Top Veritas wines
are hard to come by, unless you are determined and buy them immediately after
the awards (which are held in September each year), when 1600 bottles of each
must be available to the public. Veritas is the oldest wine competition in
South Africa. Last week we were invited by Veritas vice-chairperson and Cape
Wine Master, Bennie Howard to taste some of these wines, perfectly aged, at a
dinner where they were paired with food produced by Executive Chef Henrico
Grobbelaar, who has moved to the Cullinan from the 12 Apostles Hotel. It was an
excellent dinner. If this is an example of the food that Chef Henrico is going
to produce here, future customers are going to be excited and well fed. The
Peach Tree restaurant, where the dinner took place, is about to receive a
makeover. We think it is overdue as the restaurant is rather gloomy and dark
and needs modernising
Bennie
Howard meeting and greeting the guests at our table
We started the dinner with a
glass of JC Le Roux Scintilla Vintage Reserve MCC 2009
The menu
The
first course of black mussels, prawn, tofu, corn, sesame oil and wakame seaweed
...
...
was then enhanced by a warm broth of smoked snoek Dashi which transformed the
dish into a taste of the ocean. Quite beautiful. The wine served with this dish
was one of our favourites, the always popular De Wetshof Limestone Hill 2013
Chardonnay, a perfect match
The
second course was inspired and Lynne wants to copy this at home soon. A
parmesan panna cotta, custard, soft cheesy cream topped with a thin roll of shaved
courgette filled with charred broccoli, dressed with a lemon oil and Anchoïade -
an umami sauce made of anchovies, garlic, olive oil, black pepper and vinegar.
All these flavours went so well with the Darling Cellars Premium 2015 Sauvignon
Blanc
Benny Howard having fun at the dinner
Time
for a palate cleanser, which was called Cider Waldorf. A grainy and quite sweet
apple sorbet on a fresh apple slice, sprinkled with walnut and celery pieces,
topped off with a crisp slice of dehydrated apple. Also on the plate were a
couple of semi-dehydrated grapes with a flavour somewhere between air dried
olive and balsamic vinegar - very good
Regional
Sommelier for Southern Sun, Georgio Meletio, really looked after us
On
to the main course:
Bennie
Howard CWM making his speech, telling us about the wine and food pairings
Pouring
the red wine that was paired with the main course, Anura's LB 2014 Cape Cuvée, a
blend of Pinotage, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Shiraz. It was full of mulberries
and spice
One
of the guests (and one of our friends), insurance guru Dion Oliver with a guest at our table
The
main course of very tender, perfectly cooked Springbok loin on a porcini velouté,
buckwheat, tahini and vanilla butternut puree, with a pear gastrique. Loved the
pear with the springbok. We don't like vanilla with meat. The other wine served
with this course was Simonsig Merindol 2012 Syrah. Soft and silky, this is a
cassis fruit bomb with long flavours and lots of warm spice, we loved it
The
red wine line up
Waiting
in its bath, the most coveted wine of the evening, Nederburg's Private Bin
Edelkeur 2013 Chenin Blanc NLH and wow, did this go with the sweet and sticky
dessert
Executive
Chef Henrico Grobbelaar
Guests
enjoying the dinner
Georgio
and Benny catching up
It
may look and sound a bit simple but it was one of the best desserts we have had
in the last year. Essentially a deconstructed banana split (and who doesn't
have wonderful childhood memories of them?) Caramelised fresh banana, a banana
milk foam made, the chef told us, with the ripe banana skins as aroma, a creamy
and delicious salted toffee ice cream, dots of sticky caramel, sprinkles of macadamia
nuts for texture and richness and TA DA! topped with a slice of crisp dried
banana "bacon". YUM
The
entire staff came out for thanks and applause. We thought they were excellent.
The serving staff were responsive, happy and smiling and so well trained. And
this is not a regular experience for us
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus
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