All the latest releases, news and offers from the team at Ernie Els Wines.
1. Embrace the good life this summer at Ernie Els Wines
The perfect summer days of endless blue skies and early morning rounds of golf have arrived. The breeze is whistling through our poplar trees overlooking the patio and the birds are singing their happy songs. Even better, Ernie Els Wines can offer you the prospect of long lunches and a lovely chilled glass of white wine, or a sumptuous red, overlooking one of the most beautiful parts of the Cape winelands. What are you waiting for!
Our resident chef at Ernie Els Wines has once again created a splendid new summer menu to suit the new season and we cannot wait to welcome you to the estate so you can experience it yourself. The menu offers something for every individual from, our ‘Dry Aged Sirloin with a Watermelon and pumpkin seed salad’ to our ‘Calamari & Chorizo Salad’. If you are looking for something a little lighter, our ‘Soft Shell Taco served with grilled chicken, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, smoked jalapeno and sour cream’ is a sure-fire winner. Of course, the ever-popular cheese and meat platters remain firmly in place on the summer menu, too.
Don’t wait too long to make Ernie Els Wines part of your holiday plans. As we all know, summer never lasts long enough!
2. Ernie Els Wines at The New York Wine Experience
October saw Ernie Els Wines take the stage in Manhattan at the annual Wine Spectator New York Wine Experience. Almost 300 of the world’s most revered wineries are invited to showcase their flagship wine at this prestigious event, considered by many to be ‘The Oscars’ of the wine industry.
This superb three-day event, which we believe should be at the top of the bucket list for any wine enthusiast, consists of tastings and masterclasses hosted by famous winemakers from all over the world. These tastings range from 20-year vertical flights hosted by houses such as Margaux, Gaja and even Caymus. Meanwhile, masterclasses are put together by acclaimed sommeliers and winemakers.
The Ernie Els Wines stand was located on the 5th floor in the iconic Marriott Marques in Time Square. The Ernie Els Signature 2012 was the perfect wine for the event, possessing added relevance to this year’s show as most of the red wines on display were from the 2010-2013 range. Each evening from 6-10pm we poured and talked about our wines to an eager and discerning clientele. What’s wonderful is this event affords us the rare opportunity to directly engage with our consumers in the USA and at the same time assess the trends and style of wine from the world’s best wineries. It was, as always, a successful show and we very much look forward to attending next year, too.
3. James Nicholson Wine Merchants connect us to Irish clientele
It is with great pleasure that we can announce that James Nicholson Wine Merchants is the newly appointed official Ernie Els Wines importer for the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It follows on from an extremely agreeable visit to Ireland last month by International Marketing Manager Louw Strydom. The process began in March this year when Ernie Els Wines approached JN Wine Merchants with the proposal to be our exclusive agent for NI and ROI. As nothing happens overnight in our industry, it has taken a number of months to get this point. But it was worth the wait. We are delighted that the first shipment of Ernie Els Wines stock recently arrived on the Irish shores.
Louw Strydom estimated that during his visit to Ireland in November, where he was representing Ernie Els Wines at the annual JN Wine Merchants’ portfolio tasting in Dublin and Belfast, some 600 individual consumer and trade clients were introduced to Ernie Els Wines over the course of just a single weekend!
James Nicholson, owner of JN Wine Merchants, is one of the most influential personalities in the wine trade, not only in Ireland but in the UK, too. He boasts an impressive portfolio of wines and champagnes from across the world, of which Ernie Els Wines is proud to be the latest addition.
“We have been working to source the most strategically appropriate agents across the globe and we certainly feel that James and his team are the perfect match for us,” commented Louw Strydom. “Keep a close eye on the Irish market in coming months, this is a growth market in our opinion and we will give our best to assist JN Wine Merchants to develop not only our brand but also the brand equity of South Africa in the eyes of the Irish consumer.”
4. Celebrity Chef & Ernie Els Wines check-in at Nobu, One & Only Cape Town
This past month Ernie Els Wines winemaker and managing director, Louis Strydom, teamed-up with celebrity chef Nobu Matsuhisa for a night of fine food and wine at the iconic One & Only Cape Town. No stranger to international culinary influences, Nobu gives classical Japanese cuisine a contemporary twist with a Peruvian influence. Diners indulged in fresh South African seafood and indigenous spices in mesmerising dishes paired with world-class wines from the Ernie Els Wines portfolio.
The evening was presented in the upper-level Nobu Lounge and was well-attended by local and foreign guests alike, all of who enjoyed a spectacular six-course meal paired with Ernie Els Wines. Among the stand-out dishes were Tuna Hot Miso Tacos paired with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, Beef Fillet with Balsamic Teryaki paired with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon, and a Suntory Cappuccino paired with the Big Easy Sweet Spot.
Ernie Els Wines would like to thank the team at Nobu and the One & Only for an unbelievable night, as well as all of those who attended the dinner. We’re already looking forward to next year’s winemakers dinner at Nobu!
5. Ernie Els Wines quenching thirsts in the deserts of Namibia
Namibia is one of the most exquisite countries on the planet; you have to see it to believe it. It is larger in mass than South Africa, yet is populated by only 2 million people, making it the second most sparsely populated country in the world, after Mongolia. It also has the least rainfall of any country in sub-Saharan Africa and hence residents have to substitute much of their liquid intake with wine…Ernie Els Wine!
Many of the inhabitants have asked Ernie Els Wines to assist in this regard and our partnership with Namibian Wine Merchants has made this possible. In fact, Ernie Els Wines has been a part of the Namibian Wine Merchants portfolio since their inception and the growth of the brand in the market has been exceptional. Namibian Wine Merchants have curated a portfolio of privately owned wineries from South Africa and offer the most awarded portfolio of wines available in Namibia. What’s more, their dedicated team of professionals have invested themselves in building relationships with some of the most exclusive and remote lodges in Africa. And believe us when we say this, the experience of sitting in the African wilderness sipping a glass of world-class wine while watching herds of wild animals saunter past is a definite ‘bucket-list’ moment.
During November, Namibian Wine Merchants welcomed a host of winemakers from their portfolio for their annual road-show. It is always an incredible week and allows us an opportunity to meet many of our loyal customers who we rarely get the opportunity to thank and interact with. The week started off with a well-organized and superbly attended evening at The Dome in Swakopmund, where customers could make their way around and taste a selection of the fine wines on offer. The firm favourite for the evening was the Proprietors Blend 2014, which happens to partner beautifully with a medium rare Oryx (Gemsbok) sirloin.
The next day we were hosted to a days’ fishing off of the coast of Wlotzkasbaken, which really is an experience in itself. The Namib Desert runs along this coastline and makes for cold misty conditions, while 10km inland the temperatures soar to 30 degrees centigrade. We can confirm that Ernie Els Sauvignon Blanc suites both conditions perfectly!
The following day we made our way to Windhoek for a blockbuster evening held at The Stellenbosch Wine Bar. Around 300 of Windhoek’s well-healed wine enthusiasts enjoyed all of the wines on show and the festivities carried on well into the evening. The wine-star of the show was the Ernie Els Cabernet Sauvignon.
6. Behind the scenes blending the Proprietor’s Blend and Signature Red
Spring in the winery is an exciting time, as it is typically when we start the process of making up the final blends for the Signature and Proprietors ranges. Each batch of grapes at Ernie Els Wines is especially made and allocated to a specific wine, but extra care and time is taken when it comes to the Signature and Proprietors range. Some batches allocated to these wines are made from specially selected grapes from the Ernie Els vineyards. Premium quality pockets from within each individual vineyard are identified and determined through a combination of technology, experience and taste. This premium selection of grapes are then harvested, vinified and matured separately to create a variety of different blending components for the Signature and Proprietors range.
Selecting the individual batches for the blends this year was a particular treat, as the 2015 vintage was an exceptional year for our red varietals, producing wines with a deep complexity, intensity of flavour, as well as the hallmark elegance synonymous with Ernie Els Wines. The 2015 Signature and complete Proprietors range was bottled during November and is safely packed away for bottle maturation until it is ready for release.
“We are particularly excited about the Proprietor’s Blend and Signature,” commented Louis Strydom, “and all of us at Ernie Els Wines can’t wait to share these captivating wines with you in the near future.”
