We bring you all the latest news, releases and announcements from the world of Ernie Els Wines.
1. Place your Christmas Wine Orders now!
Wrap-up the year with a special selection of Christmas gifts from Ernie Els Wines (pictured above), available exclusively to our Wine Club members. The perfect opportunity to spoil your family, friends or clients and, what’s more, these gifts are delivered directly to their door. Contact the Ernie Els Wine Club for prices and more information – email wineclub@ernieelswines.com or telephone +27 (0) 86 166 6286.
Ernie Els Wine club members receive the following member’s benefits:
- 15 per cent discount on Cellar Door Prices on all wines.
- Early access to new vintages and the option on older vintage releases.
- Regular special wine offers.
- Unlimited complimentary wine tasting at Ernie Els Wines for club member and one guest.
- The option to send wine directly from Ernie Els Wines as a gift to family, friends or clients.
- Invitations to local and country wide tastings, dinners and events.
To sign up http://www.ernieelswines.com/Page.aspx?PAGEID=2758&CLIENTID=4975
2. Ernie Els Wines welcomes Jan Braai doing what he does best!
While sipping on an ice cold glass of Big Easy Chenin Blanc, the distinctive smell of a South African braai (barbecue) wafted around the tasting area at Ernie Els Wines! Media personality and Ernie Els Wines ambassador Dan Nicholl, winemaker Louis Strydom and the king of South African barbecue, Jan Braai, delighted in a festive television shoot at Ernie Els Wines on Monday 16 November.
This was a glorious day in the winelands with beautiful views and lovely weather. Jan and Dan were putting together a television feature with Christmas cooking lessons as the theme, with amongst other dishes, beef sosaties prominent on the menu. These were washed down with an excellent selection of Ernie Els Wines.
3. Winemakers Corner: The fine art of blending wine
To a winemaker the process of blending wines is one of the most intriguing and creative processes in the making a bottle of wine. Much like a piece of art that is made up of various colours, shades, techniques and brush strokes we are looking for layers of aromas and flavours, structure, elegance and complexity in the wines we create. At Ernie Els Wines, blending is the final step before the wine goes to bottle, but the process actually starts soon after harvest when we taste and assess all our new wines and allocate each wine batch according to quality and style characteristics.
The final step of blending happens after the wine has matured in barrels for 18-22 months, to assess how the wine has developed during maturation. We go through all our wine batches in the cellar allocating barrels with specific characteristics into specific styles. This also gives us the opportunity to see how the different barrels integrate with our wine, as each barrel adds its own components depending on toasting, size and origin.
In addition to the barrels we use, there are other factors such as the various clones planted on the estate, the soil types and variety of fermentation techniques we use that all add different characteristics and layers to our wines. We will then continue tasting the various wine batches and barrels until we find the final combination that creates the ideal blend for a specific wine.
Over the years winemaking has evolved to become a blend of art, science and nature. With each vintage Mother Nature will give us something new or different, but our commitment to quality and passion to find and create the perfect blend will never change.
4. A great partnership with Taste of Africa boosts European growth
Ernie Els Wines has many sales points across the globe, but one European market in particular has stood out in 2015; that is our partners in Luxembourg, ‘Taste of Africa’. Our business with these partners has grown phenomenally in the past few years and has helped solidify our brand as a forerunner among South African wineries in Central Europe. For more information please visit http://www.taste-of-africa.eu/en/winery?product=&grape=&estate=Ernie
Taste of Africa are a family business run by the dynamic sibling team of Nadine and Andreas Peyter. The family fell in love with South African wine when on holiday in the country and 10 years later have developed a highly successful model that has helped reshape how European tourists travelling in South Africa can purchase South African wines when back in Europe.
In a show of support, Ernie Els Wines recently hosted a tasting at Taste of Africa’s tasting room in Luxembourg. The event was enjoyed by all and re-affirmed that Ernie Els Wines, along with the SA wine category, is gaining traction amongst our European clientele.
Thank you to Nadine and Andreas for flying the SA flag high and proud in Luxembourg.
5. Bellgables Restaurant partners Ernie Els Wines for special evening
The recent Ernie Els Wines pairing evening at Bellgables Country Restaurant was superb, hosted by Ernie Els Group (SA) Brand Manager Duncan Woods and Brand Ambassador Diandre Fryer. We are happy to re-produce here the subsequent review by Maria Conradie, food and culture critic in South Africa, who clearly loved our wines!
Bellgables rose up at us out of the darkness of the Cradle of Mankind
“A well-maintained dirt road took us to the grand gates that magically opened and lead us into a splendid sight like a painting or movie set. Antique candlesticks – and at Bellgables there are many- all ablaze with firelight. I don’t think I’ve ever seen all those candlestick glowing.
“Opulent decor assailed us as we walked into a full house of gold and glamour, in from the darkness of the African highveld bush, and into a warm welcoming five-course extravagance. We sat down to excellent food all thoughtfully paired for the evening with the most delicious wines that just kept on flowing. The staff are outstanding and friendly and the courses flowed smoothly in and out the kitchen, mushroom heavenly delicious soup to start followed by a spicy Thai peanut satay starter and then for me a main course of excellent spicy creamy fish curry, while the others tucked into their fillet curry which looked just as good as mine.
“Thanks Errol Gobey for my extra special meal. I think with that course we had a red blend, a really easy drinking yummy deep delicious wine if I remember correctly. So many delicious flavours all in one evening. And so much to eat. We ended off with a decadent Chocolate Creme Brulee with a perfectly crackable lid. Luckily, in-between courses we could wonder through the gardens that rise up so majestically into the dark with their groomed corridors of grass and statues taking you deeply into the African bush if you dared to go. If you want to really feel like royalty for a night you can’t go wrong with a night out at Bellgables. Thanks Errol and Harry for a gorgeous, delicious evening.”
