Suburban cellar sensation
It's unexpected. Deep in the suburbs, in a building that looks like dozens of other modern, trendy office blocks, is a distinctly unromantic white steel cube – a refrigeration unit – just outside an equally businesslike metal door.
Standing outside, you might as well be in the back lot of some urban industrial area. But open one of the doors and step inside and you’ll be, depending on your affection for fine wines, in seventh heaven, or at least at the beginning of a fascinating journey through some of Europe’s most hallowed winelands.
This is the cellar and storage area belonging to Great Domaines, a local company importing top European wines for South African connoisseurs. Many of the wines on offer will be unknown to the average wine fan, which is part of the excitement of wandering through a cellar like this. Vintages are sourced via a process that involves the development of personal relationships with the winemakers involved, many of whom are delightfully eccentric folk whose stories add to the appeal of their products.
It’s a wholesale set-up, but if you make the effort to turn up at the cellar with your credit card in tow, the requisite licences are all in place and you can enjoy the rather special experience of selecting a special bottle for an anniversary, birthday gift or as an investment, without needing to either shoulder your way through a crowd or shoving all the mass-market plonk to one side to get to the good stuff.
Champagne (as in, from Champagne; not just generic bubbly) fans will be spoilt, with Pol Roger being Great Domaines’s flagship product, judging by the amount of the stuff they have in storage. This was the stuff sipped at William and Kate’s royal wedding, and if you can wangle a tasting, you’ll be impressed with their wedding planner’s taste. There are also vintages from Toro in Spain, Chianti in Italy, Burgundy in France, among many others – and the worst part of your visit will be figuring what choices you’ll make for that ou-ting’s budget.
