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this week’s MENU:
Elgin Sauvignon Blanc This week’s recipe:
Roast Baby Beetroot with Goats cheese & Walnuts Tastings and
Festivals Learn about wine
and cooking
To get the whole of our story, please click on
“READ
ON.....” at the end of each paragraph, which will
lead you to the related blog, with pictures and more words. At the end of each
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This week’s Product menu Nut oils. We have Walnut, Hazelnut and Argon oil. They are imported and
therefore a luxury but so worth it as they add so much to the dishes they are
added to. See them here
One part of our job that we
love is the different places we get to visit, eat at and often stay. It must be
a nightmare for PRO’s finding all these superb venues for functions, we just
love exploring them. They don’t always work as venues, the Waterfront can be a
little noisy and in your face, with tourists peering in but it is central, and
if you pick your spot carefully, there are a lot of hidden corners. And places
in the country can be so romantic and graceful, as we found this week.
An Italian
experience Unless we go abroad, we don’t often get the opportunity to taste single
estate regional wines from Europe and it is always a very good learning
experience when we do. On Monday we were invited to a tasting of wine from the
Fruili area in North East Italy by the producer Fantinel. The tasting was held
at Mondiall restaurant in the Waterfront. We were welcomed with a glass of
chilled crisp Spumante Prosecco DOC extra Dry and then proceeded upstairs to
taste their range of wines which they export to South Africa. The company was
founded in 1969 by grandfather Mario Fantinel, who was in the hotel and
restaurant business when he bought his first vineyards, continued by his sons
Luciano, Gianfranco and Loris and is now run by the third generation Marco,
Stefano and Mariaelena.
Lunch downstairs in the main
restaurant was prepared for us by Chef/owner Peter Tempelhoff and was rather
tempting and special. It certainly went with the wines served. Read on.....
Boland celebrates
Chenin’s Terroir Johan Joubert has left Kleine Zalze and “returned home” to Boland
Kelders after 12 years of award winning winemaking elsewhere. He is now the
Cellarmaster and was joined on Tuesday by CEO Paul Malan and Sales &
Marketing Director Maraleze Knoetze to present eight different examples of
different Chenin Blancs they are producing. These are from different soils on
their 2,200 hectares from five different wards in Berg River, Swartland,
Philadelphia, Wellington and the Paardeberg.
It was a fascinating tasting,
especially now that site specific wines are the current subject of discussion
in the industry and we gain momentum mapping our soils, climate and terroir. You
can indeed taste the different terroirs in the wines. We got to see some of the
different soil types and they are amazingly different from their farms all over
the Boland. Don’t let these wines slip off your radar, we think they are about
to do amazing things. And if you don’t know their wines you can go to their
tasting room in Wellington. They are sold at very reasonable prices for very
high quality. Read on.....
Elgin Sauvignon
Blanc We took part in another Elgin “Tweet up” this
week. This time we tasted 15 Sauvignon Blancs. The room was hugely
disadvantaged by bad internet connections so, sadly, we couldn’t get many of
our tweets out. No chance sadly on the last four as connections just packed up,
even 3G. It must have been the storm. We had lively debates on how Sauvignon
Blanc should taste, especially from the ‘naughty table’, it’s nice to see what
the young like. Sean Skibbe from South Hill did his best to herd a group of “cats”,
but the wines we tasted were all interesting. We loved some of the classics
like the Paul Cluver and the Iona stood out above the rest by head and
shoulders. But some preferred the newer more tropical style. Is this what Elgin
should be doing? Make what your soil gives you, don’t try to turn Sauvignon
into something else is our comment. You can’t grow chenin, don’t use SB as a
substitute. We think a new larger venue without pizza oven smells throughout
might be a good move for the future though. These “tweet ups’ so work for us.
“In Bocca al
Lupo” Which
means “Good Luck” to Neil Grant of Burrata fame for the future of his second
great restaurant. Bocca (means mouth in Italian) is on the corner of Bree and
Wale Streets in Cape Town and last night it was rocking. They have a lovely,
simple menu with something to suit all tastes and we got to sample some of the
pizzas with a glass (or two) of wine. People were clamouring to get in, a
restaurant across the road with a similar theme was empty and we think it is
going to be a great success. They make the perfect Margarita pizza. Just the
right tomato sugo, good herb flavours and superb mozzarella on a thin pizza
base. And there are lots of other flavours to try. Read on.....
This week’s
Recipe This is a lovely ‘cooked’ salad that
works well as a starter or as an accompaniment to other salads and it is very
good option for vegetarians. Walnut oil is not obligatory, you can substitute
olive oil but it does add so much more depth and flavour. The honey is to
counter the acidity of the wine vinegar. Go easy, the beets may be quite sweet.
Roast
Baby Beetroot with Goats cheese & Walnuts
500 g baby beets –
1 garlic clove, - good sprig of fresh thyme – 1 T olive oil – 100 g soft creamy
goats cheese (Chevin) – 2 to 3 T walnut or olive oil – 1 T red wine vinegar –
juices from the roasted beets – 1 t honey – flake salt and freshly ground black
pepper – 500g mixed baby leaves of peppery rocket and spinach – 25g walnuts
Leave 1 cm of stem on the
beetroot. Wash the beets well to get rid of any soil, then dry. Place them with
the garlic clove, and the thyme on some foil, drizzle with the olive oil and
make into a well sealed parcel. Roast in a preheated 180°C oven for at least an
hour. The beetroot is cooked when a knife will slip easily through one. Remove
from the foil when still warm and peel off the skin and quarter the beets (you
might want to wear gloves) and don’t
let them get cold, they are impossible to peel. Keep the juices in the foil. Make
a dressing with the walnut oil, vinegar, beet juices, a little honey and salt
and pepper to taste, When ready to assemble, put the leaves on a plate, scatter
over the beetroot, then the crumbled cheese, dress with the vinaigrette and
scatter over the walnuts. Serves 4
It is Festival season, we may see you at
one or all of these: Bosman Release Celebration on
Lelienfontein estate on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th November. Bosman Wine
Club members each receive two complimentary tickets. Tickets can be booked
online through Webtickets. Additional tickets for family and friends can also
be booked at R150pp. Ticket includes access to both days, a wine glass and a
R50 voucher redeemable with your first purchase of six bottles of wine on the
day. Tasting journey through the 250 year old cellar. Children under 12 enter
free of charge. Food is sold at an additional cost of R50 per station. Live
entertainment.
Wine Concepts will celebrate their thirteenth year of staging their
“Finer Things in Life” Champagne Festival with the theme of Ebony &
Ivory on Friday 21st November from 6 pm. They will be offering more than 40
cuvees for tasting from premium and boutique French Champagne Houses to
tantalize your taste buds. Expect names like Taittinger, Piper Heidsieck,
Drappier, Mumm, Ruinart, Montaudon, Jacquart, Philipponat and many more. For the price of one bottle of entry level Champagne,
R380, you get to taste many of the best ‘marques’ in France. There will be a
lucky draw, canapés and prizes for the best dressed. This year’s theme is Ebony
and Ivory and dress will be smart (and formal if you wish). Tickets from
R380.00 if purchased from Wine Concepts stores or online on www.webtickets.co.za Tickets will be on sale for R400 at the door on the evening.
Franschhoek’s “The Magic of Bubbles Cap Classique and Champagne festival
will
be held this year on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th November from 12 to 5 pm in
the gardens of the Huguenot Monument. Their theme this year is Parasols and
Panama Hats, very suitable for the usually hot weather. Tickets here There is a reduction
if you pre-book using a MasterCard.
The Cape Town Festival of Beer Yes, we also like beer. John
used to brew at home. and will one day have the time to do so again. Lynne is
British, so it’s a given. And Cape Town is having its annual Beer Festival at Hamilton’s
Rugby Club on Green Point Common from Friday, 28th November to Sunday 30th. Get your tickets now. This is very
popular and gets very crowded, so go early.
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 type of event 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 list of wine and food
pairing dinners, list
of Special events with wine and/or food connections,
list of Wine Shows and Tastings and list of special dinner events.
All the events are listed in date order and we 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. Karen Glanfield has taken
over the UnWined
wine appreciation courses from Cathy. See the details here
The Hurst Campus, an accredited school for people who want to become
professional chefs, has a variety of courses. See the details here
Chez Gourmet in Claremont has a programme of cooking classes. A calendar of their classes can be seen here.
In addition to the
new Sense
of Taste Culinary Arts School, Chef Peter Ayub runs a
four module course for keen home cooks at his Maitland complex. Details
here
Nadège Lepoittevin-Dasse has French cooking classes in Noordhoek
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.
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 Thursday evenings and she has decided to
introduce LCHF (Banting classes). The Kitchen Confidence classes, which focus
on essential cooking skills and methods, have been expanded and are now taught
over 2 evenings. She continues to host private dining and culinary team
building events at her home. She trained with Raymond Blanc, and has been a
professional chef for 25 years. More info
here
13th November 2014
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 and standard 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
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