The Dar Wine Festival, held last Saturday, is one of the city’s highlights for wine lovers. The 9th celebration of the grape was no exception thanks to Adam Fuller’s team at Southern Sun who masterminded the occasion under the expert eye of Ross Mackay. Tanzania’s leading wine suppliers ─ MMI Tanzania, Tanzania Distilleries Ltd (TDL), Mohans Oysterbay Drinks Ltd, Red N’ White and Upper Zonal Trading (UZT) ─ showcased their finest bottles. They were supported by Browns Cheese, Rift Valley Coffee and catering from Southern Sun. The result was a fabulous evening of 116 wines, outstanding cheese, tasty bitings and freshly brewed coffee. The 500 foodies attending were even treated to a live band performance and raffle prizes, including a trip to Johannesburg with South African Airways.
As a wine lover (and the official Blogger for the Wine Festival) this was about ‘as good as it gets’! There was so much to taste, discover and discuss. There were complex premium vintages; surprising new arrivals; great value, quality wines; easy-drinking bottles; fabulous bubbly and more!
Visiting winemakers, export managers (including Chris Whelpton from E&J Gallo Winery and Marius Burger from Van Loveren Winery) and expert staff from the local suppliers were on hand to share wine stories, reveal their wine making philosophies and discuss the rapidly changing wine market in Tanzania. Look out for future posts of Festival interviews.
So what were the highlights? First up was the sheer scale of the tasting!! Five wine stands with wines of every description from Argentina, California, France, Spain, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and our evolving Tanzanian wine region of Dodoma. Even better was the fact our fantastic wine suppliers retail all these wines for us.
Sampling the Champagne and sparkling wines is always a great way to start the occasion. The Laurent Perrier Demi-Sec Champagne sold by MMI (TSh 105,000) was a nicely rounded, semi-sweet offering. Sampling so much outstanding champagne makes the TSh 50,000 festival ticket unbelievable value, but there was much more to follow…
Moving to the sweet wines, I am usually not a fan of low alcoholic wines, but was very impressed with the Four Cousins Natural Sweet White, Red and Rose wines from UZT. They all have around 9% alcohol by volume, making them light, easy-drinking offerings for sweet wine fans. They are the best selling brand of bottled wines in South Africa.
The Douglas Green wines from Mohans and Barefoot wines from MMI were new discoveries for me. Both offer fruity, easy-drinking wines under TSh 14,000.
It was interesting to sample wine made from the Makutupora wine grape that is unique to Dodoma Region. This is used to make the Dodoma dry red wine made by TDL under the master winemaker Erik Schlunz who recently took the reins at the Tanzanian winery.
Johan and Lizanne Jordaan, the South African husband and wife wine making team, came all the way from Spier Estate in Stellenbosch to guide festival goers through a tasting of 26 of their wines at the Red N’ White stand. I really loved the Spier Creative Block 5 which is a Bordeaux-style, red blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.
As a wine lover, I felt privileged to be given an opportunity to sample the wine masterpiece that is Frans K Smit 2007, a beautiful complex wine from Spier that takes 6 years to make. It is an ultra-premium blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Shiraz, Merlot and Pinotage. A five star connoisseurs’ wine retailing through Red N’ White at around TSh 160,000.
The Nederburg range from TDL and the Boschandel Range from Mohans, firm favourites of Dar wine lovers were on hand to offer familiar choices. Jaco Poitgeiter, the wine maker from DGB, the wine producer looking after the Boschandel brand, offered a guided tasting of his wines.
A new wine in town, Apothic Red from E & J Gallo Winery in California (available at MMI) was a big hit amongst festival goers. It is a beautiful full-bodied yet smooth semi-sweet wine that has dark berries flavour with hints of mocha and vanilla. It is sure to become a firm favourite in Tanzania.
Congratulations to all who created this wonderful platform to celebrate the world of wine in the heart of Dar. To find out more about the wines mentioned, simply contact the relevant wine supplier.
www.rednwhite.info
www.mmitanzania.com
www.uzt.co.tz
www.konyagi.co.tz
