Que Syrah, Shiraz!

Don’t miss our annual SA Shiraz workshops at Idiom this weekend,
and check out our super September events planned for Cape Town.

SAT 27 & SUN 28 AUGUST

Reminder: 7 days of Shiraz and Venison come to Idiom this weekend.
For those of you not following our recent social media posts or if you missed out on last year’s themed UNPACKING SA SHIRAZ regional tasting workshop or the chance to indulge in our special Idiom SMV and venison pairing menu, we are once again hosting this event this coming weekend, organised in collaboration with Shiraz SA.

Shiraz – also known as Syrah – is a juicy, medium to full-bodied, terroir-sensitive, transparent grape that has the potential to express itself quite differently, depending on the location, micro-climate, soils, plant material and viticulture or viniculture techniques.

The particular microclimate in the Helderberg sub-region of Stellenbosch, where Idiom finds its home, is vastly influenced by its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. This gives a good natural acidity and balancing freshness to the area’s wines. The sub-region also carries a particular floral stamp, as many vineyards border right up against the Cape Floral Kingdom, with its incredible range of fynbos biodiversity.

Unpacking South African Shiraz Workshop

Sat 27 & Sun 28 AUGUST | 11am – 1pm
Join us for two fascinating talks followed by a blind tasting of 12 carefully selected benchmark SA Shiraz wines from different producers across several pockets of the Cape Winelands.

Can we identify the provenance of the wines based on their theoretical taste profile?
Does the terroir come through in the wine?
We also try to guess whether the producers call their wines Shiraz or Syrah!

A fun, interactive opportunity to learn more about this fascinating grape variety with Johan Rossouw on Saturday and Roberto Bottega on Sunday.

Shiraz & Venison Pairing menu

Also available weekend of 27 & 28 AUGUST
As part of the annual Seven Days of Shiraz & Venison festivities, which occur around the 21 August, South Africa’s National Shiraz Day, the Idiom Restaurant will also serve a special venison-based menu that goes hand in hand with our Shiraz-based SMV/Rodanico blend.

Indulge in a delicious three-course venison-based menu paired with different vintages of this floral, fragrant and fine wine.

Start off with Pira braaied ostrich carpaccio, followed by a coriander and white pepper-crusted kudu loin, and finish with a selection of 3 cheeses paired with tomato and cape snowbush relish.

A real treat for lovers of venison!

Idiom SMV is now our most searched wine on VIVINO
– with 4.2 average rating

You might have noticed that we have been promoting our Rhone-style wines recently with a bit more fervour than usual – both Viognier and SMV.

Our efforts to promote these wines seem to be paying dividends. We have more requests for listings of these two wines than ever before and another spin-off is that we also (unfortunately!) have hardly any bottles left of our coveted 900 Series Shiraz releases.

Interestingly, even our importers comment that the category generally lags behind Burgundy and Bordeaux in terms of being at the forefront of consumers’ minds.

But a recent chat with online label recognition and ratings platform VIVINO in Europe revealed that our Idiom SMV is now our most looked-up wine of the last few months.
We are proud of our very high average ratings and we are looking to collaborate more with Vivino to make our wines more readily available through their platform.

VIVINO RATINGS
Idiom Viognier – average ratings 4.1
Idiom SMV R Blend – average ratings 4.2
Idiom 900 Series Syrah – average ratings 4.4

IDIOM ‘RODANICO’
As you know, from the 2016 vintage, our SMV Rhone-style red has changed to a smart black label. The ‘R’ blend in our range now goes by its new descriptive name – Rodanico – meaning ‘our own expression of the Rhone’. The use of the ‘d’ in the name is also a reference to the original Greek and Latin name for the river – Rhodanus.
The modern French spelling of Rhône uses a ciconflexe symbol on the ô
– often a sign that another letter or consonant has fallen away over time as language evolves.

The upcoming Idiom Rodanico 2018 is one of the selected wines in this year’s South African Wine Tasting Championships

Watch and see what Cathy Van Zyl MW and SAWTC captain sommelier Jean Vincent Ridon have to say about our Rhône-style blend.

IDIOM SEPTEMBER SHOWCASE AT
BO-VINE IN CAMPS BAY

For the month of September, we are excited to be partnering with old Johannesburg friends Julian Cohen and Steve Maresch at their recently opened Bo-Vine Grill House on the Camps Bay strip. Our Idiom blends will feature prominently at special prices for the period. Guests will be able to experience Idiom signature blends – Cape, Bordeaux and a vertical of SMV (09,13, and 15) – with all their favourite cuts of meat, as well as, Zinfandel, Viognier and some Heritage series wines, so please take advantage of this opportunity.

On Thursday 15th of September, we will host an Idiom Steak & Blends evening at Bo-Vine where we pair our wines with a number of signature steaks from their grill. We have a limited number of seats available for you, our Idiom fans – book through our website to secure your spot – at the special price of R495pp – the same price as one bottle of Idiom Bordeaux Blend. Book by clicking on the button below. 630 for 7pm. See you there!

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