When cherries are in season, the price drops significantly and although they’re still quite costly, you need to treat yourself once in a while. I was snacking on cherries and I opened the bottle of shiraz rosé from Zandvliet and the flavours complimented so well that I had to mix it up and take it to another level.

Let’s first start with the Clafoutis recipe

The ingredients:

• 15 fresh cherries
• 1/4 cup of flour
• 1/3 cup of castor sugar
• 2/3 cup of lukewarm full cream milk
• 2 medium eggs
• Icing sugar for dusting
• Pinch of salt

And now the method:

1. Remove the stems and pips from the fresh cherries. Wash and let dry
2. Grease a baking tin and set aside. Preheat an oven to 180 degrees Celsius
3. In a large bowl, mix the eggs and castor sugar until smooth
4. Then mix in the flour and pinch of salt
5. Pour the batter into the baking tin and add in the cherries
6. Put into the oven for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and slice and dust with icing sugar. Serve while still warm and fluffy and if you have whipped cream, serve with it.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

And now with the pairing

I think we should note that this particular Rosé is a shiraz rosé which made it my first time that I tried it. It should also be noted that I am not a fan of rosé wine, at least from what I’ve tried before. When I saw this rosé, I saw it was made from shiraz grapes which sparked my interest. Open mind, open heart and while snacking on cherries, I took my first sip.

On the eye: this wine has a lighter hue, almost like a rose gold colour or a sunset after a long day. The smell is typically rose: fresh and fruity with a hint of citrus. The biggest difference is the taste: the bottle says crisp and dry. I tasted the dry, obviously, but the crisp is made the difference with me. Crisp is not my favourite taste in wine. I love the smoother tastes and this rosé (which is not typically like others) had much more of a smoother taste. It was matured in seasoned French and American oak barrels for 18 – 24 months. That’s why when I ate it with the tangy carries, it was this explosion of deliciousness that I found unique to this wine.

I couldn’t put this bottle down. I’m not even sucking up or anything but having never tried a shiraz rosé but not having much expectations because it’s rosé, it was easy drinking, hit the palate on the right spot and when served really chilled (as it should be) had a slight sweet taste to it.

I did a quick Google search and found that this wine is available from their website for R480 for 6 bottles.