Ducks on the dam at Waterford Wine Estate,
Stellenbosch
Last
week was extremely busy, as you will see below, and we faced a few challenges.
We still don't have our car back, it's been more than a month but are eternally
grateful for friends Pamela and James who have lent us a car while James is
travelling. The rand is again in freefall due to bad judgement and management by
our Government and we see inflation knocking at the door, with recession
threatening soon after, if something is not done to stem the flow. Lynne popped
into Shoprite this week to buy two things: 500 g of ordinary local butter and
3 cloves of garlic. She came out reeling, they cost R75. So if you add a
good loaf of bread, garlic bread for dinner will now cost you R100. WHAT! Garlic
bread a luxury? We will be planting some garlic this week. Now, are milk cows
allowed in city gardens?
Last
week was extremely busy, as you will see below, and we faced a few challenges.
We still don't have our car back, it's been more than a month but are eternally
grateful for friends Pamela and James who have lent us a car while James is
travelling. The rand is again in freefall due to bad judgement and management by
our Government and we see inflation knocking at the door, with recession
threatening soon after, if something is not done to stem the flow. Lynne popped
into Shoprite this week to buy two things : 500 g of ordinary local butter and
3 cloves of garlic. She came out reeling, they cost R75 rand. So if you add a
good loaf of bread, garlic bread for dinner will now cost you R100. WHAT! Garlic
bread a luxury? We will be planting some garlic this week. Now, are milk cows
allowed in city gardens?
2016 Cape Winemakers Guild tutored tasting and Auction
Showcase This is, without doubt, always our best
wine tasting experience of the year. We had the opportunity to taste 38 of the
54 Guild 2016 Auction wines and one brandy, at speed, hear what each winemaker
has to say about the wine he or she is entering in the auction, make notes,
empty a glass for the next wine and move on quickly. Some winemakers are great
and talk up their wines giving the tasters time to do all the above. Others
just say the name of their wines and move off at speed, which adds to the
frisson of the event, but leaves us breathless
The
wines are extraordinary. If you love and buy wine, register now to attend this
year's auction which will be on the 1st of October at Spier. It is open to the
public. Registration for the Auction and sales of VIP Lounge tickets will close
on Wednesday, 16 September 2016. Contact CWG for details. http://www.capewinemakersguild.com/auction
We will see you there
Bottling the Vineyard Hotel wines and tasting four
vintages with lunch at Waterford
This year, we were also invited to Waterford wine estate for a tasting
of the last four years of the wines that have been made. Waterford, who are one
of the four wine farms which sponsor a row of vines, vinified the 2015 vintage.
We were to taste the wines and have lunch together
Pruning the vines at the Vineyard Hotel Once a year, we are invited by the
management of The Vineyard Hotel to join them and help prune the vines in the
small vineyard on the side of the Liesbeek river in the gardens of the hotel.
They have, kindly, made us custodians of one vine. As some of the other people
who have been granted a vine are unable to come, we often find that we do a
good part of a row, which we enjoy immensely
It
is great to be taught a little more technique on pruning methods each year by a
different winemaker or viticulturist ,although some do differ widely in their
methods. Last year, after we had pruned, one the viticulturists came and did a
really hard prune back which may have resulted in the smaller crop in 2016.
This year, we were told that the intention was to be not quite so rigorous
The South African Young Wine Awards at The CTICC Why do we love going to this awards
presentation? It's not really to taste the young wines; they are still very
young and need to develop their spurs but at these occasions we get to meet the
young winemakers who are involved in making these wines and they are the future
of the wine industry.
A birthday breakfast at Smak We don't often get out for breakfast, much
as we would like to. Mornings at home are precious, especially after a long
week of work, and some late nights. But last week a dear friend had a birthday
and we decided to take her out for breakfast to celebrate. She chose to
introduce us her favourite breakfast restaurant, SMAK in Bree Street. A first
for us; she and her husband have grown fond of this newish venue, opened by two
young entrepreneurial chefs Devin Hogan and Katia Scherf in February 2016
They
bill themselves as a delicatessen, patisserie, restaurant and coffee bar. It’s
light, modern and open six days a week for breakfasts and lunch and take-aways.
They are closed on Sundays
Chenin Blanc Top Ten Challenge Awards at Delaire Graff This annual awards ceremony was held at
Delaire Graff this year. We always know that we are going to taste some amazing
Chenins with lunch and what a good lunch it was. If you want to see who is in
the top 10 this year, click on this link www.chenin.co.za. This is the third
year in which the awards have been held and seven of this year's winners have
previously been winners, showing how consistent some of these farms are at
producing superb Chenin Blanc
Vinimark Trade Tasting Back in the Ballroom at the CTICC for the
third time in a week, this huge trade tasting is overwhelming in its depth,
variety and scope of the wines available to taste. There is no way you can
consciously even contemplate tasting all of the wines, we usually manage a wine
or two at about a third to half of the farms. And it is a very social evening
as they also invite some of their customers and we know many of them.
This
gentle fruity Pinot has evolved into one of the most delicious Pinot Noirs
currently available. It was the talk of two recent trade wine tastings we
attended and we so agree. It is Cathy in a glass, friendly, complex, strong,
independent but wonderfully feminine. Drink now or squirrel away for special
occasions. About R210 at good wine outlets. or direct from Cathy http://cmwines.co.za/range/
Yes,
we are serious.
2
cups (500 ml ) double cream will make one cup of butter, leaving you with 1 cup
of buttermilk. You need cream with a butterfat of at least 35 %. Chill a sieve
in the fridge.
Put
the cream into a food processor and blend. You need to continue until you have
overbeaten the cream and keep going. The cream will start to clump and give off
some liquid. That's the buttermilk. When the cream clumps together in one mass,
turn off the processor and using the cold sieve drain off the liquid. Keep it,
you can use buttermilk in your cooking. What remains in butter.
Now
wash the butter in cold water until it runs clear. Transfer it from the sieve
into a bowl and using cold hands (run them under a cold tap) or a spatula,
knead it to remove any water. Pour that off and add a little salt, this helps
to preserve the butter. You only need about a quarter to half a teaspoon,
according to your taste. Form into a roll and wrap in parchment paper. Store in
the fridge. You can of course add flavours like herbs, paprika, garlic or lemon
if serving with food or bread.
1st September
2016
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.
If you like the photographs you see in our
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Photo website for our rate card and samples
from our portfolio
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
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