Finding a wee bit of heaven on earth at Champany Inn’s Creation wine dinner

PETER RANSCOMBE

FEW sounds are more inspiring than hearing a winemaker talking about their love for their vineyard – and Jean-Claude Martin is clearly smitten with his vines.

Along with Carolyn, his wife, he grows grapes and makes wines at Creation, their estate on the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge near Hermanus, in South Africa’s Walker Bay region.

Swiss-born JC and South African native Carolyn were in Scotland last night for a dinner at Champany Inn, the restaurant with rooms and wine shop just outside Linlithgow.

Listening to JC describe Hemel-en-Aarde – which translates beautifully from Afrikaans as “heaven and earth” – it’s easy to understand why he fell head-over-heals for the area.

His soils consist of 450-million-year-old clay loam and decomposed shale, which were used for grazing sheep before the couple bought the land in 2002 and began planting their vines.

Those vines grow on the steep slopes of Babylon Toren Mountain up to a height of 350 metres, while the whole area is cooled by afternoon breezes coming in from the Atlantic.

That combination of altitude and wind helps to keep the grapes cool as they ripen, giving a long growing season during which the berries can develop more flavour.

Temperatures rarely rise above 30C during the summer, while temperatures during the night are 12C lower than during the day; that large “diurnal temperature range” – to give it its posh title – helps the grapes to retain their acidity, which is crucial for creating a more balanced wine.

Special wines from a special place

What struck me most about JC’s wines was the sheer variety of grapes he’s able to grow at Creation.

While Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are the stars of his show, he also tends Rhone varieties such as Syrah, Grenache and Viognier, with Roussanne on its way.

He’s even growing some Bordeaux varieties too for good measure.

His 2016 Creation Viognier was really interesting because it’s made in a much-more restrained style, combining fresh acidity with bright apricot flavours and more savoury lemon rind notes – an excellent aperitif and apparently very popular on Michelin-starred restaurant wine lists.

Champany paired the 2015 Creation Reserve Pinot Noir with a Shetland salmon tartare, with cubes of beetroot and avocado, demonstrating how well a light red can work with fish.

The Pinot Noir was the wine of the night for me – concentrated red plum and red cherry aromas and flavours combined with well-balanced acidity and tannins, with subtle and well-integrated vanilla from its oak barrels.

Guests were served both a 2015 Creation Syrah Grenache and a 2015 Creation Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon Petit Verdot with their mixed grill: the Syrah Grenache was deliciously sweet with ripe black cherries and vanilla, plus a waft of violets on the nose, while the Bordeaux blend had blackcurrant and black plum flavours balanced by well-integrated tannins, which worked better for me against the meat.

JC ended with his 2016 Creation Chardonnay, demonstrating yet again how well an unoaked white wine can go with cheese.

The Chardonnay was packed full of green apple and pear aromas on the nose, with the apple continuing through onto the palate and being joined by apricot.

Look out for his wines at Champany and its wine shop.

Special wines in a special place

A delicious dinner, with wonderful wines, and served in superb surroundings.

The “rooms” part of a “restaurant with rooms” is sometimes a bit of an afterthought, but my room at Champany was massive and finished to a higher standard than some hotels I’ve visited.

The bathroom had a separate walk-in shower and standalone bath, while the giant bed was one of the most comfortable I’ve tried in a long time.

Plus, working wifi – a real boon following too many evenings trying to work in hotels in London with poor internet connections.