Sunday 25^th September was the vino tasting for select dry and semi-sweet wines at La Ville Wines and Spirits, a shop owned by two vibrant African ladies with a passion for #winetasting. I’m new to this business and have a natural bias for South African wines, but I definitely did not mind treating my nostrils and palate to fine wine, and polishing up my German along the way.

A word about Patricia Tschiltsch. She is one wine lady who knows her wines like the skin of her lover, if you know what I mean. I did a bit of research on her and found out that she actually does the hard work of visiting the vineyards and wine cellars of her suppliers, and she has a degree in exportation which is an added plus for her. I am scheduled for mine pretty soon, and meeting a lady like her who has achieved her level of success, has given me some comfort knowing that studying exportation will be time well spent.

We started with les blancs because as a wine connoisseur you do know that starting with reds would musk out the vividness of the whites if you tasted them last. From the four labels tasted, I fell in love with the light bodied, almost crisp taste Hoffsteter Grüner Veltliner Hammergrabe wine which as Patricia said was perfect for a girl’s night out. The other fuller bodied wines were of course lovely but I felt that Hammergrabe is my wine and I would buy it any day for the simple lightness and freshness it promised my tongue.

Next up were les rouges. The colours were proper purple and dark brown hues, and as the wines got heavier they developed a sort of oily layer which I am told is the mark of true Austrian wines. The second Alfred Fischer was my favourite of these reds because once I inhaled its aroma, I smelled sweet roses and intoxicating chocolate scents. It could also have been caused by the drinking of six other brands prior to this, but the taste did not disappoint. It’s the type of wine you drink with properly grilled red meat; semi-sweet without being too dry at just the right temperature with perfect red undertones.

About my drinking companions, they were a rich mixture of cultural diversity. I of course tagged along a designated plus one, because I was not going to be seen walking tipsy all by myself, which does mean that I do have a very low tolerance for alcohol… even though I stubbornly drink as much as I like without inhibition! And if you think I am over the top, we had an Austrian gentleman travel all the way from Jinja just to get lost in this moment. I guess all wine lovers are simply crazy! It’s a unique trait and quite hard to find. Still… I think South African wines to be the best!