Returning to the Windhoek Country Club Resort from 27 to 29 June, the three-day festival was a splash of wine tasting, purchasing and appreciation. With hundreds of excellent Namibian and South African wines on offer, the extravaganza is not an arena you enter without a plan. Amid a sea of wine estates as popular as Babylonstoren and as niche as Dalla Cia, for me, a fan of a little fizz, the move was to focus on the bubbles.
First to catch my eye was a Christiena Trousseau, a delicious salmon coloured MCC Brut Rose made from Pinot noir, winking from a booth by Windhoek distributors Komnik & Franck. Greeted by the amiable duo of Jürgen Cronjé and Concious Musariri, this tasting was a mix of Van Loveren winery (Robertson) history and some demystification of the traditional Champagne style MCC technique. “MCC means Méthode Cap Classique.
The difference to sparkling wine is that sparkling wine introduces some CO2, sort of like a SodaStream. You’ve got some liquid and you pump some gas in there,” says Cronje. “MCC is different because the fermentation takes place in the bottle.
It takes anywhere from 14 months to 22 months in order to form the bubbles. So although it’s dry, it has a fruity taste and isn’t a mouth full of bubbles. Would you like to taste?” Cronje’s question is the query of the evening and my next tasting, on his recommendation, is at the Dalla Cia (Stellenbosch) presentation hosted by George Dalla Cia who expands on his Bullicante’s unique m.
