.: Cees van Casteren MW dinner at Waterkloof

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Cees van Casteren MW dinner at Waterkloof

Guests gather in the Waterkloof restaurant and we examine a fridge full of great wines

Renée Daneel, Francois Naude and his wife Magda

Rows of tables automatically divided us up into teams

Norman McFarlane and Andre van Rensburg heading for a look at the wines

What a sensational view from the restaurant

Our host, Cees van Casteren MW

Teddy Hall of Teddy Hall Wines and Andre van Rensburg of Vergelegen, discussing the finer points of winemaking

The amuse of duck liver paté with crumbs and a mango emulsion

Duncan Savage of Cape Point Vineyards with Tierhoek winemaker Roger Burton

Duncan with Philip van Zyl, editor of the John Platter Guide, and David Trafford of de Trafford wines

A selection of stunning wines

Norman McFarlane of The Bolander and his wife Eppy

Waiting for the dinner to begin

We were intrigued by this amazing collection of old wines and a port that is as old as Lynne. They did appear later in the dinner as part of a quiz

The kitchen, getting ready to present the first course...

... lime cured Fisantekraal trout with roasted beetroots, a wasabi cucumber sorbet,
a creamed horseradish sauce and a sesame crisp

Cess van Casteren MW tells us of his path to becoming Holland's second Master of Wine and his thesis on Chenin Blanc

Head chef Gregory Czarnecki, originally from France, on the pass.

He places emphasis on using superb produce, sourced locally

A rapt audience of wine people listens to Cees explain how the quiz will work later

Fellow guests at our table included Roger Burton of Tierhoek wines and his charming wife and Duncan Savage

Chef Gregory Czarnecki explains the night's menu

Smiling Valley Marron, Revisited “prawn cocktail” is the menu description.
A marron is a fresh water crayfish, now being farmed here, and this was served with a marie rose sauce, a slice of avocado, a lovely lemon cream sauce and very interesting fritter containing marron meat and dipped in a very sweet syrup, a sweet and savoury koeksuster? Some loved it (us), some did not

A view from the gallery of people chatting while awaiting the next course

John sat next to Richard Hilton of Pax Verbatim wines, Lynne sat next to Nora Sperling Thiel of Delheim, who is next to her husband Erhard Thiel. Opposite them are Duncan Savage, Ginny Povall of Botanica Wines, Norman McFarlane and Epi McFarlane

Cees discusses Chenin with Richard Hilton

Ginny Povall chats to Duncan Savage

Muratie owner Dr Rijk Melck, the winner of the first stand up quiz, who guessed correctly that we were tasting a left bank Bordeaux wine - 2008 Chateau Gloria from St Julien - and just pipped Joostenberg's Tyrrel Myburgh to the post

The wine we all had to guess and there were some very interesting conclusions..

Rijk received a very nice prize of a bottle of Château Branaire, St Julien 1986

Chef Gregory doing the rounds and getting some very good feedback

Main course was the most tender springbok fillet with aubergine caviar and a cream and brandy sauce with roasted hazelnuts

Grand Cru Chateau La Lagune 1968 Haut Medoc, one of the wines opened for the second part of the quiz, where each table had to guess the identity of the wine they were given to taste blind.

Another wine tasted was Chateau Duhart Milon Rothschild 1978 Pauillac Grand Cru Classé

Cees van Casteren MW reads out the table quiz results. Our table came a creditable second, correctly guessing that the wine we tasted was from Italy and Tuscan, mainly due to the Sperling end of the table. It was Lagerla Rosso di Montalcino 2007. We were way out on the vintage, believing it to be much older. The winning table, which included Mr & Mrs André van Rensburg, Francois and Magda Naude and Philip and Cathy van Zyl MW, correctly guessed theirs. It was a red blend from Chile, and they cracked the vintage: 2006.

Next came the cheese course, a 9 month matured Healey's cheddar, served with a spiced pear tarte tatin

Duncan, looking happy after all the wonderful wines we had tasted

The waiter pours our dessert wine, Rudera noble late harvest

Our first dessert was a Tellicherry Pepper Panna cotta , Cape gooseberries, smoked pear sorbet, and muesli soil

Lynne got to taste and take home the empty bottle of Hutcheson Port Colheita 1947 for our cellar. There was a lot of ullage and sediment and many of the flavours were suppressed by age, but you could still taste the tawny port character.