It is with great excitement that we welcome you to the first issue of our brand new (and long-anticipated) newsletter. Like with our fabulous wines, quality takes a little more time. But we’ve crammed this first instalment full of news and updates – just for you!
We are also celebrating the release of not one, but three new vintages! If you are a fan of our Original Sin Sauvignon Blanc, Satyricon Sangiovese or The Affair Pinot Noir, which we’ve also included exclusive tasting notes on.
And, of course, since you have subscribed to our newsletter, you hear about it here first! Awards season is upon us and we’ve already received the first of the good news. Keep an eye on our social media for more announcements – coming soon.
What has the La Vierge Team been up to?
Renovations to our kitchen and tasting room
It’s been a whirlwind of activity at La Vierge – even with our restaurant and tasting room closed for just over a month. Behind the scenes, we’ve upgraded a few things in our restaurant’s kitchen. Visitors might notice that we’ve redone all our floors – it’s looking stunning, but you will have to come and see for yourself!
Spring is around the corner
To celebrate the arrival of the new season (and hopefully warmer weather) we have a few surprises in store. We’re keeping things fresh with a few new additions to the tasting room, starting from September. So even if you’ve visited before, be sure to pop in again. Three new vintages to taste, new wine pairings to try out and the addition of a few new dishes to our menu, you cannot afford miss out on the fun.
In the vineyard
We are a little obsessed with this quote from the owner of Rhys Vineyards in California, Kevin Harvey:
“I started looking all over for vineyard sites. I studied the conditions that make the best pinots. In the New World, you have to find great pieces of land. Cool climate counts, but distinctive soil matters more than anything.”
Why do these words resonate with us? Soil. Something so seemingly banal – accepted as a “given” of planet earth. And yet, it is our most important asset (some would argue more important than the vines that grow in it). We cherish it, take good care of it and see it as a gift that gives us the beautiful characteristic of our wines.
An important part of taking care of our vineyards is planting cover crops and adding fertilizer to our soils. We’ve recently been focusing a lot of attention on this as these important actions replenish our soils and also assist in maintaining the moisture content for the growing season.
During this time we also start pruning and preparing the vines for vintage 2020. What we do now in the vineyards will ultimately affect our yields and quality of our next harvest and the next one to follow after that. Truly a long term game.
New frontiers
The good news is that La Vierge wines are now available at selected Pick n Pay Family stores and will be available in selected Checkers and Checkers Liquor outlets soon. This is along with our new listing in the USA, is truly fantastic news for us! La Vierge is all set for a memorable
year ahead. Come with us on this adventure.
That’s all we’ve got time for now, until we speak again!Great wine wishes –
The La Vierge Team
Pick n Pay Family Stores stocking La Vierge
Graaff Reinet, Grahamstown, Port Alfred, Brentwood, Craighall Park, Douglasdale, Farrarmere, Glen Marais, Honey Junction, Kathu, Meyerton, Mini Market Oakdene, Outspan Road, Randburg, Sanridge Square, Songloed, Summerfields Boskruin, Towers, Vanderbijlpark, Plettenberg Bay, Sedgefield, Cycad, Delmas, Hoedspruit, Polokwane, River Crescent, Graanendal, Langebaan, Plumstead, Robertson, Willowbridge.
Exclusive!
It’s all been a little hush-hush, but we can finally confirm that after lots of hard work, the cottage on Babylon Farm is ready! If you are planning a trip to the Overberg, make sure you book this beautiful cottage for a few nights to ensure you have the full La Vierge experience.
Here is a sneak peak of what it looks like, but keep an eye on our social media for more updates. The cottage will be available for rental from September 2019; just in time for the holiday season.
Our New Vintages
Original Sin Sauvignon Blanc 2018
One of our most recent releases – only having been made available within the last month – it’s already making waves. We’ve just received word that it’s been awarded a gold medal at the 6th annual Gold Wine Awards – a competition where panels award wines of exceptional quality under R130 per bottle. In other words, our sauvignon blanc is not only delicious but great value for money too!
The 2018 harvest was warm and dry and, since we don’t make use of irrigation, our vines had to work to earn their keep! But they rewarded us with beautiful tropical and mineral aromas – an abundance of passion fruit on the palate.
“This wine shows quite prominent tropical notes – lots of guava, melon and passion fruit – with a tinge of lime zest on the nose. Whilst on the pallet it has fresh acidity and mineral core that sets it up to age well. The 2018 vintage came in slightly riper than the 2017 vintage, which is one of the reasons why the tropical notes are so prominent on the 2018 vintage. I look forward to seeing how this wine develops over time.” – winemaker Christo Kotze on the new vintage of Original Sin.
Satyricon Sangiovese 2018
Yes… You read that right! Our exceedingly popular Satyricon is finally back in stock. We just couldn’t keep up with the rate at which the 2017 vintage was flying off the shelves, so we are delighted to announce the new arrival.
This Italian varietal with its elegant red berry profile has become a firm favourite with La Vierge fans. Come have a taste of the new vintage at our tasting room or order yours online at Takealot.com and have it delivered straight to your door. But you’d better hurry – it won’t be around for long!
“This wine was naturally fermented in stainless steel and aged in old barrique barrels for 14 months. This wine shows quite a prominent cherry and sweet spice on the nose. Whilst on the pallet it has a cranberry juice freshness to it. It is still a very young wine and needs to be bottle-aged for about a year before you really start to see the wine’s potential.” – winemaker Christo Kotze’s take on Satyricon.
The Affair Pinot Noir 2018
Another fabulous wine from winemaker extraordinaire, Christo Kotze. We’re not going to say too much about this wine, because we’d much rather hear your creative musings!
Meet our Wine Maker, Christo Kotze.
A brilliantly talented winemaker that has an eye for detail (and nose for it too!).
We look forward to seeing what he has to offer La Vierge in the future and hope you, our lovely customers, will be along for the journey.
You Could Win
We’re giving away 6 bottles of our fantastic The Affair Pinot Noir 2018 to six lucky winners. All you have to do is send us a short poem about Pinot Noir. Why do you like to drink it? What do you enjoy it with? Whether you want to be comical or very serious – we’ll read them all!
To stand a chance to win yourself a bottle of The Affair Pinot Noir 2018 and have your words immortalised on our Facebook page, send your poem to privatetasting@lavierge.co.za.