The finest French night in the Winelands

Women of Wines: March 2009 at Villiera {French Flair} with Celesté van der Merwe

The ladies showed up at Villiera dressed in their finest French outfits, Karen stealing the show with her bag of onions!


Celesté welcomed the ladies with the Tradition Rosé Brut NV. After everyone arrived, we were treated to a cellar tour - the first for WOW. Back at the beautifully decorated table, we sampled some of the Tradition Brut NV and the Villiera "king of bubblies", the Monro Brut 2004.

We were then treated to homebaked quiches (and I know they're homebaked, cause I helped bake them! ;) before we started with the whites. The Down to Earth White 2008, a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, is one of the winelands' best value wines (at R27.50 a bottle)! This was followed by my personal favourite Chenin, the Cellar Door Chenin Blanc 2005.

We then sampled some delicious cheeses, breads and fruit sticks before trying 3 of Villiera and Domaine Grier's reds. Domaine Grier is a French vineyard owned by Villiera and they import some of their reds from there. First up was the Domaine Grier Syrah 2006, a stunning Shiraz matured in French Oak barrels for 10 months. We then tried the (local) Villiera Shiraz 2004. A true gem! The last red for the evening was the Domaine Grier Galamus 2006, a Grenache 30% Syrah 40% Carignan 30% blend. This wine is worth visiting the farm for!

And because ladies love their sweet things in life, we ended the evening with the Cellar Door Noble Late Harvest Riesling 2005 served with Marí's delicious Cheese Cake. (*Note: if you need sweet things, contact Marí!)

To see more photos of the evening, go to the Facebook photo album
Thanks to Wine Magazine for sponsoring magazines for the goodie bags!