Ian Naude comes all the way to Surbiton from South Africa

Tickets £25 or 2 for £45

Ian will bring great wines to taste and we will feed you

Thursday 15th October 2015 from 7.30pm onwards in Ex Cellar SurbitonIan (and his business partner Lucas de Kock) is more like a ‘Chef du Vin’, rather than just a wine maker.

With cellars based in the beautiful wine growing region of the Stellenbosch, they purposefully chose not to set up their own vineyard. As mere mortals, they need grapes to turn into wine, and so have forged close relationships with actual vineyard owners in some of the best areas, so they can buy grapes and make wine.

As they are not tied to what they grow, they are able to select what they need to make the wines that they want. This approach is very ‘chef like’.

Taking climatic variations of the vintage year into account, Ian and Lucas seek out the vineyards offering the flavours that will come together in the final blend. It may be no more than a few rows of vines from a given vineyard, but once chosen, the parcel is managed to their specifications. Yield is also prescribed, and if the green harvest reduces yield by even as much as forty percent, the grower is still paid for normal tonnage in exchange for quality.

With Lucas and a small team, he takes the flavours and textures each lot offers into consideration, first constructing the core mid-palate of the wine. Filling the rest of the palate from the centre out, he adds nuance, dimension, and weight to the wine’s profile and smoothes off the rough edges. The ultimate question is how each component fits into the context of the final blend. Ian thinks of each wine as a circle, balanced, complete and as near to perfection as blending can bring it. His philosophy is that if any component of a blend tastes better alone than in the blend, the blender has missed his mark.

Recent accolades include:

2015 PlatterAdoro Red 2007 : 4,5 stars Naudé White 2009 : 4,5 stars Natural Sweet Mourvèdre 2010 : 4,5 stars Sauvignon Blanc 2009 : 4 stars

2014 Tim Atkin South Africa : Special Report

93 points : Adoro Naudé White Blend 2008: A highly unusual white that combines Chenin, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon from 15 different vineyards, this is deliberately released with bottle age. Toasty, complex and mature with low alcohol, tangy acidity and a savoury bite. Drink: 2014-17

91 points: Adoro Sauvignon Blanc 200989 points: Adoro Natural Sweet Mourvèdre 201088 points: Adoro Red Blend 2007

2013 Decanter Top 50 wines of the year

Adoro Red 2006 : Texture defines this blend of Cabernet, Merlot, Shiraz and Mourvèdre – even the nose is velvety! Elegant with rich, ripe blackberry flavours with a sprinkling of cocoa and cigar box spice.