151 of 800: Graceland Vineyards in Stellenbosch, South Africa

18 Nov

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Graceland Vineyards is my 151st wine farm visit in South Africa.

Susan & Paul McNaughten opened up her home on this beautiful estate for a select few, including myself, to taste the full range of Graceland Vineyard wines. The winery is situated along the Stellenrust road which is easily accessible by a gravel road driveway, well signposted.

I tasted through 5 red wines and the last, a dessert wine, was saved to savour at lunch.

Strawberry Fields

Cabernet Sauvignon

Merlot

Shiraz

Three Graces

Dessert wine

The tasting was professionally conducted by Susan herself and the wine was poured with the help of her family. Each person was given a tasting list with a pencil to make notes on each wine. The wines ranged in price from R190 – R300 which was really quite affordable for these quality wines. All the wines use minimal intervention in the cellar with time spent in the barrel averaging 24 months. No filtering or fining is conducted on the wines and so what is left is as natural as you can get it.

We joked about the coincidence of how “Graceland” is associated with Elvis Presley and “Strawberry Fields” is associated with the Beatles though both of these coincidences were not intentional. I really do like the name “Strawberry Fields” which in fact not only speaks to the fields in the area where the vineyard is grown but also the subtle strawberry notes of the wine. How lovely.