Unpacking and more unpacking

Yikes, where do I start?

The c.20+ foot container housing all the contents from our home in Sao Paulo arrived last week. Things have been especially hectic around here since then. Luckily for me, my parents in law were around to whisk the kids out of potential harm’s way: burly men lifting and assembling heavy furniture, a dazed woman completely overwhelmed by boxes that were packed in haste…

Note worthily, we were allowed to bring into Switzerland 200 bottles of wine which would be free of import tax. Unfortunately, we only found out about it a few days before the packers came and by then, didn’t have sufficient time or energy to stock up. We bundled the 22 or so bottles stacked in the kitchen: A few of our favourite Spanish red that a friend kindly transported for us from Europe (after we saw that they cost about six times more in Sao Paulo!) and a number of decently priced Argentinian Malbecs that we had started enjoying. They include the likes of Rutini, Las Perdices, Nieto Cadus and Las Moras which I wrote about here. 

Hopefully, I will be able to talk about some of them in the posts to come. Also, a few yummy ones we've been sharing with my in laws these past days, that is, assuming that I can get some time to myself.

Red blend from the Franschhoek Valley in South Africa

I’ve spent a number of good holidays in South Africa. This is primarily because I like spending time with my twin sister, G and her husband, T. T is from Zim and has a lot of connections in SA and moreover, his late mother, Monica, whom I had a lot of affection for resided in Knysna, c.491km from Cape Town. A few years ago, Emilio agreed to my suggestion to jet off to Cape Town from Spain (where we celebrated Christmas and New Years) so we could spend some of our holidays with G&T, their kids and Monica. The weather that greeted us was perfect; a much needed respite from the cold bitter winds we experienced in Spain. We had a fantastic time in Cape Town and yonder, including a visit to Franschhoek valley to sample some fine wine and cuisine, supposedly to be the best in SA. 

  

Franschhoek (“French corner”) is a village situated some 80km east from Cape Town. Popular grapes in this region include Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz and Cabernet  Sauvignon. Wine producing started in the 17^th century, when French Protestants refugees (the Hugenots) settled on land provided by the Dutch and cultivated grapes in the surrounding mountain slopes. The scenery of this village is breathtaking and there are many enchanting wine farms offering tasting as well as fine dining. Watch this promotional video if you have 4.55 minutes and want to glimpse the picturesque village.

La Motte Wine Estate beguiled us in on a beautiful summers day. The winery was crowded and busy but we still managed to sample a good number of wines at leisure and browse in the lovely farm shop for wine paraphernalia. Afterwards, we sat relaxed on the loungers on the sunny lawn, discussing (rather tipsily) how beautiful the estate was and our haul: mostly red blends, which we then preferred to the SA's native Pinotage. The estate was bought by a South African industrialist called Dr Anton Rupert in 1970 and subsequently restored. It is now owned by his daughter Hanneli Rupert-Koegelenberg (a mezzo soprano in SA) and managed by her CEO husband.

  

Not surprisingly, La Motte 2008 Millenium is a bottle we opened a few weeks ago with a lot of happy memories. Fruity and spicy, it was medium bodied and provided a lingering finish. The blend of this wine varies depending on the year. For example, the vintage we drank consisted predominantly of Cabernet Franc (44%),  Malbec (11%) mixed with Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The 2011 bottle on the other hand, has mostly Merlot (60%) and Carbernet Franc (31%) and a residual a mix of Petit Verdot and Malbec. The different components were left to age separately for 15 months in French oak barrels before being blended. At only R84.00/ Euros 5.65, we both found the price:quality ratio more than reasonable. 

Bonarda from Argentina

Las Moras Black Label Bonarda is one of our favourite Argentinian wines. I first encountered it last year, at the supermarket down the street, where we used to live in Sao Paulo. It was selling at a small discount to its original price of 54 BRL (16 Euros at today's exchange rate) and the lady in charge of the wine section had insisted I snap it to take advantage of the 'too good an offer' when I enquired about buying good South American wines.

It was our first Bonarda. Neither Emilio nor I were familiar with the varietal and it was only recently that I researched and discovered that there are in fact many grapes called Bonardas and that the Argentine Bonarda originated from the Savoie Region in Eastern France (incidentally only about 415km away from Basel, where we are living now). The Argentine version is widely stated as being similar to the Chabono in California but different to the three types of Italian Bonardas grown in North Central and North West Italy. It was apparently, the most planted grape in Argentina until this decade when it was overtaken by Malbec.

The Malbec is pretty good too

The Bonarda we like tasted like a fruity Malbec that was a little bit lighter bodied. It was easy to pair with dinner or snacks so naturally, I continued to buy it whenever I went back to the supermarket until the day arrived that I could no longer find it on the shelves (!) - not unlike my experience of bulk-buying lactose free milk for Baby Koala. The lady promoting the wine had disappeared and I could not ask her whether we had consumed all their available stocks so I tweaked our consumption pattern and started bulk-buying the Las Moras Black Label Malbec instead  (illustrated above) - which we also liked and subsequently brought back with us to Spain and Switzerland.

The bodega which produces the Las Moras Black Label range is called Finca Las Moras and is situated in the high altitude region of San Juan, in the Northwest of Argentina. The region is the second largest wine producer after Mendoza and is irrigated by the water coming down from the Andes Mountains. It was a shame that we did not have the opportunity to explore any of the bodegas in Latin America. Oh well, here's hoping we will be able to remedy this when we return for a holiday!