Asheville's Best Wine Tasting.

Distinctive Wines of South Africa

“Wine Down” your work week and get your week-end off to a good start with Asheville’s Best Wine Tasting every Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. The experts agree that South Africa might be the perfect place to grow grapes and make distinctive wines. The wines of South Africa often possess the freshness/acidity and spice/earth notes found in Old World Wines combined with the ripe and juicy fruit found in New World Wines. This co-mingling of styles and flavors is what makes the wines so interesting and distinctive. Join us to sample through an assortment of wines, learn a thing or two, and save some money on some wines perfect for all sorts of occasions.

To start, the 2013 The Curator White Blend is a deliciously dry blend of Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay and Semillon made by the talented Adi Badenhorst, one of the country’s greatest winemakers. Fermented in stainless steel, it offers up juicy flavors of spiced apple, pear, mixed citrus and white flowers. Up next, the 2013 Beyond Sauvignon Blanc is made by Buitenverwachting in Constantia. One of the South Africa’s master producers of Sauvignon Blanc, this one is super tangy and tart with notes of lime, citrus zest, green herbs and spearmint.

Moving into the reds, we’ll start with the 2013 Boekenhoutskloof Wolftrap Red, a fun and playful blend of Syrah, Mourvedre and Viognier. Bursting with ripe and spicy berry fruit, this simple and easy to understand red is one of the great red wine values in the world. After that, the 2011 Kanonkop Kadette is from one of South Africa’s most respected producers and it is one of the country’s most popular red wines. A blend of Pinotage along with the classic Bordeaux varieties, it is a somewhat “serious” wine at a terrific price. To finish up, the 2010 Thelema Mountain Cuvée is simply delicious. A blend of primarily Shiraz with classic Bordeaux varietals, it is another pedigreed wine from a legendary producers that sells for a song.

Tasting wines are 10% off by the bottle, 15% off if you mix six of them, and 20% off if you mix twelve of them!

The Wines
Prices range from $10 to $16 per bottle

1. 2013 The Curator White Blend
(Swartland, South Africa)

2. 2013 Beyond Sauvignon Blanc
(Constantia, South Africa)

3. 2013 Boekenhoutskloof Wolftrap Red
(Western Cape, South Africa)

4. 2011 Kanonkop Kadette Red Blend
(Stellenbosch, South Africa)

5. 2010 Thelema Mountain Red Blend
(Stellenbosch, South Africa)