Dinner - Palisades (South Africa)

Each week on Thursday’s, the Palisade restaurant in Eggleston Virginia has wine tastings/ pairing from regions around the globe. This week’s region was South Africa, which is the country where I was born and spent more than half my life. I decided to try some wines from my home country as I was not allowed to drink while I was living there other than what my parants let me tast at home.

Front View of Palisades Restaurant

 This photo shows the quaint restaurant in Eggleston the Palisade. Getting to this restaurant was interesting as my GPS did not have the road on which this restaurant was located. Having a map from google maps, I made my way with my younger sister to the restaurant. The road off 460 was small and windy and took us “into the middle of nowhere.” We arrived at the restaurant at about 7:45 pm.  We went inside and were seated.

Meal presentation

The wines and dishes I had were as follows: (wines) Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé, Pinotage, Chenin Black, (food) geel rys (yellow rice), mealie soup and bobotie. The photo to the left, shows a nice view of how the meal  was presented. The wines from left to right were as listed above. The food from right to left was as listed above.

Me holding Chenin Blanc and my sister holding the Cabernet Sauvignon Rose

This a picture of myself wearing Natal Sharks rugby jersey from South Africa. At this stage I was starting to taste the wines and make notes on each one. In the background there are two other students taking the Geography of Wine course enjoying their experience.

Man Vintners Chenin Blanc

The first wine I tasted was the Man Vintners Chenin Blanc, from 100% Chenin Blanc. This is a white wine from 2010, it has a 13.5% alcohol and came in a 750ml bottle. On the nose for me it had citrus smell with a hint of Jasmine. The taste reminded me of green melon without the sweetness of the melon and the finish was tarty. This wine was slightly dry. When paired with geel rys, the finish was sweeter. For the mealie soup and bobotie the wine complemented the food well, but I didn't notice any flavor differences.

Mulderboch Cabernet Sauvignon Rose

The Mulderboch Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé was a 2010 and was 12.5% alcohol, from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. It came in a 750 ml bottle and was a nice watermelon pink color. The nose reminded me of an orange rose that grew in my garden in South Africa, but I didn't smell much else. The taste was hard to discern as well and was a little watery. For the pairings the geel rys added a fizzy component to the start of the wine. With the mealie soup the wine clashed rather badly. Finally with the bobotie the dish overpowered the taste of the wine.

Man Vintners Pinotage

Finally there was the Pinotage, a red wine which is one of my father’s favorite wine types. It was also a Man Vintners wine but was a 2009. It had a 14.0% alcohol and came in a 750 ml bottles as well. One the nose it smelled like black berries and some black pepper. The taste of this wine consisted mainly of black berries and had a puckering effect at the end. It was also a bit dry. With the geel rys the blackberry flavor came out, with the mealie soup made it a smother wine, the flavors melded well and with the bobotie had the same tastes as before, but complimented the dish the best.



This was a very enjoyable experience. Of the three wines that I tried my favorite was the Chenin Blanc both for drinking and with all the dishes. My sister’s favorite was the Cabernet Sauvignon Rosé. For both of use our favorite dish was the millie soup. However, the flavors of the babotie reminded me most of the time that I spend on my grandparent’s farm.