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Table Mountain, 55 Km as the crow flies from the top of Kanonkop hill on Vondeling, Voor Paardeberg
In
this week’s MENU:
Vondeling Méthode
Ancestrale A quiet lunch at La
Bohème This year’s Veritas
Awards Riesling and Rabbit
at the Table Bay Hotel Launch of Michael
Broughton’s new Terroir cookbook Durbanville Season
of Sauvignon festival media launch Important festivals
this month This week’s Recipe:
Fig, gorgonzola and biltong salad Food and wine (and
a few other) events for you to enjoy 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
blog, click on RETURN
TO MENU to come back to the blog version of MENU.
This week’s Product menu The supermarkets are already filling up with Christmas
decorations (was Easter only yesterday?) and Christmas will be here before we
have blinked more than a couple of times. We can supply several things you will
need and it might be best to secure them before they start to run out, one of
the best of which is chestnuts for your very important stuffings. It’s amazing
how much importance we attribute to one special meal! See them here
Have we had
another busy week? Of course. You tell us that you
don’t know how we do it; we, ourselves, wonder sometimes. We do have enormous
energy and love the food and wine and travel industry we write about, so going
to all these events and functions comes naturally. The only really hard part is
squeezing into our busy schedule the real work: editing all the photographs for
John and doing all the writing for Lynne and getting it out to you by Thursday
night.
Climb every
mountain Last week we went to Vondeling in the
Paardeberg area to try their brand new wine, a Méthode Ancestrale made from
100% Chardonnay. To quote Jancis Robinson: “Méthode Ancestrale, sometimes
called Méthode Artisanal or Méthode Rurale, very traditional sparking wine
making method used chiefly in Limoux, resulting in a lightly sparkling, medium
sweet wine, sometimes complete with sediment”. There is no sediment in the
Vondeling wine, and it is beautifully dry and full. It is the first of its kind
registered with the SA Wine and Spirit Board.
Where did we first taste it?
Well they took about 20 journalists in 4x4s to the very top of their mountain,
Kanonkop, and served it to us ice cold, with freshly shucked oysters and some
killer smoked salmon sandwiches. It is a very steep and long track and we hear
that it going to be part of the Cape Epic this year. Good luck to those crazy
cyclists!
It was a beautiful day and we
could see from Hangklip on the Indian Ocean, False Bay side, all the way round
to the Piketberg mountains and the Atlantic in the north. The mountain is 750
metres above sea level, so you really did feel on top of the world. Then back
down the mountain we drove, to lunch in the winery with a vertical tasting of
their white blend Babiana and another of Erica, their Shiraz. It was a
sensational event. Read On
A quiet lunch at
La Bohème There are several challenges
served up to you if you run a restaurant and a religious holiday in an area
containing many people of that religion can be very difficult for business. We
had booked a table at La Boheme for lunch last Friday as it is always very
busy, only to find it was Yom Kippur and we were almost the only people there. But
we had a lovely relaxed lunch on the pavement terrace Read On
Huge gains at
Cape Winemakers Guild Auction This year was the
first year we have been able to accept the invitation to attend the CWG auction
as we were always working on Saturdays. It was a really thrilling experience. The
lots went to such amazing prices that even though we had a paddle and had
intended to bid on a couple of items, they went way above our estimates. We
tried to bid on the silent auction but all our bids were topped. Everyone was
in a spending mood.
It was really refreshing to
see the happy faces of the winemakers in the lounge after their lots had been
sold. Etienne Le Riche got a record breaking price of R7000 per 6 bottle case
on the very first lot of the auction. Not all the potential buyers had such
happy faces. And it just continued all day. Lynne was tweeting the average lot
prices as they happened and logging the million marks as they were reached. Some
were achieved in only 20 minutes and the auction made a record total of
R11,929,600 (2013 total was R8.4 million) Read on
This year’s
Veritas Awards We had to rush home
and change into our finery for this black tie event which was held on the same
day as the CWG Auction. It was held at the Cape Town International Convention
Centre and we were all welcomed in the foyer with MCC bubbles and canapés,
before going upstairs to the Ballroom for the awards and dinner. There were
over 760 people at what must be one of the largest Cape Town functions.
This year 1 767 wines and
brandies were rated (1 792 in 2013) by an authoritative line-up of
international judges, joined by local wine specialists. 1345 medals were
awarded (1422 in 2013). The awarding of 155 Gold (165 in 2013) and 51 Double
Gold medals (68 in 2013) this year was down on the previous year, as judging
has become more rigorous, we were told. See the full story at http://www.veritas.co.za
Four industry people received
2014 Living Legends scrolls of honour: Danie de Wet, Diaan de Villiers,
Professor Diko van Zyl and Jeff Wedgwood. You can see all the results by
clicking on this link. The public tastings of some of these wines will be held
on 15th October in Cape Town and 25th October in Johannesburg, Durban on 5th
November and Port Elizabeth on 11th November - see details on http://www.veritas.co.za/public-tasting/
Riesling and
Rabbit at the Table Bay Hotel It seems that many
South Africans regard eating rabbit as taboo because of the “cute fluffy bunny“
association. If you have lived in Europe or Australia where they are a huge
pest that decimates crops and grazing, you might not have those scruples. Rabbit
is a delicious and nutritious protein, and it is very quick and cheap to
produce. On Sunday, we joined Neil Pendock at this wine and food pairing which he
had arranged at Camissa Restaurant at the Table Bay Hotel. Read on
Neil will be doing these
interesting food and wine pairings regularly. His next one is going to be The
World is Your Oyster in a Glass of Bubbles on Saturday, 1st November at
Mondiall in the Waterfront at a cost of R350. Contact them on reservations@mondiall.co.za
Launch of
Michael Broughton’s new cookbook at Terroir
Tuesday
saw us bussed to Terroir on the Kleine Zalze estate for the launch of this new
book, which follows Michael’s TV series about the restaurant. We were warmly
welcomed by Michael and Kleine Zalze owner Kobus Basson with some of their
bubbly. The event was held on the terrace at informal tables and we could buy
copies of the book. From about 1.30, we were given samples of some of the food
in the book, served, rather intermittently, as small tasting portions which
came without any particular order. Lynne shared hers with Alan Mullins. John
was rather busy taking photos. We are not sure that we tasted everything, some
tables did seem to get more than others, but what we tasted was very good and
beautifully presented. Michael told us that this is a distillation of his work
at Terroir over the last 10 years. The recipes in the book are very precise and
give several processes for each recipe, but they seem easy to follow and look
delicious. The pictures are superb. And Kleine Zalze Chenin and Shiraz flowed
throughout the afternoon, as the wine staff were very attentive. See more here
Season of
Sauvignon festival media launch The Season of
Sauvignon festival, held each year in Durbanville, will be taking place over
the weekend of 25th and 26th of October. We will definitely be there and we hope
to see lots of you, as usual. It is the easiest festival to reach, as
Durbanville is only half an hour from the City. Entrance on most of the farms
is free and most of them have wonderful events organised and you will be able to
taste wine and buy food and wine. It is very child friendly. Check out the
details on www.durbanville.co.za
We were at the media launch of the festival yesterday, held at Phesantekraal (the only farm not open on Sunday 26th). We tasted
the wine we helped to make by picking grapes at harvest time in February on one of the 12 Durbanville
farms who each contributed a
ton of grapes to the wine. It has been called Durbanville 12 and the wine displays lovely green
apple, fig leaf and citrus flavours. It will be at launched at the Festival and
it will be on sale there and thereafter at Ultra at R60 a bottle. Read on
Other
important festivals this month Elim Wine festival is
happening this weekend and we will be there. It is being held on Black Oyster
Catcher farm on Saturday. And we do need to remind you of Robertson Wine on the River which happens on the 17th, 18th and 19th of October. We will
be there on Sunday 19th. Diemersfontein will host their Pinotage on Tap this
Saturday, October 10th and Caroline’s White Wine Review will be at the Table Bay on Tuesday, October 21st. Tickets for the latter are in
short supply, so book as soon as you can.
This week’s
Recipe: Fig, gorgonzola and biltong salad
Figs are suddenly appearing in the shops and we served
this lovely quick salad as our starter at a dinner party we gave on Sunday
evening. We have to admit that we copied the biltong addition from La Bohème. You
can serve this as small individual salads or, as we did, just in a large wide
salad bowl and let people help themselves.
A packet of mixed small salad leaves, well washed and drained – olive
oil – a thick balsamic reduction in a squeeze bottle – lemon – salt and freshly
ground black pepper - 8 ripe figs, cut in quarters – 200g good quality
gorgonzola cheese, cut into rough cubes – 100g shaved biltong
Put the salad leaves into the bowl and dress them with
a good drizzle of olive oil, and another of the balsamic reduction. Squeeze
over the juice of half a lemon or more if you like. Add seasoning and toss. Then
scatter over the figs, top with the cheese and then strew with the biltong. Then
give another drizzle of oil and balsamic reduction to the top of the salad.
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
9th October 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
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