Flat Roof Manor Shiraz Mourvèdre Viognier 2008

South Africa, here we come. I have a friend who always tries and finds a wine from South Africa that I haven't had. Today was another surprise from a well known wine farm in South Africa called Uitkyk, called Flat Roof Manor. The wine is named after one the Cape's three surviving, two storied, flat roofed 18th Century houses near Stellenbosch.

I wrote a month ago about a wine from the Darling district North of Cape Town that was a blend of Shiraz and Mourvèdre. This wine however is a blend of three well known grapes in the red grapes Shiraz and Mourvèdre, along with the white grape Viognier. Estelle Lourens, the winemaker, did a fantastic job. Those three grapes work really well together, the peppery, dry Shiraz mixed with earthy, fruity Mourvèdre and a dash of floral Viognier. It's smooth and very round in your mouth, with a long after taste of flowers and pepper.

To match this wine tonight, we thought we'd make a very traditional South African dish called Bobotie. It arrived with the Indonesian, malay slaves in the 1700s along with a host of new spices. This dish is excellent with yellow rise and raisins. The spices mixed very well with this wine, however, I'd like to try some more meatier dishes with the wine in the future.

Another bargain at 89kr, have a look atSystemBolaget.se

Zonnebloem Shiraz 2008

I have said this before, that after Pinotage, comes Shiraz. Well for me anyway. Tonight was roast night. Had a large piace of roast, rolled in ground pepper and rough salt after cooking, with butternut and mixed vegetables, roasted in the oven on the side. Butternut is a very much overlooked vegetable and so easy to cook.

With this meal we had a bottle of Zonnebloem Shiraz 2008. I thought the peppery meat would go well with a wine which is known to taste of pepper and spice. The first thing with this wine is the smell of fruit and spices, and then some more fruit on the taste, mixed up with hints of barrel and pepper. Some say coffee too, but that one is not what I tasted. The mix of pepper on the meat worked well with this wine, and made the vegetables taste sweeter. I would really like to age this wine for 5-8 years to see the potential, it would probably turn out fantastic.

Although there's a lot of wines competing for attention in this price range, it's worth a try. 82kr is well worth it, have a look at SystemBolaget.se

Masi Campofiorin 2007

Wine and Mexican food has never really in my mind worked well together. The problem is I love wine and I love Mexican food. I've tried all kinds of variations on the theme, and have never succeeded, until tonight. Mild Burritos with mince & beans, baby spinach, cheese and medium salsa. Make sure it's medium, otherwise you won't taste this wine, or any wine for that matter, which means you'll end up settling for an ice cold beer instead.

I recently received two of these bottles of wine for my house warming party. I've never had this one specifically, but have had two others in the Masi range. What makes this wine special is that it's double fermented, which affects the taste. To make a long story short, I'll quote from the label: "Campofiorin. Double Fermentation - Ripasso. Exclusive Masi 'Supervenetian' wine made since 1964 by refermenting red wine produced from freshly picked grapes from the Verona area with a percentage of semi-dried grapes of the same style. This doble fermentation technique gives wines greater concentrations of colour and aromas with a bigger structure and a longer life."

This very dark ruby red wine, for me, didn't have such a strong, or should I say too strong aroma. What it did have though was a lot of cherries in the taste. Very spicy and very good. It was soft and smooth, and had a long after taste. It made an excellent companion for our Burritos. It helped that the food was mild though. The grapes in the wine are 70% corvina, 25% rondinella och 5% molinara.

The price is very reasonable at 105kr, have a look at SystemBolaget.se