjoy wine!

Forget about wine as an investment. It’s a journey of discovery

Prepare to engage all five senses when you taste wine

One ingredient - grapes.
Nothing more, nothing less.