- Creation Wine Estate won the Best Brand Experience at the V d'Or 2024 Awards in Paris on 11 February 2024, and was awarded fourth place on the World's Best Vineyards list of 2023.
- Their tasting room offers a unique re-interpretation of overindulgent tasting menus that traditionally leave you feeling tired and sluggish based on ayurvedic principles designed to showcase the wine and the area. We recently had the pleasure of tasting their Autumnal seasonal menu.
- The carefully chosen pairings and sensory tools employed during tasting add an additional level of detail that sets their acclaimed Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge Chardonnay and Pinot Noir apart.
While the Sun King (France's King Louis XIV) is rumoured to have eaten around 60 to 90 dishes over the course of a day and died with a stomach two times the size of a normal man (incongruously, his reign was known for the starvation he inflicted on his people), it would seem that the concept of opulence, and that terrible word, luxury, may be morphing into something new - something better, more palatable.
While El Bulli's fabled 32-course tasting menu resembled the height of luxury and sophistication in its heyday, this new generation is obsessed with health, youth and sustainability. And who can blame them? Gluttony is fun for a while, before it becomes more of a marathon challenge, which, on completion, can leave you with a whole host a maladies: indigestion, fatigue, nausea, weight-gain, insomnia… it only gets more graphic from there.
The same goes for alcohol consumption, of which the pitfalls of overindulgence have been widely documented. Thoughtful, informed consumption of food and drink has become a science, as more and more studies have proven the adverse effects of a variety of things: sugar, dairy, gluten, fat, carbohydrates, alcohol… but, as my grandmother would always say, fixing me with a stern eye when I asked for another glass of wine: "Everything in moderation." [but in Afrikaans: "Onthou, matigheid voor o !"]
Carolyn and JC Martin, of Creation Wines on the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge, have gotten it right at their tasting room on the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge, though you don't have to take MY word for it. The 66 000 visitors a year, their recent award for the Best Brand Experience at the inaugural V d'Or 2024 in Paris this year, and their fourth mention on the World's Best Vineyards list, this time in fourth place, the highest for a South African winery ever, making them the official Best Vineyard in Africa, well it all speaks for itself, no?
Their Tasting Room, NOT Restaurant, Carolyn stresses (restaurants serve beer and wines from other wineries), has become one of the most successful wine marketing vehicles in the country and has redefined the concept of wine pairing.
READ |Creation Wines: The Science of Taste
Ayurveda is an ancient system of holistic medicine that originated in India, derived from the Sanskrit words Ayur (life) and Veda (science/knowledge), thus Knowledge of Life. It offers a comprehensive approach to health and wellness based on five elements (space, air, fire, water, earth), three doshas (types of personalities, Vata, Pitta and Kapha), the four stages of life (student, householder, retired, renounced (crossing over?), six tastes (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent), and the concept of Agni (metabolic activity).
Your Dosha determines what foods you should and should not eat according to your temperament, which then changes seasonally to ensure what you put into your body is in balance with its surroundings, and itself. An Ayurvedic diet can take on many incarnations, but with a focus on balance, there is seldom any form of overindulgence or processed foods involved.
Creation's menu is built on these principles and the natural attributes of the site. Granted, without knowing your specific Dosha, they offer two seasonal options (along with a full a la carte menu): plant- and non-plant-based. Case in point, their non-plant-based autumn menu includes the following: a green booster soup; Agedashi Tofu; Steamed Fish with Turmeric, Dill and Dune Spinach [the fish comes with a QR code from Abalobi.org that you can scan to find out who caught it and from where]; Duck Breast with Edamame, Fennel and Pistachio Gremolata; a bone marrow with broth, capers, lemon, and cape seed loaf, finished off with custard, figs, Num-Num, and Almond Tuile.
You come away satiated, but not tired, tipsy, or overfull, and it makes you wonder what you've been doing wrong all your life or merely that you HAVE been doing it wrong your entire life.
Carolyn and JC have adopted these principles in their daily life as well, though JC jokingly says if he shows up at your house in the middle of the night ringing the doorbell, he's looking for BREAD.
Each course is specifically designed to pair with one of their beautiful wines and hero its flavours, from the complex minerality of their Cape South Coast Sauvignon Blanc from neighbouring farm Vrede, to the symphony of aromatics of the Viognier (of which they sell a whopping 30 000 bottles a year), to the crystalline quality of the Reserve Chardonnay, the red velvet of the Reserve Pinot Noir, the umami of the crowd-pleasing red blend of Syrah and Grenache, and the textured bubbles of the bone dry Brut Nature Elation Cap Classique.
Carolyn employs smart, sensory tools to help you understand the tastes, from a seashell from the Hermanus beach held to your ear, while savouring a sip of Sauvignon, or a spritz of aloe in your water, and scents from the surrounding area to ground your understanding of the wine - they succeed in making this a multi-sensory experience of the place, with long-lasting olfactory notes to bookmark your memory of it. With their focus on Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, they make no less than four of each within their three ranges, their top expressions, the Glenn Chardonnay and Emma Pinot Noir, named for their son and daughter, respectively.
While JC is experimenting with new plantings on the Vrede farm, 3km away, designated Cape South Coast, with the Rh ne-style varieties of Grenache blanc and noir, Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne, and Picpoul Blanc, he aims to eventually make a Rh ne-style blend from the various plantings, though they currently make pretty stellar single-varietal wines.
While some might scoff at the pricing of these pairings, it is important to note that the investment made here is total. From planting the first virus-free vines here in 2002 to supporting a whole community of workers, be it vineyard workers, servers and aspiring sommeliers, Creation is not only invested in the quality of the wine, but the quality of the wine as a representation of its people, their health, wealth and future; the sustainability of the terroir, and representing South Africa within the international fine wine network, that's PR you can't buy.
There may have been a misconception in the past that true luxury and luxury items cannot come from Africa, but I find more and more in my investigation that, while our form of luxury may not adhere to the Western world's parameters of bling, we're pioneering our own sense of hand-made luxury. A luxury determined by the level of sustainability, living off our fertile ground, and the expertise of our people, making world-class luxury items that are quintessentially South African.
Somehow, Creation has taken these two distinctly Burgundian grapes and made them our own.
You really should visit the farm for their autumn menu, though keep in mind it changes seasonally, and there is also an a la carte menu available for people like my father who will not be tempted into an ayurvedic-inspired diet, no matter how many Namastes you attempt. *Not interested in your light.
Visit their website to browse their wines and book your seat here.
