Monday, July 22, 2019

This Week’s MENU. Tops at Spar Wine Show. A weekend in the Riebeeck Valley, Meerhof Cabernet, Hungarian Chicken Paprikash

A misty winter morning landscape in the Riebeeck Valley

We are not young, physically, and we sometimes regret the loss of agility which we had in our youth. But there are compensations. We have learned many lessons which help us to avoid some of the pitfalls which life throws across our path, not that we always take note. But we do believe that age is an attitude and we have just had a weekend away which told us that we are right. We are members of a wine club. It is, possibly, the oldest extant wine club in Cape Town, and some of our members can remember its earliest days, when it was Men Only, and the dress code was jackets and ties. Fortunately, time has moved on from there; several of our members are women and we no longer insist, or even wear, ties. Each year Lynne organises a weekend away to one of our wine producing areas. We all love good wine and food and we all have a spirit of adventure. Above all, we love to get out and have fun. This week, we share our latest adventure with you and encourage you to visit places like those we have visited and enjoy them…

 But first ...
An invitation to attend the Annual Tops at Spar Wine Festival, held at the GrandWest Casino in Goodwood, was tempting. We set out at 4 to get there for the opening on Thursday and, sadly, the Cape Town traffic had us crawling very slowly and we only got there at just before 6. The 650 metres from Strand Street to the flyover took us more than half an hour due to gridlock. It is a daunting challenge to get to any event that requires central city and motorway driving nowadays to get out of town in the late afternoon and early evening…
A Riebeeck Valley weekend
Once a year, Lynne organises a trip for our wine club to a different wine district. The criteria are always the same. The accommodation must all be together, couples and singles want their own rooms en suite but it must not be too costly. This sadly cuts out several wine areas where the accommodation is sparse. There must be good wine farms and restaurants in the area and the hotel needs to offer us a good breakfast. We have been to Wellington, Robertson, Botrivier and Paarl in recent years and this year we were headed to Riebeek West and Riebeek Kasteel...
An icy morning mist kissed the whole valley on Saturday morning as we headed to our first wine tasting appointment at Allesverloren (tr. All is lost). Behind the far mountain is the Tulbagh valley, another wine area we want to visit. Amanda was waiting for us and had chairs and a table arranged in a horseshoe on the tasting room terrace…
We met Meerhof Cellarmaster Jaco Brand at the Tops at Spar wine show last week and he invited us to bring our wine club to the farm for a tasting while we were in the Riebeek area. One of the inducements was that the farm, besides having very good wines, has the best views in the valley. Meerhof was bought by Koos van Rensburg and his son Erik four years ago…
Wine farms close early on Saturdays in the Riebeek valley, so we had not made any appointments for the afternoon. We had made a booking for lunch at Bayleaf and Thyme which is in the main square in Riebeek Kasteel, but were a bit late from our superb tasting at Meerhof, which went on till nearly 2. But we phoned and the restaurant was fine with our coming late. It was actually too warm to sit at the table they had kept for us on the sunny porch, so we headed under shade…
5. Pulpit Rock
Sunday morning dawned sunny but icy cold. After breakfast we all checked out of the hotel and some of us headed to Pulpit Rock winery, which IS open on Sundays although not many people were there that day. It is just a very short distance down the road out of Riebeek West in the direction of Morreesburg with seating outside on the terrace and inside. They also have a restaurant below, but it was not open on Sunday…

made by Cellarmaster Jaco Brand. This classic Cabernet blew us away with its quality and fruit. Cassis fruit with some spice on the nose. 50/50 French and American oak has been used which adds complexity. It is a beautiful, cassis driven wine, layered with good black currant berry fruit, lovely soft tannins, and the fruit returns for a long end. We bought six immediately
One to watch, we think it is good enough to win major awards, a bargain at R95 on the farm. Do go and taste if you are in the area

This traditional Hungarian dish is just right for the cold days of winter when you want something that is uncomplicated and delicious. If you can find Hungarian paprika, that would be superb. But if it is not readily available, use a good, reputable local paprika…



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Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656 4169
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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.

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