Off to London on a lovely Tuesday evening when the temperature is in the 30s. Thameslink, now on its second emergency timetable in as many months actually delivered a train, and on time.
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| La Chappelle entrance |
Venue is La Chapelle in
Spital Square in the City. There I renew acquaintances with François
Naudé Senior and Junior
sitting in the bar outside with a drink.
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| Francois Naude Junior |
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| Francois Naude Senior |
The duo are hosting a
dinner with a vertical of each of the ten vintages of the legendary
Vin de François. There are 12 of us, plus the two François and
organiser and Vin de François fan Paul Plant.
We move upstairs to the
table on the mezzanine floor. Its open sides look down on the main
body of the restaurant which is packed with diners.
A flute of Champagne is
poured, followed by a glass of François' own 'Nuts About' Chenin
Blanc 2010. This aged white has a honeyed taste while being
completely dry. “it's an entry level wine, with no barrel
maturation intended for easy drinking,” says François
Snr. He's pleased with the way it's aged. “2010 was the first
vintage and it just gets better and better.”
François Jr explains
that the tasting will show the wine in pairs and threes, due to the
restaurant not having 10 glasses for each of us.
2007 and 2008 are the
first to be poured.
The two François
relate how the idea for Vin de François came about. “I wanted to
make the best Pinotage in the world, from each vintage to show what
the variety could do,” said François Sr. His inspiration was
meeting Napa Valley winemaker Robert Mondavi who described the
perfect wine as 'having the power of Pavarotti with the tenderness of
a baby's bottom.'
Our location was hot
and I thought the wines were served too warm. The 2008 was thinning
and tasted alcohol hot, but this wasn't a fair taste as the wine
should be cooler.
“2008 wasn't as good
a year as 2007,” said François Sr.
2007 was the better
wine, but it too was showing age and served too hot for a mature
wine. I'd had my last bottle of 2007 in January 2017 and thought then
that was time to drink up.
François Jr told how
they had discussed how the wine should be marketed before deciding on
selling it all on one night at an invitation only auction – a first
for South Africa. Some cases are kept back: for charity, for the wine
library and for the family. “I only get one case,” said François
Jr.
The next three poured
were:
2009 – sweet ripe
fruit with an intense flavour but a short finish.
2010 – this was ripe
and juicy, sweet and powerful and absolutely beautiful now.
2011 – this was
closed and tight, not wanting to reveal itself. Will it open up in
time or is this as good as it gets?
“2010 and 2011 were
difficult vintages,” said François Sr.
François Jr said he
was getting more involved in producing the wine. “Vin de François
will continue,” said François Sr.“My son is also François so
the name won't change, and his son is also François so we have two
more generations to produce Vin de François.”
“I am not a
winemaker,” said François Jr, “so I will involve the winemakers
who make the barrels we select for our blend. We started involving
them with the current vintage.”
The wines were coming
fast, leaving little time to savour and discuss them. 2012 and 2013
were poured next.
2012 – was full
bodied and mouth filling, but had alcohol heat on finish.
2013 – had a strange
taste that I couldn't nail down. The MW next to me thought it was
oxidised.
François Sr noted
there had been bottle variation between this and the same wine poured
at the weekend.
2014 – Was taut, with
a sweetness.
2015 – This was
delightful, with sweet bright fruits, soft tannins and beautiful
drinking.
2016 – A younger
version of the 2-15 offering the same sweet fruit and a lovely
drinkability.
Did this last flight
show better because the wines had, at our request, been cooled a
little or because they were the youngest?
But the event wasn't
over, François Sr served his luscious white dessert 'port' with tarte tatin.
My brief notes above
are quite critical. I think Vin de François is a wonderful wine and
I have been lucky enough to have owned six of the ten vintages, and
to have drunk five of them: '07,08,09,10 and 15, but in good
conditions. I think these wines weren't given a decent chance because
they were served too warm. I have two bottles of the 2013, a vintage
I have not tasted, so I must open one soon in view of the off bottle
at this event.
My favourite two of the
event were the 2010 vintage, which I had two in 2014 and have one
left in my cellar, and the 2015 which I bought a case of at the 2017
auction and have nine left.
Many thanks to Paul
Plant for organising the event and to François Naudé
Jr and François Naudé
Sr for shipping these 10 vintages from their cellar specially for the
event and sharing their memories of this iconic wine.
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| Francois Naude and Peter May |
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