Antarctic exploration ship SA Agulhas 2 in the V&A
Waterfront
A week of battling a nasty co'd id de dose. Fortunately
medication kept the sense of smell working reasonably well for the affected
party; important because of the two significant wine tasting opportunities in
the diary, more about which below....
New Releases by a noble Savage-
WineMag's Signature Red Awards - Pinning down a butterfly
-
Truth Counts
-
What is on the MENU this week. Yorkshire Puddings
-
Menu's Wine of the Week. Savage White 2016
We
keep talking about rain and the scarcity of water in our blessed, beautiful
province. We are consistently using less than 3000 litres per month in our
home. It is not difficult, just be aware of what you do with water and look
after this precious resource. Don't leave the shower running while you soap,
use grey water to flush, don't run the dishwasher until it is full..... We're
in crisis. Think about it! This July, we received 56mm of rain. Last July,
177mm; July 2016, 247mm which was more typical of average Cape Town July
rainfall. So don't think that it's OK, we've had some rain. This is close to
Kalahari desert level
Duncan Savage went on his own just a year ago, when he left Cape Point Vineyards. He started making his own Savage wines a few years before, so he had a base to start with. Duncan is a Rondebosch Boys' old boy who studied wine at Elsenberg and graduated as top student in 2002. He took over as head winemaker at Cape Point in 2004 and is a peer voted member of the Cape Winemakers Guild. He won many awards for Cape Point Vineyards and his own wines have also done very well for him at the Guild Auctions. We like his wines, we like Duncan; he is straight forward and honest about what he does. So we were delighted to be invited to a trade tasting of his new releases this week. And we are really looking forward to tasting Duncan's two “Love Boat” wines, a red and a white, which he has made with Adi Badenhorst for the Guild this year
What are Signature reds as defined by the
Wine Magazine judges? A blend certainly, but not a Bordeaux blend, nor a Cape
Blend (containing Pinotage), although at least one of the winners did contain
Pinotage. The judges’ criteria are "those wines which are distinctive of
their originators and draw particular attention in the market place". They
think that "Perhaps the Rhône is a better reference point given local
growing conditions" and given the effects already being shown by global
warming and the current drought, we tend to agree
So it was with some interest and a feeling of
exploration that we attended the awards ceremony last week, which is always
followed by a tasting of the winners
So, where next to go for breakfast? Lynne
asked on a food site she belongs to on Facebook. Several suggestions popped up,
some of which we have already been to, some were out of town and some stood out,
while others did NOT. After checking on Trip Advisor and looking at the menus
on line, we settled for David Donde's Steampunk Coffee House in Buitenkant
Street in town. And we were not disappointed
No bookings allowed, it's a first come, first
served coffee house, with food. We visited a year or two ago when David
installed Colossus, his vintage Probat coffee roaster and did a media launch.
He is one of the people who has done a great deal to introduce Cape Town to the
international coffee culture. Who can remember when all you were served was a
cup of awful instant in most places? We have been meaning to return and did so
at 9 am last Saturday morning. And yes, we are coffee snobs, grinding our beans
at home
We bought some excellent fillet of beef this week,
so well hung it was almost gamey. And so before winter is out, Lynne decided to
prepare Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding on Sunday. If you can get good beef
(and afford it!), it can be a magnificent meal. She made a rich red wine jus,
duck fat potatoes and lots of vegetables. We thought you might like her
Yorkshire Pudding recipe, it has been handed down. There are many variations,
this works for us. It is quick and easy but it is also better made the day
before and kept overnight in the fridge to allow the glutens to expand
1 cup of plain flour - 3 eggs - 200 to
220 ml full fat milk - salt - a teaspoon of oil - a teaspoon of cold water, For
roasting you will need either beef dripping, duck fat or some canola oil.
Break the eggs into the flour, and stir. When it starts
to become sticky, start adding the milk, a little at a time. Make sure you
gather in all the flour from the bottom of the bowl and beat very well, so
there are no lumps. You want it the consistency of pouring cream, coating the
back of a spoon. Use more milk or another egg if you need to. Add the salt to
taste, the oil and the water. Beat well, pour into a jug and put into the
fridge overnight
We use deep muffin tins to bake them in. This
makes eight. If you have smaller pans, you will get more. Or you can make a
whole pudding but they tend to be less successful and do not rise as well
You need to turn your oven on to 220⁰C
and put a teaspoon of some dripping, duck fat or oil in the bottom of each depression.
Put muffin pan into the oven to get smoking hot, give the batter another good
stir and pour it into the tins. Put into the hot oven and bake for about 35 to
45 minutes, or until they are nicely puffed up and going golden brown on the
tops
Made by Duncan Savage. The pure white label has
the name embossed into the paper; he likes simplicity. It is a blend of 54%
Sauvignon Blanc, 29% Semillon and 17% Chenin Blanc. Limes and pineapple on the
nose, it was familiar. Duncan has always impressed us with his long lived white
wines. Crisp with limes and granadilla, William pears and some seashell
minerality. Long satisfying flavours with a lovely full mouthful from the
semillon influence. Like his previous award winning white wines, a wine that is
great now and which will reward with more time
8th August 2017
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017
Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656 4169
Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005
If you like the photographs you see in our publications, please look at our Adamastor 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 are invited or go independently, we don’t feel bad if we say we didn’t like it. Honesty is indeed our best policy. While every effort is made to avoid mistakes, we are human and they do creep in occasionally, for which we apologise. This electronic journal has been sent to you because you have personally subscribed to it or because someone you know has asked us to send it to you or forwarded it to you themselves. Addresses given to us will not be divulged to any person or organisation. We collect them only for our own promotional purposes. If you wish to be added to our mailing list, please click here to send us a message and if you wish to be removed from our mailing list, please click here to send us a message.
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