Wednesday, November 25, 2015

This Week's MENU - Travel Massive, Klink Awards, Casa Labia, 40 Years of Meerlust wine, Wine Concepts Champagne Festival, Diners Club Winemaker of the Year, A night at Le Franschhoek


The Meerlust manor house, built in 1776
In this week’s MENU:
If you have missed and wish to catch up on a previous issue of MENU for any reason, please go to Main Ingredient. The second page of the site has links to previous issues of MENU.
To get the whole story with photographs, here and in our blog, please click onRead 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 has been another hectic week, with some wonderful events to report, while we prepare our house for a big event at the weekend. Lots of things on this weekend and we are going to miss lots of them as it is time for a big celebration. Friday will be John's 70th birthday and we are having a family dinner on Friday night and a lunch party for close friends and family on Saturday. Lynne has been cooking and preparing for weeks. We did try to have it elsewhere, but the function venues were out of our reach, so home it had to be. And we will have some great wine to drink from our cellar.
We will be at the Beer Festival launch on Thursday evening, however and also hope to get to the Jordan Summer Festival on Sunday, bearing animal necessities. It really depends on how much clearing up we have to do and how tired we are! Hope to see lots of you there.

We have many American readers, to whom we send our hope that you will have a joyful, peaceful Thanksgiving celebration.

Klink Awards     The awards focus on what wine farms have to offer visitors, other than the wine. The awards were held on the terrace with those marvellous views of the city at De Grendel wine estate, last Thursday evening. Wesgro have come on board as sponsors; we hope the association continues for a long time. Wesgro is the official Destination Marketing, Investment and Trade Promotion Agency for the Western Cape.
"Out of its 17 categories ... the best performing category, with 1512 votes, was the Gourmet. It awards the best cellar-door restaurant that is set in a great location, offers first class service, focuses on artisanal foods, has a sommelier service and wine list with older vintages, own wines and other regional wines. Among Klink’s 77 nominees across its 17 categories, the overall Supernova (or nominee with the most votes) was De Grendel. It took first place in both its category (the Gourmet) as well as overall, receiving 634 votes, beating La Colombe and Waterkloof to the true-blue foodie post." See the event and the results here
Casa Labia relaunch     This beautiful house, filled with treasures, is owned by the Labia family and has been used as a museum for several years. It was returned to the family by the state after several years in the shadows. They have now restored it perfectly and on Thursday evening we rushed from the Klink Awards to the relaunch of the house and the opening of the new restaurant and function venue, which will be run by Andrea Foulkes of Dish Food and Catering. With a huge fire raging on the mountain in Simonstown, we did not rate our chances of getting there on time, but the trip down the M5 was fast and seamless at 6.30 pm. The good news is that the road repairs outside Casa Labia have now been completed. Click here for photographs
Meerlust 40th Anniversary lunch     How to describe this classic Cape Dutch wine farm in the Helderberg? Owned by charming Hannes Myburgh, who prefers to keep rather a low profile, the award winning iconic wines are made by Chris Williams and shepherded into the cellar by viticulturist Roelie Joubert. Guests are shepherded to the tasting room by the ten friendly dogs, who have the most wonderful life on the farm. We were privileged to have lunch on Friday in the beautiful lived-in Manor house, which is filled to bursting with art, antiquities and curiosities. We had a marvellous Cape country lunch and a tasting of great vintages of Meerlust Cabernet and Rubicon, starting with the first ever vintage, made in 1975. And, yes, it has lasted, as we expected.
We also visited the Compagniesdrift wine storage and bottling facility next door, which Is the Myburgh Family Trust Social Responsibility investment in their staff. The companies involved, MWT Investments and Faure AgriVillage, are jointly owned (50% each) by the Myburgh Family Trust and the Meerlust Empowerment Trust, which is comprised of 72 people who have long-standing relationships with the Meerlust, Vriesenhof and Ken Forrester farms in the area. See the wines, the people and the farm here
Fire and Ice at the Wine Concepts Champagne Festival at the Vineyard     After a nap, Friday night saw us enjoying life at The Vineyard Hotel, where we enjoyed Wine Concepts’ annual salute to French Champagne. It was a busy and very social evening, with a chance to taste 18 Marques (brands) and at least two different champagnes on each stand. Many of the top names were there to enjoy. Lots of prizes were awarded to ticket holders, the band played great music and you could fantasise about driving and buying the two classic cars in the room. And The Vineyard supplied canapés throughout the evening. Glitter and glam here
Diners Club Winemaker of the Year Awards     This glittering affair was held at La Residence in Franschhoek on Saturday night where the Winemaker of the year Award went to Johann Fourie of KWV for the Mentors Pinotage. The Young Winemaker of the year was Phillip Viljoen of Bon Courage for his NLH. It was a chance to put on one’s best bib and tucker and enjoy the good wines entered into the competition with dinner. A truly  glamorous affair, see it here
Le Franschhoek     Diners Club, thankfully, offered us and many other guests accommodation for the night at Le Franschhoek, which meant we could really enjoy the evening and, because shuttles were provided, no driving was required at all for John. We had a very comfortable room in a quiet setting and a good breakfast the following morning. See the hotel here
Travel Massive     We also did some good travel networking this week at the local Travel Massive meeting held at the NAC helicopter offices in the V&A Waterfront. Photographs here
This week’s recipe is a vegetarian dish for a change. It serves 4 to 6 people. Carrots have an affinity with two spices - cumin and nutmeg. You can add a dusting of them to the purée if you want more flavour but not at the same time, either powdered cumin or nutmeg.
Carrot and Cashew Nut Gratin
750g thickly sliced peeled carrots - 100g raw cashew nuts - 2 T dried breadcrumbs - 100g fromage frais or mascarpone cheese - salt and freshly ground black pepper
Cook the carrots in boiling water until soft. Meanwhile, roast the cashew nuts till golden, either in the oven or in a dry frying pan over a low heat. Take a tablespoon of the nuts, chop them coarsely and mix with the breadcrumbs. Drain the carrots and put into a food processor with the fromage frais and blend till smooth. Stir the whole nuts into the mixture and season well. Spoon into an ovenproof dish. Sprinkle with the nut and breadcrumb mix and place under the grill till golden. Serve with green vegetables or a salad. Great with a dry Viognier or a crisp Chenin Blanc.





25th November 2015
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This week's Recipe: Carrot and Cashew Nut Gratin

Carrot and Cashew Nut Gratin
750g thickly sliced peeled carrots - 100g raw cashew nuts - 2 T dried breadcrumbs - 100g fromage frais or mascarpone cheese - salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cook the carrots in boiling water until soft. Meanwhile, roast the cashew nuts till golden, either in the oven or in a dry frying pan over a low heat. Take a tablespoon of the nuts, crush them coarsely and mix with the breadcrumbs. Drain the carrots and put into a food processor with the fromage frais and blend till smooth. Stir the whole nuts into the mixture and season well. Spoon into an ovenproof dish. Sprinkle with the nut and breadcrumb mix and place under the grill till golden. Serve with green vegetables or a salad. Great with a dry viognier or a crisp Chenin Blanc.
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

A night at Le Franschhoek

Diners Club, thankfully, offered us and many other guests accommodation for the night at Le Franschhoek, which meant we could really enjoy the evening and, because shuttles were provided, no driving was required at all for John. We had a very comfortable room in a quiet setting and a good breakfast the following morning
The entrance portico. Many of you might remember and have visited The Swiss Farm Excelsior in Franschhoek in the past. Le Franschhoek is the Phoenix that rose from the flames, it's the Swiss Farm reincarnated
The terrace next to the restaurant, where you can have breakfast, lunch or dinner
The pool area hasn't changed very much. it used to feature on all the postcards
Our room with its French doors leading out onto its own patio
It is a bit bland, but has everything you want or need. A extra large bed, good linen, air conditioning, because you can't sleep with the French doors open. There is a small lake nearby, which is likely to breed mosquitoes. Also, impressive bedside lamps that can swing over the bed if you want to read. Coffee and tea making facilities and good shortbread biscuits. One thing we notice is that hotels have quite warm duvets and they don't provide a loose sheet under the duvet. As the weather gets warmer, one would throw off the duvet and just need to sleep under a sheet. I suppose you are supposed to turn up the air conditioning, but we hate it, as it dehydrates one badly
We were left a complimentary bottle of wine, much appreciated. There is a bar fridge under the flat screen TV, but no prices and only soft drinks and a bag of crisps. Perhaps Diners Club organised that
We could park outside the room and not have to do the long hill climb up to the reception. It's a nice peaceful room, great if you just want to chill out. There is also a golf cart service, which took us to the room. You can call it to fetch and carry you if you don't want to walk up the steps to breakfast
The restaurant menu, which we found in the hall
Down to breakfast the next morning. It is buffet style, but John was able to order a freshly made omelette. This is the cheese platter next to the cold meats and the smoked salmon
Jams, croissants, Danish pastries and a honeycomb
Lots of fresh fruit, cereals and yoghurt
And the hot breakfast is serve-yourself from the bains marie
Lynne could not resist American pancakes and crisp maple bacon, a reminder of her round the world trip in large global hotels a few years ago, where this was the constant no matter which part of the world you were in. We drank lots of black coffee
John's cheese omelette with 2 different sausages and bacon
Perhaps we should have sat outside? Time to go home after a nice event and a comfortable stay. The staff are a bit vacant and could do with a shake up and some hospitality training, but we are sure that will come
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

Wine Concepts Fire & Ice Champagne Festival

After a nap, Friday night saw us enjoying life at The Vineyard Hotel, where we enjoyed Wine Concepts’ annual salute to French Champagne. It was a busy and very social evening, with a chance to taste 18 Marques (brands) and at least two different champagnes on each stand. Many of the top names were there to enjoy. Lots of prizes were awarded to ticket holders, the band played great music and you could fantasise about driving and buying the two classic cars in the room. And The Vineyard supplied canapés throughout the evening
Managing Director of Wine Concepts, Mike Bampfield Duggan, reading out the prizes and the winning numbers
Veuve Clicquot always make a glowing show with their iconic yellow
Cocoafair had huge blocks of chocolate to taste
A classic V12 E-type Jaguar that had several of us drooling
Or a smaller, but equally enviable, MGB V8
Michelle Stewart pouring some Taittinger Rosé
Ruinart is not yet very well known in South Africa but is very good
Newly married and blissfully happy Mr & Mrs Dave Nel
Small cups of shrimp risotto topped with pea shoots
One of our favourite Champagnes; Morgan Delacloche pours a taste of Lanson Black Label
Here with Karin Visser and the Lanson rosé
Three to try at Nicolas Feuillatte. The one which wowed was the 2004 Palmes D'Or - it's the bottle with the dimples. Only R1560 a bottle. But did you know that Champagne improves with age? It so does
Sarah Revell with Renée Bampfield Duggan on the Ayala stand
Hey good looking! Tarryn Thomas with Louis Roederer and Ian Haggie with Benoit Lahaye
Or try some Jacquart in its summery “clothing”
Try the big bottle of Drappier? Roland and Jessica Peens of The Wine Cellar
Maryna Strachan of Wine Times enjoying her Champagne
Renée and Mike Bampfield Duggan at the end of a very successful Champagne Festival
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

40th Anniversary Lunch and Tasting at Meerlust

How to describe this classic Cape Dutch wine farm in the Helderberg? Owned by charming Hannes Myburgh, who prefers to keep rather a low profile, the award winning iconic wines are made by Chris Williams and shepherded into the cellar by viticulturist Roelie Joubert. Guests are shepherded to the tasting room by the ten friendly dogs, who have the most wonderful life on the farm. We were privileged to have lunch on Friday in the beautiful lived-in Manor house, which is filled to bursting with art, antiquities and curiosities. We had a marvellous Cape country lunch and a tasting of great vintages of Meerlust Cabernet and Rubicon, starting with the first ever vintage, made in 1975. And, yes, it has lasted, as we expected
We also visited the Compagniesdrift wine storage and bottling facility next door, which Is the Myburgh Family Trust Social Responsibility investment in their staff. The companies involved, MWT Investments and Faure AgriVillage, are jointly owned (50% each) by the Myburgh Family Trust and the Meerlust Empowerment Trust, which is comprised of 72 people who have long-standing relationships with the Meerlust, Vriesenhof and Ken Forrester farms in the area
Meerlust means Pleasure of the Sea. It was founded in 1693 by German immigrant Henning Huising and this national monument has been farmed by the Myburgh family since 1756The cellar was built in 1776 and was originally the estate's carriage house
Like many Cape Farms there is still a slave bell
The manor house is in the typical Gabled Cape Dutch style
The beautifully crafted front door with one of the welcoming dogs
Hannes Myburgh with his dogs. Hannes is the eighth generation Myburgh custodian of Meerlust
Catching up with the other members of the media
Then it was time for our visit to Compagniesdrift next door to the farm
The entrance belies what awaits inside, which is vast
Marketing Manager Eddie Turner introduces us to Ilse Ruthford, who is the Managing Director of Compagniesdrift, which is a Black Empowerment business funded by the Myburgh family Trust, Standard Bank and the Land Reform and Development Programme of the Dept of Land Affairs. The companies involved are jointly owned (50%) by the Myburgh Family Trust and the Meerlust Workers Trust
She explained to us what they do and how it benefits the staff who are members of the company. They have 53 wineries who store wine there, with 2.3 million bottles there currently. The facility is open to local wine producers and offers cost effective alternatives to those who do not have their own storage, bottling or labelling facilities or require transportation of their wine over long distances.
It is a modern, secure and temperature controlled facility. This is the bottling line
It is very clean and tidy
We were interested to see the wine labels of the many companies who use the facility
Bottles awaiting labelling. These are bottles of one of The Foundry wines, Chris Williams, Meerlust winemaker's own label
The vast storage area
Relabelling can also be arranged. Here, specific back labels for export destinations are applied by hand
Cases awaiting export
Going to many different countries
A smaller mobile bottling plant was in operation at Meerlust on our return. To keep the "Estate" designation, Meerlust wines are still bottled on the farm
Back to the family manor house for lunch
Comfortable sofas 
suitable for the dogs
Winemaker Chris Williams welcomes us and talks about the six wines we are about to taste and who made them. It was Hannes' father Nico Myburgh who first planted Bordeaux varieties in the late 1960's
from left to right: Meerlust Cabernet Sauvignon 1975 , Meerlust Rubicon 1987, Meerlust Cabernet 1991, Meerlust Rubicon 1991, Meerlust Cabernet 2009, Meerlust Rubicon 2009
The 1975 has lasted so well. It is silky soft on the palate with stewed plums, good soft tannins and a hint of violets and sandalwood. All the wines impressed, especially the two 1991s, and the 2009 Cabernet shone. The 2009 Rubicon is gathering its skirts for a long, long life. If you can find any, buy it to keep.
We were delighted that the previous winemaker Giorgio Dalla Cia joined us for the tasting and lunch and he gave us lots of insight into the past wines. He described the 2009 Rubicon as resembling La Tour, high praise indeed
Hannes with one of his lads
Attention! This African dog has lots and lots of personality and life
We were amused to remind Chris Williams at a few years ago he was one of the wild children in the wine world, changing wine making processes and thinking. Today its the young from the Swartland who are going in other directions and pushing the limits
Tasting, discussing, tweeting. A very gemütliche tasting and lunch
Giorgio Dalla Cia, was winemaker at Meerlust from 1978. Chris joined as a wine and viticulture graduate in 1995 and stayed for six vintages, when he left to go to Delaire for more experience. He says Giorgio was his mentor and tormentor!
He returned in 2004 to make his first vintage of the Rubicon. Chris also makes his own wine The Foundry
The line up of bottles we tasted
Time to move into the large farm kitchen for lunch
Meerlust also make a delicious wooded, buttery but crisp (4 star in Platter) Chardonnay, which we drank with lunch. They also produce a Merlot and a Pinot Noir. All the red wines get 4.5 stars in Platter this year except the 2010 Rubicon which gets 5
It was self service from the huge pots of lamb bredie on the stove
A very traditional Cape pot of sweet potatoes cooked in brown sugar. Yes, not very good for one, but absolutely delicious with meat dishes
The huge lamb and potato 'Potjie"(Trans. small pot!) Yes, almost everyone had two full plates
Love me please
Two more vintages of Rubicon were opened and served with lunch. You need to give this wine time and it is so rewarding. As close as South Africa has to a Bordeaux blend
The cooks kitchen
Hannes has his priorities right. Thank you for a marvellous experience, both wine and food. And the dogs
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015