A sunset view of Table
Mountain from the vineyards at Simonsig, Stellenbosch
A bumper issue, and regrettably late. We were all set to
send out MENU when the lights went out. A switch in the Council’s junction box
had blown and the part of our three phase connection which powers our computers
stopped working. Thankfully, we are once again empowered and here we are. We cannot
remember when last we had so many stories to tell and we have been so busy that
we have had to miss out on publishing a recipe this week; there hasn’t been any
time to cook! – and, once again, we have had to hold a couple of articles over
to next week. Thank you for your patience and we hope you’ll enjoy the stories
Cape Winemakers Guild tutored and public
tastings
This year's Cape
Winemakers Guild Auction will be held at Spier Wine Estate on Saturday 29th
September, beginning at 09h00. It is
open to the public as well as the wine industry. Further registration
information and details on their Telephonic and Proxy bidding options are
available from the Cape Winemakers Guild Office via email at
info@capewinemakersguild.com or call +27 21 852 0408. Registration for the
Auction and sales of VIP Lounge tickets will close on Wednesday, 19 September
2018. We will be there enjoying the day and perhaps making a bid or two for
these really special wines. There are some pre-auction events. Look on : http://www.capewinemakersguild.com/events. We were invited to the very prestigious VIP guided
tasting
A weekend in the Overberg
Once a year Lynne, who is the Secretary of
our wine club, the Oenophiles, arranges a weekend away in a different wine
region for members of the club. In the past we have done Paarl, Wellington,
Robertson, Botrivier and this year it was the Stanford and Southern Cape area.
Finding places with enough good accommodation is a challenge, as most of our
couples want their own room and bathroom. We would love to go to some areas but
staying together is a challenge. This year, we were a group of 16 and most of
us stayed at the Stanford Valley Guest Farm where each couple had their own
cottage, some self catering, others not. It is a vast place, with a good
restaurant and close to the town. If you want to book with them, be very
careful which booking agency you use, one of them we suspect is a fake and they
wanted full payment up front - no one else does. Book direct or use an agency
like Booking.com - we nearly got caught until Lynne became suspicious. Our cottage, with its stoep and wood pile
Tasting the wines at Newton Johnson
A stunning winter view from the Newton
Johnson Tasting room overlooking their vineyards as the stormy weather comes
in. We had stayed the night in the
valley, as we had a media event at Benguela Cove starting at 11 and had some
spare time before that - and it was very cold in the cottage we borrowed from
dear friends. A grey and wet day….
A day at Benguela Cove
A media invitation to visit and experience
what Benguela Cove has to offer the travel industry. We were last there a year
ago and we cannot believe how much this estate has grown in infrastructure and
buildings. A new tasting area, a large restaurant, a shop and a new state of
the art cellar have gone up since we visited. Read on…
Vinimark Trade & Media Wine Fair
2018
We were invited to
the Vinimark trade tasting at the CTICC this year but arrived very late as we
had come home to discover we had been burgled the previous day. We had spent
the day waiting for the police and got there very late and rather stressed.
Vinimark director Ginette de Fleuriot gave us a glass of Bolly as a rescue
remedy. It was a very well attended tasting…
Dinner at Coco Safar, Sea Point
We wrote recently about being invited to
breakfast at Coco Safar restaurant in the renamed Adelphi Centre in Sea Point.
Why the new owners of the centre have chosen to rename a building which has
been a landmark in Sea Point for more than 50 years is baffling. Most people we
know continue to call it the Adelphi. This week, we were invited to have dinner
there. Coco Safar takes up a lot of space - most of the front foyer of the
mall, and it is detached from itself, being in three different areas. So to get
to Clicks or the car parking upstairs, you walk between the restaurant and the
bar and then walk up the broken escalator - we have been told for several
months that it is being replaced by the centre management. To get to Pick n
Pay, you walk between the bar and the coffee roastery. The restaurant entrance…
Simonsig Vintage Day preview
Once a year, in the late winter, Simonsig
in Stellenbosch holds a Vintage Day on a Saturday when they allow customers to
come and taste and buy some older vintages. We felt very privileged when we
were invited to the Preview on the Friday before the public event. Greeted by their Kaapse Vonkel…
A lovely overnight stay at Jordan
We
were invited to attend the Young Wine Awards in Stellenbosch last Saturday, a
black tie event, and when Thea van der Merwe, Jordan’s Marketing Manager, heard
that we were going to book accommodation for an overnight stay, she insisted
that we should stay at Jordan in one of their Suites. We hate going to a late
wine event in the winelands and driving back to Cape Town, so we are very grateful…
MENU's Wine of the Week. Raka Rosé 2017
Raka on the Stanford wine route makes a
very good Rosé wine from Merlot, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc. It
is summer in a bottle, with notes of rhubarb and roses with some strawberry on
the nose. Almost a light red wine on the palate, with raspberries and rhubarb,
it reminds Lynne of Tavel Rosé from the Southern Rhône valley, and that is a
compliment
24th August 2018
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2018
Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656 4169
Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005
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
We
were invited to attend the Young Wine Awards in Stellenbosch last Saturday, a
black tie event, and when Thea van der Merwe, Jordan’s Marketing Manager, heard
that we were going to book accommodation for an overnight stay, she insisted
that we should stay at Jordan in one of their Suites. We hate going to a late
wine event in the winelands and driving back to Cape Town, so we are very grateful…
Raka on the Stanford wine route makes a
very good Rosé wine from Merlot, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc. It
is summer in a bottle, with notes of rhubarb and roses with some strawberry on
the nose. Almost a light red wine on the palate, with raspberries and rhubarb,
it reminds Lynne of Tavel Rosé from the Southern Rhône valley, and that is a
compliment
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