Thursday, June 07, 2018

This Week’s MENU. Old Mutual Trophy; Shiraz SA Awards; Tasting competition; Alentejo Adega; Seville; Boerewors Casserole; First Sighting Sauvignon


A Flamenco whirl of colour, swirling flounces and pretty ladies
This has been a week of wine awards and wine tasting, but we have a bit of relief for you if you aren’t a wine enthusiast. One of our Iberian stories is about a Portuguese winery, but we are sure that you’ll enjoy our story about our time in Seville. Click on the links to open the stories
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The Old Mutual Trophy Awards lunch   
Time to hear who the winners are this year at the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Awards. Held this year at the Mount Nelson Hotel over lunch, there were some nice surprises and a few foregone conclusions, knowing the quality of the producers. Janice Fridjhon and Taryn Vincent of Outsorceress Marketing are who organise these events so ably. The public tasting will be held at the CTICC on June 13th See the winners and the lunch here
Shiraz SA Awards   
We are great fans of good South African Shiraz; we believe that this cultivar is well suited to our climate and terroir. This year's Awards ceremony was held over lunch at Rhebokskloof wine estate in Paarl and we were able to taste the top 25 and ten blends before the awards. A total of 192 wines (36 blends and 156 single varietal wines) from every wine making region was submitted this year.
Shiraz, or Syrah to give it its other name (there is no difference in the wine, just a nod to whether it is in a certain Northern or a Southern Rhône style), can be made in many different styles. Do we make Syrah? Some think we are just being pretentious. Can you charge more if it’s called by a French name?  We should make Shiraz in the many South African styles, and how closely those can and should resemble styles from France, Australia, California, South America, Italy, sunny Spain or even chilly New Zealand – or any other areas that grow this grape - is up for a long debate. Photographs and more here…
Wine Tasting for the Championship team at The Taj, Cape Town   
This interesting wine tasting competition has the wine industry abuzz each year and lots of wine people rush to enter so that they can show off their tasting skills. Why? Because, if you are one of the winners, you get a trip to the International Championship which is held overseas and the trip is phenomenal. Not only do you compete, but you get to visit various wine areas and are hosted. You will taste amazing wines and meet important people in the international wine industry. And all you have to do to win is know which wines you are tasting. Easier said than done.
Because John was guiding a wine tour that morning, we were a little late in arriving.  What happens is that there is a wine tasting in one room and you need to taste everything and remember what you tasted. Then you go into the competition room where you taste five white wines and five red wines, blind, and you have to identify them. Name the varietals and the farms they are from, their vintages and other information that is required. And answer some industry questions. Easy!
MENU's Iberian Exploit 7. The Jose de Sousa Winery in Reguengos de Monsaraz, Alentejo   
The journey continues South and East, to Alentejo and then across the border into Spain. Europe had had a really appalling Spring this year and it looks like the bad weather is continuing into their summer as well. The windscreen wipers just could not keep up…..

MENU's Iberian Exploit 8. Three days in Seville   
Ole! Time to cross the border into sunny Spain. Well, not actually because, once again, it was raining. The border country is so beautiful on both sides, grassy meadows under cork oaks or olive trees, with sheep or those famous black pigs which produce that wonderful Iberico ham, cropping the green grass beneath the trees. And then the castles....
What’s on the Menu this week. A Potjie!  
(For our foreign readers it’s a casserole cooked on an open fire in a metal three legged pot, but you can just cook it in a good heavy metal and enamel pot on your hob)
Quick and simple, especially if you are not feeling so well but need to produce a filling and good supper. And if you buy those packs of ready prepared potjie vegetables, all you have to do is tip them in. You can use any vegetables you like in a casserole. Open the Farm Boerewors Casserole recipe here

MENU's Wine of the Week. First Sighting Sauvignon blanc 2017   
Served at the 2018 Shiraz SA Awards lunch at Rhebokskloof, Strandveld Vineyards First Sighting Sauvignon Blanc 2017 was awarded a Platinum medal and scored 97 points at the Decanter World Wine Awards on 29th May 2018. Only 149 Platinum medals were awarded this year of which 5 went to South African wines

7th June 2018


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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017
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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

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