The One&Only Hotel is running The Chef and The Vine Dinner Experiences in Reuben’s Restaurant on the last Thursday of every month until the end of November. We were invited to join them for the Warwick dinner last week. Next month's event will feature Hamilton Russell, so book soon if you are interested. R625 a person. This event was extremely successful with 111 guests for dinner
We met JD Pretorius the winemaker and Tom Orpen Warwick's Marketing Manager in the bar area,
here they welcomed us with a glass of their First Lady Dry Rosé or a glass of Zari non alcoholic fizz
JD with his wife Charlotte and Spencer Fondaumiere, Regional Sales Manager at Warwick Wine Estate
The Rosé has just a light blush and is made from Pinotage
It has light soft fruit, more Grenache like than heady Pinotage on the nose. Cherry fruit, crisp and ziingy and very refreshing
Stays on the palate with good fruit, and great with the food. It has just been released and is R80 on the farm
Some canapés were served: a round of melon topped with mozzarella, rocket and Parma ham
For the vegetarian, an option sans the prosciutto
Lots of glasses at each table setting
The 5 course dinner menu showed the wines paired with each course
The first wine was the Warwick 2016 The White Lady Chardonnay, priced at R85
A classic wooded chardonnay with golden apple fruit and some brioche
Smooth in texture, a lovely zing of apple acidity followed by limes and soft oak on the end
Very satisfying and a good match with the salmon course
A warm mini loaf for four was served with a flavoured butter
The starter, a perfectly seared piece of salmon in a cold yuzu dashi broth, with pickled cucumber, a cucumber gel
and, an inspired pairing with the wine, pieces of fresh mango, grilled
We have no idea where they sourced the out of season mango, but it lit up this dish and the wine
Sadly, there was no spoon on the table for us to drink the broth
Chef Reuben Riffel came out and told us about the restaurant and the menu and the pairing
A rapt audience
At the dinner, we were given a preview of the yet to be released 2018 Professor Black
which, conversely, is a white blend of 61% Sauvignon Blanc and 39% Semillon
The wine is crisp, full on the palate, rounded in the mouth, then a sparkly tingle on the tongue
A classic of its genre. The grapes are from cool climate Darling (Sauvignon Blanc) and Elgin (Semillon)
It will be sold for approximately R350 on the farm. It is our Wine of the Week
It certainly coped well with the rice dish served next. A 'risotto' of rice, peas and very spicy chorizo, topped with crisp pancetta
and grana padano cheese shavings. Served on a swipe of pea purée. More of the creamy purée would have been good
The wine with the Main course was the 2012 Warwick Trilogy,
a classic 'Bordeaux' Blend of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon, 34% Cabernet Franc and 14% Merlot
The wine has pure cassis on the nose with incense wood and violets and rich berry fruit on palate, cassis, plums
Some dry tannins, and coffee mocha wood. The wine is still youthful and has great aging potential
Served with a deconstructed Beef Wellington. So a pastry curl topped a very rare Springbok loin, with dots of mushroom duxelle
Served on top of baby vegetables, nice and al dente, in a rather thin but flavourful black cherry and red wine jus
Sommelier Luvo Ntezo amused us when talking about the pairings and how they had got to them
He also told us that the next Chef and The Vine dinner will pair Hamilton Russell wines with Reuben's food
It will be on Thursday, July 25th. Book now
Thank you Luvo for a very entertaining evening and a good dinner with excellent wine pairings
Warwick winemaker JD Pretorius then told us about the Cabernet Franc, which was the final pairing with dessert
Warwick does not (yet?!) have a dessert wine and they thought this pairing would work well with the tea, nuts and chocolate
Hotel Sommelier Pearl Oliver
Spencer Fondaumiere gave Chef Roryck Erasmus a presentation box of Warwick Trilogy to thank him for the meal
One of the very well trained staff pouring us the 2014 Cabernet Franc from a magnum
Its earthy minerality, black cherry and berry fruit and coffee chocolate mocha flavours abound with freshness and juiciness
The 2015 won Best Cabernet Franc at the 2018 Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show
The dessert it was paired with was a green tea pannacotta, beautifully wobbly and set on a base of pistachio crumble,
served with chocolate ganache darts, a green tea microwave sponge and dots of chocolate mousse
The One and Only has a respectable wine selection, stored perfectly in this temperature controlled wall of wine
It is a large restaurant
And, outside on the canal, we found a chilly wet evening. We are in mid winter and the rain is very welcome
It is a very cold and damp Cape winter this year, hurray. Good for the vines and good for filling the dams
All content © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus
Just a heads up that the White Lady Chardonnay is around R350 a bottle. The First Lady is around R80.
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