Allée Bleue Wines South Africa

Franschhoek Wine Tasting at Allée Bleue

noreply@blogger.com (Allée Bleue Estate) — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 12:35:00 +0000

As Franschhoek wine tasting is considered to be a very sophisticated practice there is a specific etiquette you have to follow. This etiquette should remain the same whether you are at a vineyard, a wine tasting private party, or in a restaurant.

FRANSCHHOEK WINE TASTING @ ALLÉE BLEUE

Study The Wine

Pick up your glass as elegantly as possible. There are two ways this can be done.
a) For chilled wines - hold the glass by the stem and don't even touch the bowl.
b) For wine served at room temperature - pick up the glass by the bowl and hold it cupped in your palm, the stem between your middle two fingers.

Now that you have the glass comfortably in your hand, hold it at a slight angle against something white. If your hostess is worth her salt, she'll have covered the table in white linen specifically for this purpose (although it does look nice, too).

Be careful not to tip the glass too far - unless you're willing to replace an expensive linen tablecloth, that is. You may also need to adjust the distance from your eyes that the glass is held at. Most find that holding it at almost arm's length is a good starting point although the very short sighted who are also absent minded enough to have left their eye glasses at home may find themselves having to hold the glass almost in front of their noses.

Once you've found the correct position, study the colour and clarity of the wine. Now you may well believe that wine's either red, pink, or white but I'm afraid, if that's the case, you're very much mistaken. Wines can be green, yellow, gold, pink, purple, or even black. Evidently, the colour of the wine will indicate the type of grape it was made from - like me, you, and Jack on the street are likely to know that!

Clarity indicates age. Young wines are more see through and cloudiness can mean there's something wrong. If that's the case, I'd suggest putting it back on the table and giving your hostess once of those 'down your nose' type looks.

The reason why you're studying the colour and clarity looks has absolutely no bearing on how the wine will taste but a proper connoisseur enjoys the beauty of wine as well as its taste and ...

The Bouquet

No, we're not talking about the bunch of flowers a bride carries with her down the aisle, we're talking the smell of wine. Sometimes, if the people at the wine tasting are really posh, they might call it 'The Nose'.

Still holding your glass in the correct manner, lower your hand somewhat whilst bring your glass to a level position and rotate your wrist so that the wine swirls gently within the bowl. You might want to leave these instructions at this point to go to the kitchen and practise this step with a wineglass half filled with water. After all, it's just as well to know for sure that you aren't going to spill expensive red wine over your hostess's spanking new Axminster.

To swill wine properly, very little wrist movement is actually needed. Just very slight circular movements combined with a right-left movement should do the trick.

The idea behind all this swilling is to bring the wine's aroma out of the wine itself and into the empty part of the bowl thus allowing it to be smelled and savoured. This is why wine glasses are bulbous.

The wide bowl has ample room for swilling while the narrow edge 'captures' the bouquet. Clever, eh?
Move your glass to your nose as elegantly as you're able and bring it in slightly beneath the tip. Inhale deeply. Savour for a few moments and then inhale again. It's a good idea to exhale between those two inhalations or you might find yourself going dizzy. Do it too often and you'll faint. Surely something you don't want to do during your Franschhoek Wine Tasting at Allée Bleue.

You may now move your glass away from your nose.
At this point, it's appropriate to make some kind of comment. Don't imagine you'll fool anybody into believing you're an expert but at least you can make it sound as if you've actually drunk a glass of decent wine before.

Something like "mmmm, rich and fruity" or "oooh, lovely and light" will probably do the trick. When talking about red wine, 'rich' is usually a good word to use - if the wine's white, go for 'light'.

The Actual Tasting

You've probably been looking forward to this bit but whatever you do, remember that wine tasting is about taking small sips and not guzzle it down like there's no tomorrow.
This bit's actually trickier than you'd expect so you might want to do some more practising.
Bring your glass to your lips, open them slightly and take a small sip. Now close you mouth and roll the wine around on your tongue for a few seconds before allowing it to slide slowly down your throat AND AT THE SAME TIME EXHALE!

The trouble with exhaling whilst swallowing is that some of the liquid might come shooting through your nostrils. Not a pretty sight and, again, think of the Axminster!
If you fancy, you can always take a second sip at this point but never a third. No matter how good that one particular wine is, it's time to move on to the next...

FRANSCHHOEK WINE TASTING @ ALLÉE BLEUE

Allée Bleue Wine South Africa Wins Silver at Decanter World Wine Awards 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Allée Bleue Estate) — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 11:12:00 +0000

Allée Bleue Wine South Africa - Shiraz 2010 wins Silver at Decanter 2012

Decanter is an up market magazine on wine and spirits, published in over 90 countries on a monthly basis. The magazine content includes news from the industry, vintage guides and wine recommendations. Decanter organizes the annual Decanter World Wine Awards. Visit Decanter Wikipedia

Wine South Africa & vintage: Shiraz 2010
Origin: Franschhoek
Label: Allée Bleue
Farm location: R45 Franschhoek Valley
Wine maker: Van Zyl Du Toit
Grape varieties: Shiraz
Style of wine: Barrel matured red wine
Vinification: Fermented in tank with temperatures peaking at 28°C.
Extended skin contact was done for 10 days after fermentation
Wood maturation: 70% New French oak with the rest 2nd and 3rd fill barrels.
10% was AWO
Winemaker’s notes: Intense deep red colour. A powerful bouquet of violets, spice and chocolate. The pallet is smooth and silky packed with berry fruit and spice nuances.
Analysis: Alcohol 14.8% vol
Residual Sugar 3.6 gm/l
Total Acidity 6.1gm/l
pH 3.4
Food paring: Ostrich kebabs basted with red currant jelly and freshly ground pink peppercorns and finished with a Shiraz reduction. Medallions of Springbok rubbed with cumin and flash roasted – served with spiced beetroot.

Allée Bleue Wine of South Africa - Best Value 2013 Award for Starlette Pinotage

noreply@blogger.com (Allée Bleue Estate) — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 08:18:00 +0000

Wine South Africa makes an incredibly wide variety of wines from a number of different grapes. As we've talked about in other parts of the site and our blogs we believe at Uncorked Ventures that some of the best International wines come right from our own backyard.

Luckily for wine drinkers South Africa produces two such grapes, that are both highly unusual:

Pinotage and Chenin Blanc (Post will follow on this amazing Chenin grape varietal)

Pinotage; Pinotage is a cross between Pinot Noir (a cold weather grape) and a French varietal that most a unfamiliar with, Cinsaut (a warm weather grape). Perhaps no other varietal in the world is as unique as Pinotage, as it seems growers in effect tried to create a grape that would grow perfectly in their unique climate. Pinotage also sometimes gives winemakers fits during the fermentation process, turning bad and being bottled only to yield a smell similar to paint. Your guess is as good as ours at this point about the future of Pinotage, but at Uncorked Ventures we certainly hope that worldwide winemakers are able to have more unique grapes and varietals, not less. Personally, I'd love to find a good producer of Pinotage, just for the conversation that it would create with friends and family. It is on my to-do list at present time.

Allée Bleue has been awarded The Best South African wines less than R80 in their Red Wine category Buy our Pinotage here for R32.00.

Dark chocolate and plums are the first things you encounter in the perfume, which prepare you for the delights to come. Despite its elegant body, there's depth, richness and intensity here that tells you there's a serious base under the eminent drinkability. It's a balanced wine, nothing's out of place, all the elements work in harmony, which is why it is so appealing. On the other hand, Pinotage is famous for its ageing ability, and this one's pliable oak component makes it a worthy canditate for the further cellaring.

Want more wine information? Want to join a real interactive wine that is interested in more then just taking your money for their real business? Use promo code on Facebook to take 10% off your Allée Bleue Wine Estate fan order just for reading this article!

Why Allée Bleue Wines South Africa can't go without Pruning of the vines

noreply@blogger.com (Allée Bleue Estate) — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 14:49:00 +0000

The care and maintenance of your grape vineyard is vital to the long term health of your vines, and ensures that they will continue to produce quality grapes for your South African wine - winemaking. Pruning grapes is the process that will ensure the best quality grapes and subsequently the best tasting South African wine possible.

Pruning is simply the process of removing unwanted parts of the plant to ensure that the goals we established for our vineyard are met. By pruning we can control the size and form of the vines, control the size and quality of grape production, and maintain a balance between vegetation and fruit.

Only new growth will produce grapes, so it is important that healthy new canes are produced each year. New growth may be held back if pruning is delayed during the dormant season. You want to plan your pruning to ensure that it is started early enough so that the entire vineyard is pruned properly and on time. Late pruning may cause the occurrence of harmless "bleeding". This modification helps in maintaining the vine's vigor and sufficient fruiting wood. Crop production is affected by either deficiency or excess of good fruiting wood.

What would happen if you didn't prune? Good question. You have probably experienced this in other areas of your garden. If you didn't take the time to prune your apple tree for example, the following year there were more apples on the tree than you could eat but they probably were not as sweet or as ripe. If grape vines are left un-pruned they will produce a bumper crop, however, the quality will significantly suffer. By producing so much fruit the vines do not have the energy to bring the grapes to the ripening stage...lots of grapes of poor quality is the result of neglecting vineyard pruning.

In fact, the purpose of pruning grapes is to remove as much as 95% o 98% of the previous year growth. This ensures that the balance of the vineyard is maintained between the correct amount of vegetation and the correct amount of fruit, and ensures the energy of the plant is funneled back into producing healthy, quality grapes for the following year.

It should be evident that pruning grapes is vital to the production of quality grapes. It takes quality grapes to make a quality wine of South Africa, so it goes that pruning directly affects the wine quality we are able to produce. This process will ensure the health of the vineyard and subsequently the best tasting wine possible.

Allée Bleue Wines: Wine of South africa

noreply@blogger.com (Allée Bleue Estate) — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 19:23:00 +0000

"A Beautiful Day" for Wines South Africa at Allée Bleue

noreply@blogger.com (Allée Bleue Estate) — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 12:50:00 +0000

Allée Bleue 2010 MCC :

After aging on the lees for the past 22 months , the day has finally arrived to degorge our new Methode Cap Classique (MCC). A blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wine of South Africa warrants the extra time on the lees. The wine has been slowly cooling down in our walk-in fridge since last week. So this morning it was “ bombs away”. The wine is kept upside down ever since the riddling was done. This process is called remuage and is when we turn die bottles in special racks to move the yeast to the mouth or neck of the bottle. Bottles are then placed in the ice bath ( running at -25 ° C) and the wine and yeast is frozen to the neck. The bottles are place in the degorging unit. This will first move the bottle to a 45 degree angle, flip off the crown cap, then pressure (from the secondary or bottle fermentation) shoots out the icicle with the yeast trapped inside. Viola, the wine is clean. Then the same machine adds a small amount of dosage, a blend of old wine, sugar and some sulphur. Then on to the corking and wiring unit where the cork and wire is then applied. Then a quick wash and back into the bins. Until we get the labels and finish of the wines of South Africa..

Keep your eyes and ears open for the release in our Tasting Room. You won’t be disappointed.

Winter wine lounge specials at Allee Bleue - Wines of South Africa

noreply@blogger.com (Allée Bleue Estate) — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 12:54:00 +0000

Allee Bleue is known to be one of the oldest yet most characteristic wine farms in the Cape. This wine estate has an eventful past, yet it has the ‘it’ factor when it comes to being one of the undiscovered jewels of the Cape Winelands.

This estate boasts picturesque scenery ranging from the majestic Drakenstein mountain range, vineyards and lavender with age old meadows. When visiting the farm, you will immediately experience an unmistakable French vibrancy, seeing that it is after all on the door step of Franschhoek's historic town, which is South Africa’s own taste of France.

When this dynamic husband and wife team bought the farm, Friedrich-Wilhelm and Elke Dauphin, made very important investments. These two investments are the ingredients for a winning recipe! They employed staff and built a state of the art cellar for the production of award winning wines!

Tasting
Allow yourself the pleasure of experiencing wine of South Africa tasting in a way that only Allee Bleue can offer. Savour the beautiful bouquets of our wines as well as a taste of our olives and olive oil.

In our tasting room you have the opportunity to taste world class wines, poured by our knowledgeable & helpful team of staff. Let Allee Bleue set the bar for your tasting room experiences in South Africa!

Pre-booked cellar tours are conducted on a daily bases, so you can see where this fabulous wine is born.
Light lunches are served in the courtyard, as well as in the bistro. Food for everyone's taste!

Tour groups exceeding 10 people need to pre-book, in order to avoid disappointment.
Children must please be accompanied by their parents. feel free to contact us at wine.tasting@alleebleue.com

Wine South Africa: Allee Bleue Sauvignon Blanc 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Allée Bleue Estate) — Wed, 30 May 2012 08:37:00 +0000

South Africa's Allée Bleue wine farm, nestled in the heart of South Africa's wine region has just announced our release of the Sauvignon Blanc 2012! Interestingly, the specific taste of each region's version of the Sauvignon Blanc differs slightly depending on the climate and soil conditions. Because South Africa is a country that is as diverse as the people it is home to, each farm's Sauvignon Blanc bears its own unique flavour, whether grassy, crisp or fruity. Van Zyl (Allee Bleue Winemaker) notes that the 2012 "Sweet tropical fruit invites you on the nose. This is followed by intense passion fruit aromas well supported by hints of green pepper and typical herbaseousness. The wine of South Africa palate is fresh and lively with loads of summer flavours and clean, crisp finish."

SAUVIGNON BLANC 2012

With its origin in the coastal district of Walker Bay area situated around 120km from Cape Town. The grapes were sourced from selected vineyards. Picked at optimal ripeness to ensure the freshness that Sauvignon is renowned for. The grapes were harvested at night and stored in a cool room until being sorted, crushed and pressed the following day. Lees rubbing of 4 days was done at 3°C to extract the delicate fruit flavours. The juice was racked and inoculated with yeast and cold fermented in tank until dry. The wine of South Africa was aged on the lees for 2 months before racking and sulphuring to ensure a silky aftertaste. Another 1 month of lees aging was done prior to bottling.

"It is believed that South Africa's advantage in producing the ideal Sauvignon Blanc lies in our ability to balance acidity and fruitiness in perfect ratio to one another." - Fiona Phillips Cyber Cellar.com

Wine farmers frequently elect to pick Sauvignon Blanc grapes at different intervals in the season. This lends the end product a complex combination of flavours. The riper the grape, the sweeter it is. By combining these with the tarter, younger berries, the flavour is enhanced and balanced. When the berries are being gathered, oxygen is excluded to ensure that the flavour is kept inside the grape.

This reductive process is carried through right until the wine is bottled. The contact between the skin and the juice of the grape also needs to be monitored so that the flavours are controlled. If the contact between these two components of the grape is left for too long after picking, the wine becomes very intense. This reduces the aging ability of the wine significantly.

Even the temperature at which the Sauvignon Blanc is fermented impacts heavily on the resultant flavour. When fermentation is conducted under warmer conditions, the resulting wine has a grassier, earthy taste to it. Cooler temperatures bring out the fruity, tropical qualities of the wine. This wine is best enjoyed young!
Suggested Food paring: Light vegetarian pasta with fresh Allée Bleue herbs. Scallops in a fresh citrus jus topped with marinated orange peel.

"South African Sauvignon Blancs – The world’s most improved white wines" -Winetimes.co.za

Allee Bleue Wines South Africa: Labeling 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Allée Bleue Estate) — Wed, 23 May 2012 10:23:00 +0000

We have recently started with the Labeling of the Allee Bleue 2012 Harvest, very exciting! Things are in full swing with the Sauvignon Blanc 2012, Starlette Blanc 2012 and Starlette Rose 2012, we can expect it to be on shelves across the globe soon.


EMPLOYEES LABELING 2012 HARVEST

But how do you remove the Allee Bleue label from your South African wine?

Removing the label from an Allée Bleue bottle of wine may seem like an every day occurrence; surely people everywhere have their reasons for scraping fingernails against a square of paper. Perhaps some people remove the label to make a wine collage. Perhaps some people remove one to fill up an empty space in their scrapbook. Perhaps some people even remove it to compose a ransom note entirely out of wine tags. But, most likely, people simply remove wine of South Africa labels so they can collect them. Whether these labels are taken off to collect memorabilia or taken off to collect ransoms, one things stands in between the label and the bottle: adhesive. Yes, this substance can leave you in a bit of a sticky situation.

Removing an Allee Bleue wine label may seem easy enough; you simply peel and pull. But, that peeling and pulling can often lead to ripping and tearing, something that ruins the quality of the label and defeats the purpose of preserving it. Instead, taking some time to learn that removing what's outside is almost as much of an art form as drinking what's inside can be the difference between a label worth keeping and one worth throwing in the trash. Below are few of the ways to not label yourself frustrated when trying to tug off the tag.

[Allee Bleue can not be held responsible in any way for any action taken with regards of the use of these Tips]. .

Adhesive Tape: The use of adhesive tape may seem like a bit of a conundrum; after all, it's the adhesive that is the problem to begin with. But, using tape to pull off the label actually works well. You can purchase this kind of tape from a wine magazine, or you can simply make you own. All this process involves is placing a large piece of clear tape against the wine's label and pulling it off. This won't remove the entire label, as the layer of the label with glue on it will remain adhered to the bottle, but it will take off the part of the label that is worth saving.
Pros: Relatively simply to do, time saving, and leaves your wine label with a "laminated look" as a plastic film covers it.
Cons: If you purchase via a wine magazine, this process can be a bit pricey. You may also prefer a wine label without the "laminated look." If that's the case, this avenue is not for you.

Blow Dryer: Blow dryers aren't just for hair anymore; they are also for wine bottles. Using one of these appliances can help melt the glue that is keeping the label adhered to the wine bottle. Once this glue is melted, the label should come off with relative ease.
Pros: This process is cost free for those who already own a blow dryer. Not only this, but your wine bottle will surely have that silky, manageable, no-frizz look afterwards.
Cons: The air from a blow dryer might not be hot enough to cause the glue to reach its melting point. If this is the case, the label will not peel off easily and may rip as it's being pulled.

Hot Water Method: Using heat on the inside to remove the label on the outside is a method that some people have found successful. The first step in this, naturally, is to make sure the wine bottle is completely empty; we don't want any drops going to waste. The next step involves filling the bottle with hot water and allowing this water to sit until the edges of the label start to come up, as if holding their arms up in surrender. Grabbing the surrendering arms of the label and gently tugging should be enough to get the label completely off.
Pros: As long as you have a hot water faucet, this is a highly affordable procedure. It is also laden with simplicity.
Cons: The bottle may be too thick for the hot water to really influence the label and convince it to come off. The label may also be too hard to peel or only parts of it may refuse to come off.

Soaking in Water: When in doubt, soak. Simply placing the bottle in a sink full of hot water and adding a few drops of dishwasher detergent may be all you need to remove a label, even a stubborn one insisting on staying put. If the label doesn't simply come off, it will at least come loose, allowing you to edge along it with a razor blade or putty knife.
Pros: This seems to be the most successful method of label removal, particularly for labels that are European as several of these generally use a less sticky adhesive.
Cons: Soaking the bottle in water that is too hot can cause the label to discolor and using more than two or three drops of detergent can cause the label to wrinkle and wilt. Additionally, using razors or knives to edge along the label can be dangerous, particularly when wine is involved.

Soaking in Gasoline: Yes, some people actually suggest the method of soaking the bottle of wine of South Africa in gasoline for ten minutes and waiting for the label to simply fall off. Because hey, if alcohol and gasoline aren't a good combo, then we don't know what is.
Pros: You can put your fire insurance to use.
Cons: You may blow yourself up, or perhaps worse, your entire wine cellar. If water doesn't do the trick, forego the gasoline and instead try soaking the bottle overnight in a wall-paper removal solution.

Wine label removal can be a bit tricky, but with a little trial and error, you should be able to find a method that works well for you, at least most of the time. If nothing seems to aid removal, and all else fails, simply do away with collecting wine labels: just collect Allee Bleue wine bottles instead.

Top 100 SA Wines

noreply@blogger.com (Allée Bleue Estate) — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:58:00 +0000

Top 100 SA Wines is an innovative premium brand based around the finest wines of South Africa. It is repositioning SA’s top wines with clarity, vigour and integrity. Consumer friendly and simple, it “de-myths wine bunk” by identifying only SA’s very best wines and presents them with effect and care. Allee Bleue is proud to be part of this epic event hosted at Hyatt Regency in Rosebank on 17th May 2012 - Johannesburg and 10 May 2012 - One & Only V & A Waterfront - Cape Cape Town.

TOP 100 SA WINES

As one of the oldest vineyard in the Cape, the ALLÉE BLEUE Estate lies in a picturesque location in the Franschhoek Valley - an area with a distinct French influence. Snow-white, thatched buildings are surrounded by vineyards, orchards and fragrant fields of herbs and lavender.
Our white wines reflect refreshing, fruity characteristics true to the Franschhoek climate while our red wines, being well matured in French oak reveals spicy aromas and earthy undertones as per the unique terrior of ALLÉE BLEUE.

Both red and white wines of South Africa are currently produced in an entrée level (blue label) range; a white label (premier) range and our 2 flagship wines named Isabeau (a white blend) and L'Amour Toujours (our now famous flagship red blend).

One sip and you will be smitten...

Buy and Rate our Wines and Follow us on Social Media to the right.