Friday, September 16, 2016

Game of Wines at The Hoghouse - A Pinot Quiz

The HogHouse in Pinelands invited us to join them and take part in this wine quiz which is held once a month. We had no idea what we were in for, drank some good wine, did extraordinarily badly at the quiz but met some great folk and had much fun. Their resident sommelier Kimi Blackadder sent us the invitation and he sets and runs the quiz. This time it was five Pinot Noirs, one Pinot Meunière and three white pinots, some local, some international. If you want to attend one of their events, check out their website http://hhbc.co.za/events/  Their next event will be Hogtoberfest on the 8th of October, which sounds like a lot of fun, given the great beers they brew and sell
It is behind security gates between Ndabeni and Pinelands, with guarded parking, very near Sunrise Circle. Lynne gets a warm welcome!
There is seating downstairs next to the kitchen
and upstairs, where we had the quiz. There were two teams on two separate long tables
Events coming soon to the HogHouse
We learned the rules from Lara. Rather confusing at first. Kimi would ask four questions about each wine and there would be an either or answer, so you always have a 50% chance of being right. Then you had to hold up a paddle (a numbered one per couple) with a black and a white side
Our neighbour was the chef from Chalk and Cork. Their paddle is on the table. They were much better than we were. The young man on the end kept the score for the table. Sadly, the other table won
The competition wines. all unidentified. The sort of question we were given was: Do you think this wine is from South Africa or Europe? Is it Italian or from Alsace? Was it fermented in wood or stainless steel? Does it have 4 g/l litre sugar or 9 g/l ?
The white wines were Pinot Gris and the reds were Pinot Noir and one Pinot Meuniere
Kimi Blackadder asking us a question
It was great fun, there is lots of interaction between people on the tables and of course we had lots of wine to sample
Um, that question obviously has us stumped
This wine was auctioned: Haarlem to Hope from B Vintners in Stellenbosch. It is a blend of 54% Chenin Blanc, 42% Semillon and 4% Muscadel, with the Chenin barrel fermented and matured for ten months in 500-liter French oak barrels. The name comes from the town from where the Dutch departed when they ventured to deepest darkest Africa in the 17th Century
There was a competition for the best team on the winning table, they won a meal for two at the HogHouse
Three of the Pinot Noirs we tasted; one, unlabelled, was specially bottled for the HogHouse. The other wines in the picture were Clos Henri Pinot noir from New Zealand and B Vintners Pinot noir from Bruwer Raats and Gavin Bruwer in Stellenbosch. All the wines were very good and well selected
 You can order food from the kitchen ( they offers a Texan-style smokehouse experience) during the competition but, thankfully, most of us decided to do so when it had finished. Barbecue meats are priced per 100 grams of cooked weight (as is the practice in Texas BBQ establishments). The meat is smoked without sauce, allowing the natural flavours of the meat to blend with the smoke from the Rooikrans wood. We could drink the rest of the wines from the competition or order more or have their excellent beers - they have six on tap and several in bottle. John had a duck leg and croquetten. These came with a cucumber relish and a green dipping sauce. http://hhbc.co.za/
Our neighbours Beverley and Francois had a burger, ribs, huge chips, scotch eggs, a toasted sandwich and a chicken dish. This is no place for vegetarians or non meat eaters!
Lynne had a pulled pork burger (the pork was a little dry) and some very charred but delicious lamb ribs. And we both wished we had ordered some of those chips. The bill for four of us came to just over R700
The Quiz over, everyone settled down to enjoying the company, the food and the wines and beers






© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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