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In
this week’s MENU:
Nedbank Green Wine Awards at Kirstenbosch Wade Bales Wine and Malt Whisky Affair Wine on the River in Robertson Elgin Red Wine Tweet Up Champagne Season is coming Apple Ice Cream
Follow
this link to see our Main Ingredient blogs, because to tell our whole
story here would take too much space. Click on Bold words in the text of this edition to open links to pictures, blogs,
pertinent websites or more information.
This week’s Product menu: We have new stock of chestnuts,
in cans and jars and have replenished our stock of the ever popular truffle
oils. Patés have been selling well, especially the delicious French duck
rillette, and we have more of those in stock too. They’re in our shop. See it here
Our market activities Come and visit us at the Old
Biscuit Mill’s wonderfully exciting, atmospheric Neighbourgoods
Market, as always, this Saturday and every Saturday between 09h00 and 14h00. Tip:
Some visitors tell us how they struggle to find parking. It’s quite easy if you
know how. Click here for a map which shows where we park.
As usual, we have a link at the bottom to our calendar of wine and food related events which should interest all
lovers of great food and wine and events which promote them. We have always had
a few from centres outside the Western Cape, but we now have enough to justify
a separate list, so, if you live in one of the other splendid places in our
lovely country, have a look. If you are promoting an event in any of
these places, please let us know and we’ll add it to the list.
Nedbank Green Wine Awards at
Kirstenbosch Last Thursday saw us at Kirstenbosch where
the awards were presented at Moyo Restaurant. Sadly, we did not have time for a
walk in the Garden as last week’s edition of MENU had to be sent out before we
left. Everything was blooming beautifully after our wet winter. A welcome drink
on the lawn and then we went inside for lunch and the awards. The awards are
divided into two categories: Organic wines and Biodiversity & Wine
Initiative (BWI) wines. Laibach received the award for Best Organic wine
overall, for their Woolworths 2012 Merlot, which was also judged to be the Best
Red Organic wine. Paul Cluver scooped three of the BWI awards with Best Wine
overall for their 2012 Gewürztraminer, which was also the Best White. The
Bloggers’ Choice was their 2011 Chardonnay. Click here to see the awards in detail, photos and read
about the lunch. We note that there is a huge change
upwards in the quality of all the wines we tasted at the awards and none could
be recognised as anything else but a quality, well produced wine. It is a huge
improvement since the awards started several years ago.
Wade Bales Wine and Malt Whisky Affair Immediately
after the awards, we were off to 15 on Orange Hotel for this wine and whisky
show. The hotel turns out to be a good venue for a tasting as they have lots of
space in the airy atrium. There were some excellent wine farms showcasing their
wines and a separate room for lots of good whiskies, many of them aged. This
room became very crowded and rather rowdy as the evening progressed; we hope all
the guests were getting taxis home afterwards. The hotel provided a free buffet
of cheese, breads, fruit, chutneys and preserves for those who needed to line
their stomachs during the tasting. Click here for photographs.
Wine on the River in Robertson We
managed to get to the festival by 11h30 on Sunday and were a little
disappointed to find that it was not overflowing with people as, apparently, it
had been on Friday and Saturday. This year they had a marquee where they had
grouped all the Robertson Bubblies, Chardonnays, and Shirazes and, after
wandering around the stands to greet and spend some time with our wine making
friends, we found this good place for a quick taste through the wines. We ate
some lovely food – Zandvliet had a cornet of crisply battered hake with chips
and onion rings, which suited John perfectly, and Lynne had two perfectly
seasoned and cooked lamb chops, also with crisp chips and onion rings. We know that
this food is not terribly good for us but it is SO enjoyable and we don’t
indulge very often. We were given media vouchers which afforded us some Hectic
Biltong, some bubbly from Graham Beck and Viljoensdrift, some excellent tempura
prawns from the Mimosa stand and a kind of pasta dish called lasagne which, sadly, was
really not very enjoyable nor very typical of a lasagne. The weather was dull
but the festival wasn’t and we hope that, next year, it will be sunny again and
filled with people sitting by the side of the river. We think that it does need
to close a little later than 3pm on the last day, especially if one is driving
up for the day, because having only 4 hours to taste the variety that Robertson
has to offer is just not long enough!
Weltevrede were extremely kind and offered us one of
their cottages to stay in, as we had decided to stay over for Sunday and Monday
nights, so that we could visit individual farms and taste at leisure. The
cottage is well equipped and has the most wonderful views over the vines, the
Breede River and the beautiful Bonnievale valley. We had a roaring fire going
soon after we arrived. A rather loud storm blew in on Sunday night and made a
terrific noise on the corrugated iron roof. Lynne finds the sound of rain on
the roof immensely soothing and like white noise; she slept through most of it
like a baby. Poor John was kept awake from about 1.30 to the early hours.
After breakfast, we were off to the Bonnievale butcher
to get some meat for a braai that night and then a visit De Wetshof, where Peter de Wet gave us a really good tasting
of their superb wines. We left with a case of 2013 Bon Vallon Chardonnay, so
elegant, lean and delicious. Next was a long and chatty catch up lunch with
Bonita Malherbe, marketing manager at Van Loveren. We ate lunch at their restaurant,
Christina’s, and shared a bottle of Chardonnay. John enjoyed an enormous
hamburger with blue cheese sauce and Lynne had the fried gnocchi with mushrooms
and cheese. Bonita was the inventor/instigator of Robertson’s newer and more
innovative festivals like the Wacky Wine Weekend and Wine on the River, which
other wine areas have copied. It was lovely to see her again as we have not
been to Robertson for a while. We bought two bottles of wine, their marvellous
Noble Late Harvest and Gewürztraminer Special Late Harvest. We wanted something
heady and sweet to drink with some paté that evening. Then we drove off to Ashton Kelder,
which is always worth a visit, and had a taste through their wines. They often
have specials and we bought a case of their easy drinking unwooded Chardonnay
for summer lunches. They make very good grape juices, plain or sparkling,
beautifully packaged to look like a proper bubbly, great for celebrations where
you have non-wine drinkers. Then it was back to the cottage for a relatively
early night. Our braai was cooked over the inside fire as it was another damp
and chilly evening.
Next morning, after tidying up the cottage, we spent
some time with Elzette Steyn in the Weltevrede tasting room, catching up on
their wines. We really liked their 3 MCC bubblies, the Place of Rocks
Chardonnay and their cracking Bedrock Black Syrah. Then it was off to visit Zandvliet
for another tasting, where we liked the Rosé and the Shiraz so much that some
had to come home with us. Then, a drive into Robertson, where we wanted to
visit the good nursery. We had ‘sandwiches’ at Bourbon Street. Slow service -
they seem to want you to drink more than eat - and it was not great food.
Putting greasy and stringy once-frozen smoked salmon offcuts into a sandwich is
SO wrong. Then a quick visit to our friends Audrey and Jean Grobbelaar who own Rivierzicht
Farm. They had been busy all weekend, as their riverside campsite is very
popular. And then onto the road for a very easy drive back home. We love
Robertson and Bonnievale. Such friendly people, great wine at good prices, lots
of beauty and it is very relaxing. Next event is the Hands on Harvest next
February.
Elgin Red Wine Tweet Up Yesterday,
we took part in this Tweet Up at Caroline’s Fine Wines. We had two hours to
taste and tweet about Elgin’s ‘other’ red wines and it was quite an eye opener.
There was not a bad wine in the tasting and this was rather a surprise for lots
of us, as Elgin is known mainly for its crisp white wines and its elegant Pinot
Noirs. As a general rule, the grapes have a lovely soft ripeness and perfume
and are well supported by soft chalky tannins. These are very approachable
wines although some will, of course, benefit from time in the cellar. We
encountered no harsh heavy tannic wines and several of these are very special
indeed. Stand out wines were Cathy Marshall’s Amatra 2011 Merlot, Shannon’s
Mount Bullet 2011 Merlot, Paul Cluver’s Woolworths Cabernet Franc, Thelema Sutherland’s
Cabernet/Merlot blend, Oak Valley’s Merlot/Cab Franc/Cab Sauvignon and Lynne’s
favourite (although a little deterred by the price of R180 a bottle) was Kevin
King’s Micah, a stunning blend of Shiraz, Mourvedre and Barbera. You can follow
us on twitter @mainingmenu.
There will be another Elgin Tweet Up in the next few weeks.
We hope to see lots of you at Caroline’s White Wine Review next
week, on Wednesday 30th, at the Table Bay Hotel, where you will be able to
taste more than 40 special white wines chosen by Caroline as her best selection
from 5pm.
Champagne Season is coming Don’t
forget to book your tickets for Wine Concepts ‘Finer Things in Life’ Champagne Festival
at the Vineyard Hotel on November 22nd. This is normally a very chic event,
with prizes for the best outfits and you can drink lots and lots of real French
Champagne.
Franschhoek has its “Magic of Bubbles” Champagne and Cap Classique Festival
on Saturday, November 30th and Sunday, December 1st.
This week’s recipe There
are still some lovely crisp flavourful apples in the shops, while we wait for
the soft summer fruits to arrive, so we thought you might like this easy ice
cream recipe. Investing in an ice cream maker is worthwhile as it can save a
lot of effort. Look in the large Cash and Carry shops or Hypermarkets like Game
or Makro. If your family eats more than just the occasional ice cream, it will
pay for itself quite quickly.
APPLE ICE CREAM
Peel, core
and cut up the apples and put them in a pan with 50g of the sugar and cook gently
till soft. Let them cool and purée them in a blender or processor before
pushing the pulp through a sieve.
Make the
ice cream by heating the single cream until just before it reaches boiling
point. Beat the remaining sugar with the yolks, and whisk in the warm cream to
this mixture until a custard is formed, then add the flavourings (lemon juice
and Calvados). Let it cool.
Fold in the cold apple purée; whisk the double cream
till it’s thick but still soft and fold that in. Pour the mixture into the
container of your ice cream maker and churn it until it sets. If you don’t have
an ice cream maker, pour the mixture into an empty ice cream box and place it
in the freezer. Cover it. Remove it every hour for about three hours and whisk
it vigorously to break up the ice crystals which will make the ice cream
crunchy rather than smooth.
Remove it from the freezer and place it in the fridge
for about 20 minutes before serving to allow it to soften a little. Lovely with
crisp almond tuille biscuits.
If you want
to try making other fruit into ices, you can use this as a blueprint. Plums,
pears, apricots can all work well.
Buying from us On Line We have a lot of fun putting MENU together each week and, of course, doing
the things we write about, but making it possible for you to enjoy rare and
wonderful gourmet foods is what drives our business. We stock a good range of ingredients and delicious ready-made
gourmet foods. You can contact us by email or phone, or through our on line shop. We can send your requirements
to you anywhere in South Africa. Please do not pay until we have confirmed availability and
invoiced you, then you pay and then we deliver or post. When you make an eft payment,
make sure that it says who you are. Use the form on the website to email us
your order. Click here to see our OnLine Shop.
There is a huge and rapidly growing
variety of interesting things to occupy your leisure time here in the Western Cape.
There are so
many interesting things to do in our world of food and wine that we have made
separate list for each month for which we have information. To see what’s happening in our world of
food and wine (and a few other cultural events), visit
our Events Calendar.
All the events are listed in date order and we already have a large number of
exciting events to entertain you right through the year. Events outside the Western Cape are listed here.
Learn about wine and cooking We receive a lot of enquiries from people who want to learn more
about wine.
Cathy Marston and The Cape Wine Academy both run wine
education courses, some very serious and others more geared to fun. You can see
details of Cathy’s WSET and other courses here
and here and the CWA courses here.
Chez
Gourmet in Claremont has a
programme of cooking classes. A calendar of their classes can be seen here.
Pete Ayub, who made our very popular Prego sauce, runs evening cooking classes at Sense of Taste, his
catering company in Maitland. We can recommend them very highly, having enjoyed
his seafood course. Check
his programme here. Nadège Lepoittevin-Dasse has cooking
classes in Fish Hoek and conducts cooking tours to Normandy. You can see more details here. Emma
Freddi runs the Enrica Rocca cooking courses at her
home in Constantia. Brett Nussey’s Stir
Crazy courses are now being run from Dish Food and
Social’s premises in Main Road Observatory (opposite Groote Schuur hospital).
Lynn Angel runs the Kitchen Angel
cooking school and does private dinners at her home. She holds hands-on cooking
classes for small groups on Monday and Wednesday evenings. She trained with
Raymond Blanc, and has been a professional chef for 25 years. More info here
24th October 2013
Remember - if you can’t find something, we’ll do our best
to get it for you, and, if you’re in Cape Town or elsewhere in the country, we
can send it to you! Check our online shop for details and prices.
PS If a word or name is in bold type and underlined,
click on it for more information
Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656
4169
Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005
Our Adamastor & Bacchus© tailor-made Wine, Food and Photo
tours take
small groups (up to 6) to specialist wine producers who make the best of South
Africa’s wines. Have fun while you learn more about wine and how it is made!
Tours can be conducted in English, German, Norwegian or Dutch flavoured
Afrikaans.
Recommendations
of products and outside events are not solicited or
charged for, and are made at the authors’ pleasure. All photographs,
recipes and text used in these newsletters and our
blogs are © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus.
Our restaurant reviews are usually unsolicited. We prefer to pay for our meals
and not be paid in any way by anyone. Whether we are invited or go
independently, we don’t feel bad if we say we didn’t like it. Honesty is indeed
our best policy. While every effort is made to avoid mistakes, we are human and
they do creep in occasionally, for which we apologise. Our Avast! ®
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