We were invited to a pairing of Haskell wines with lunch at La Mouette. A summer
lunch with great wines, which were very skilfully paired with the food
La Mouette (the Seagull) on a
sunny midday. It is on Regent Road in Sea Point
We were taken upstairs for this
event. We began with a glass of their Dombeya range’s excellent Chardonnay; buttery
citrus, with depth and long fruit
Canapés served were a tuna
tartare on a rye taco and the famous La Mouette Truffle croquette
PRO Nicolette Waterford and
Greg Landman having a quick hug and gossip
A happy Dr Winnie Bowman CWM
Time to start lunch and taste
the wine with the food
Writer Malu Lambert with Winnie
Bowman
Haskell CEO Grant Dodd tells us
about the Haskell wines to be paired with lunch
The menu
La Mouette is owned by Chef Henry
Vigar and his wife Mari. Henry explained the menu. We have great respect for
them. You may not know that they were the highest earners for StreetSmart SA www.streetsmartsa.org.za last year. How
do they do it? Yes, they are very popular and have very generous customers who
do not mind them adding R5 to every bill. But Lynne learned from Mari that she very
generously adds another R5 to each donation. Well done!
Art on the wall - some old
restaurant order slips!
The first wine is the Anvil
2015 Chardonnay. All Haskell wines served were single vineyard varietals. Full
on the nose, with minerality and butter, elegantly full on the palate, citrus
clean with wet stone minerality and a dry finish. Made to last and it will.
French Burgundy in style, some malolactic character and 50% new oak
Service which was efficient and
quick, begins
Winemaker Rianie Strydom tells
us about the wine
Scribes tasting and writing
First course to pair with the
Anvil were two Fontina filled raviolis with a tomato truffle dressing and crisp
parmesan crumb. The creaminess of the rich Fontina cheese which made the wine
taste richer and creamier and the crisp stony taste & texture of the
parmesan crumbs made the pairing work so well
Three Shirazes followed. With
the second course the Haskell Hades 2014. The rocky vineyard is hell to farm on,
hence the name, but produces very rewarding wines. Wine is all about structure
and flavour said Len Evans, the famous Australian wine maker. It has a blockbuster
nose, spicy with mulberries, white pepper and a slight lactic note. On the
palate it's a kick of spicy fruit and acid with cheeky tannins. Mulberries,
plums and Rhubarb with Masala spices, long flavours ending in ground black
pepper and coffee
Hades was paired with a Chalmar
sirloin, tender and pink to perfection with crisp coated bone marrow, a creamy
cauliflower puree, confit red onions
and a café
au lait sauce
with a dusting of black pepper
We all had lots of catching up
to do after the long summer break
Caught by surprise. Philip van
Zyl Editor of the John Platter Guide.
Rianie talking to Christine
Rudman and Wade Bales
Discussing the finer points? Richard Holmes, Chris von Ulmenstein and Fiona McDonald
The fourth wine was the Haskell
Pillars 2013 Syrah, herbal on the nose and palate, with hot spices and lovely
rich red berry fruit. This was paired
with a roasted loin of lamb with a rich aubergine puree, salsa verde that so
echoed the herbs in the wine, good supporting potato gnocchi and house-made
ricotta. Here is broadcaster Guy MacDonald enjoying the pairing. We were also
given the 2007 to taste. Identifiably the same wine, but it was richer and
deeper on the nose, redolent with spices, it powered down in the glass over
time
The final wine was the Haskell
Aeon 2013 Syrah, full of stony minerality and incense wood on the nose, rather
cellar like too. Minty, with rich soft plum sweetness, the layers 'ping' on the
palate as they develop. Chef Henri really depicted the
wine on the plate of the last course. Roasted plums with a plum puree, a filo
crisp and a port reduction with an Aged Dalewood Superlatif Brie. They sang in
chorus together
Alan Mullins of Woolworths
chats to Haskell winemaker Rianie Strydom
Clifford Roberts enjoying a
last wine
Christian Eedes of winemag.co.za
asking some questions
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017
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