Friday, November 16, 2018

This Week’s MENU. Keermont Single Vineyard wines, 2019 Platter's South African Wine Guide, Paserene, Franschhoek, De Wetshof Celebration of Chardonnay, Almond Marzipan, Strandveld Adamastor White Blend

A flight of blue cranes, near Bredasdorp, Southern Cape
The buzz continues. Robertson twice in a week. Last week, we told you about our time at Wine on the River and our visits to some wine estates. This week, we were back for De Wetshof’s Celebration of Chardonnay, one of those “Don’t Miss It” events of the year. Plus the full story of the Platter launch and some other events you can look at, below this. Pressure of time has meant that, yet again, we’ve held some over till next week.

An invitation last week to visit Keermont owner Mark Wraith's Cape Town offices in Kloof Street to taste the new release of the Single Vineyard Series. We used to sell these wines in our shop, so we know the quality they produce on the farm in the high Helderberg mountains…
The 2019 Platter Wine Guide by Diners Club was released last week at the Table Bay Hotel. There is always great excitement in the wine trade when this occurs with producers hoping that a wine has been awarded 5 stars. We love going to the presentation; there is so much energy and joy in the room…
We were invited by PRO Caroline van Schalkwyk to visit Paserene wine farm in Franschhoek. Owned by Cellarmaster Viticulturist Martin Smith and his business partner Ndube Mareda, who say that their aim is to produce world-class wines with creativity and passion. They are close friends. And, at Paserene, there is Martin's passion for making the wine. A passerine is any bird of the order Passeriformes, the order of "travelling and free" birds which includes swifts and swallows. it gets its name from the Latin passer, which refers to sparrows and similar small birds…
This celebration is held every two years at De Wetshof in Robertson and it is one of those events to which members of the industry fervently hope to receive an invitation. There is certainly a lot of celebration in our house. This year, De Wetshof paid homage to icons and legends. We tasted the wines made by the people who have played leading rôles in pushing Chardonnay forward as a serious South African wine varietal, both locally and internationally. Chardonnay was only established here just four decades ago and it has certainly garnered a reputation for excellence in that short time…

If you are making Christmas cakes you might want to know how to make proper Marzipan. No cooking required and it makes all the difference to that awful bought stuff that puts children off until they are 40! And now that ground almonds are so popular because of Banting, they are no longer difficult to find…
Our Wine of the Week was tasted at the Elim Wine festival and has since won another award. You will read about both of these events next week. From Strandveld Winery in Elim, it is a good blend of Sauvignon and Semillon grapes…

16th November 2018


© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2018
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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 our website and ancillary works are © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus. Our restaurant reviews are often 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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