A visit to Nitida in Durbanville
On our most recent South Africa wine tour we expanded the reach a bit. We added Durbanville as a new region on the program, in addition to the classics Franschhoek, Stellenbosch and Paarl. Nitida was one of the producers we visited in Durbanville and very interesting it was! All our travel guests were charmed. Britt explains.
Durbanville is not as well known as Stellenbosch or Franschhoek but it is a region well worth a visit. Especially if you go to Nitida, the smallest winery in the region. From 16 hectares (+ a little bought in grapes) Nitida makes superb white wines from sauvignon blanc and semillon. “Sauvignon used to be very green here”, says wine maker Jacus Marais, “we have come a long way since.” They do 14 (!) different pickings, starting very early in the season, to get complexity in the wine.
50 % of the semillon is barrel aged 3-4 months with batonnage. The remaining 50 % is made in a reductive style. The blend gives a fresh, harmonious wine, not too full bodied, with a nice citrus character.
Durbanville is situated north east of Cape Town, not much more than half an hour’s drive away actually. The view of the table mountain from the vineyards is magnificent; it is worth going there for the view alone. And if you go, do stop at Nitida’s restaurant for lunch. It is called Cassia (http://www.cassiarestaurant.co.za/) and we had a delicious lunch there with prawn and smoked oyster risotto to start and Asian marinated pork fillet with Szechuan pepper and egg noodles to follow. It all went very nicely with the Nitida wines.
More on Nitida: http://nitida.co.za/
You can read more about South Africa by clicking the tag below and on BKWine Magazine on South Africa.
You can travel with BKWine to the wine regions of South Africa. It is an exciting wine country where much has changed in recent years. Take a look at our scheduled tours or contact us to discuss other travel options, e.g. a custom designed tour.
