This Week's MENU. Active Sushi, Ken Forrester, Kleinood, Banoffee Pie, Kleinood Viognier, Forrester Old Vine Chenin

Fishing on the rocks near Gansbaai, Western Cape

This is wine country and the harvest is near its end. We hear that the quality is generally good because we have had a long, cool ripening time, but we are still in the middle of a drought and the volume of the harvest is quite low. The weather experts are predicting another winter of low rainfall, so don’t think that, because the dams are at about 75% of capacity, we have enough water. Brace yourself for another season of water restrictions along with the promise of more “load-shedding” as people switch on their electric heaters. We have just ordered a truck load of firewood to fuel the little wood-burning stove which warms our house. The carbon emission from that is much less than all the partially operative power stations working with poor quality coal to try and keep up with demand for power. So do your best to conserve energy, water and all the necessary resources, but, Importantly, do your best to have fun, eat well and drink the good stuff. Enjoy the weekend, support your local wine merchant and bistro. They need you

Active Sushi supper

The need for regular intake of Sushi is compelling, so this week we tried a new place in town called Active Sushi. They must have the worst signage we have ever seen - or not seen as you can see from this photo. Yes that white haze is the name in neon. It is in a cursive script that is almost impossible to read from the street when you are driving slowly past. They are in the Portside Building, 4 Bree Street. The wind was howling and we found parking very easily at 7 pm

Tamboerskloof wines at Kleinood Wine Estate, Stellenbosch

An invitation from Kleinood Wine Estate in Stellenbosch to visit them and taste their Tamboerskloof wines was happily accepted. We arrived as asked at 11 and were boisterously greeted by three lovely, friendly Bouviers des Flandres, belonging to the owners, engineer Gerard de Villiers and his wife Libby, who is an architect. Gerard de Villiers is famous in the wine industry for the superb wineries he designs. And Kleinood is a Green farm doing everything possible to put back into the earth what they take out. Kleinood means something small and precious and this 12 hectare farm certainly is that. The story of how they do this is on line and is so worth reading….

The new Ken Forrester tasting room;

lunch at 96 Winery Road, Stellenbosch

We received an invitation to visit Ken Forrester Wines in Stellenbosch to see the new tasting facility, taste the Chenin Blancs and then have lunch at 96 Winery Road. A lovely welcome was a glass of their Sparkle Horse Chenin Blanc bubbly, poured for us by Roxanne Martin…

On the MENU This Week. Banoffee Pie

It is frustrating when, after a good restaurant meal, you simply have no room for dessert and you see one of your favourites on the menu. This happened to Lynne recently and it doesn’t happen often, as she rarely orders dessert, unless it’s an old favourite like this. We know you all do a lot of entertaining in summer, despite the hot weather. Lynne thought she would give you a simple but delicious recipe which takes very little time or effort to make, as many of the ingredients could come from your store cupboard or a quick trip to a local supermarket. Might work well at the coming public holidays. And NO, it is not slimming or Banting

MENU’s Wines of the Week. Kleinood 2018 Viognier. 
and a wine we wish you could taste is  

Ken Forrester 2007 Old Vines Chenin

The Kleinood Viognier, we think, is one of the top three wines from that varietal produced in South Africa at the moment. It is hand-picked on different dates to ensure that the wine reflects the full flavour spectrum of the grape. It is wood fermented and now has 11% Roussane added. It is full of peaches and apricots, with perfume and incense from the wood on the nose. Crisp and fruity with some complexity, the Roussanne shows as an added component and is discernible. There is just a golden touch of oak; peaches and cream remain on the palate. Delicious. Definitely a wine for spicy, complex food and with seafood. R156 per bottle or R936 per case of 6 from the estate

At Ken Forrester, we had a huge treat. A bottle of the 2007 Old Vine Reserve Chenin Blanc was opened to see how well it ages. It was very impressive; we were encouraging Shawn Mathyse, the Cellar Controller, to enter this into major competitions that have vintage awards. We wish you could taste it. It was so good. A nose of golden fruit and golden oak with hints of Riesling and some of Chardonnay. On the palate, richness in spades, truly amazing deep flavours of cooked apple and quince, long and in balance, it is so memorable. We predict it will win new awards and demonstrates how well our white wines can age. Do try the current vintage, it is also a great wine.  

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29th March 2019

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2019

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The new Ken Forrester tasting room; lunch at 96 Winery Road, Stellenbosch

We received an invitation to visit Ken Forrester Wines in Stellenbosch to see the new tasting facility, taste the Chenin Blancs and then have lunch at 96 Winery Road. A lovely welcome was a glass of their Sparkle Horse Chenin Blanc bubbly, poured for us by Roxanne Martin

It spends 9 months on the lees, 9 months in the tank, and 18 months in the bottle

and is full of crisp apple and pear flavours with a zingy mousse

The tasting room renovation is finished and we really liked the feel of the room

It is relaxing, informal and comfortable, with doors open to the outside terrace

Soft colours, lovely terrazzo tiles on the floor and a big leather sofa to collapse into

This was the old barrel cellar, but it has been repurposed to welcome you

The new barrel cellar is now next door

The first thing we spotted was barrels of wines destined to be blended into the 2019 FMC

Officially Forrester Meinert Chenin, but it also has its informal name, F'ng Marvellous Chenin

Caroline van Schalkwyk's intern Nicola, PR Consultant Caroline, Lynne and Shawn Mathyse, the Cellar Controller

We moved outside to a table on the shady terrace with lovely mountain views across the vineyards

We began with the Petit Chenin, their commercial bottling, which you will find in many supermarkets, wine shops

and on many wine lists. It is very affordable and pumps quite a bit above its station. Rounded, crisp and satisfying

A range of home made biscuits, sold in the shop. The biscuits with the herbs are made with butter and cheese

and a little flour....! OMG. Much nicer than water biscuits

Then the Ken Forrester 2017 Old Vines Reserve Chenin Blanc and a huge treat, a bottle of the 2007 to see how it ages. It was very impressive; we were encouraging Shawn to enter this into major competitions that have vintage awards. The 2017 is pale yellow with a perfume of pears; it has a crisp tingle on the tongue, hints of wood and long flavours of ripe apple and plum. The 2007 is our Vintage Wine of the Week. We wish you could taste. It was so good. A nose of golden fruit and golden oak with hints of Riesling and some of Chardonnay. On the palate, richness in spades, truly amazing deep flavours of cooked apple and quince, long and in balance, it is so memorable. We predict it will win new awards

Time to try the FMC. The 2017 has a good balance of residual sugar, balanced by fruit acidity, Incense wood, it has spent 12 months on the lees with selective pickings throughout the harvest, (7 on this particular vintage) The perfume is worthy of a dash behind one’s ears, like good Chanel. It has a lovely mouthfeel, is complex and layered with a touch of honey flavour and texture from the botrytis on the last picking. They then blend different barrels of different pickings, and different zones until they get the final perfect blend of Chenin. The 2015 has a golden nose, hints of oak, more Chardonnay than Chenin at present. It has elegance and incense wood, long deep flavours of lime, lemon and apple and just waiting to mature. A food wine for sure

The 2018 FMC (not yet bottled) is a spicy Chenin with some wood notes on the nose, ripe apples, plums, long & deep with good acidity to balance the sugars, lemon, lime and that wonderful hint of honey botrytis. Can’t wait to see how this matures

Then a preview of the Dirty Little Secret Two. Made from grapes which are sourced from very old dry land vineyards in the Piekenierskloof region, planted in 1965. This wine is a blend of grapes from 8 different vineyards and three different vintages. Made to age, a 20 year wine. So complex with cooked apples, almost a Tarte Tatin on the nose. Round and full on the palate and then an amazing fruit burst on the tongue. The acid/fruit/sugar balance is perfect. And it says loudly "Put me with food, rich, expensive food please." A WOW wine. And it will be costly, the One was around R1000 a bottle

We then were given a taste of the Roussanne 2016. Riesling-like on the nose but not terpened, with hints from wood one new barrel was used. At first, a Rock n Roll wine, a bit wild and naughty, then it turns serious and says "Pay Attention"! A lovely oak hint on the palate, with peach and pale mulberry; hints of herbs and lime. Another of Ken's food wines. Well he is a gourmet, and that is what he and we love

Next we moved to the restaurant owned by Ken and his brother Allan, 96 Winery Road, which is just down the road from the wine farm. The good news is that 96 Winery Road is one of the Winelands restaurants taking part in Restaurant Week 'Autumn Edition' 2019 (18 April - 5 May). Don’t forget to book, you will love this food

Meat being dry aged in the fridge; Wagyu prime rib on the left and Chalmar sirloin on the right

So you now know where to go for great meat in the Cape

The Menu

You can choose the tasting menu and it is very good value

The Chef's Specials of the Day

and on the table, The Barrel 2017, 100% Mourvedre made in two American oak barrels, fined with egg white, and not filtered. They bottled 170 x 1.5 litre magnums and 10 x 3 litres double magnums, one of which was served to us. Perfumed dark fruit with spice on the nose, full-on dark fruit on the palate, vanilla oak, a little chocolate, wildness, mulberries, rhubarb, cherries and good warm alcohol 14.5. So good with meat dishes and amazingly approachable for such a young red wine

The back of the bottle - story of its naissance

Freshly baked mosbolletjies with good olive oil. Perfection

The New Style Sashimi in a sweet, hot, sour Asian sauce topped with mayo, sesame seeds. spring onions and ginger

Refreshing and very good fish

You should have seen the envy in the eyes of those of us who did not order the starter of Pork Belly. Look at that crackling!

Lynne ordered the crisp Panko calamari, with cous cous and a Parmesan cream, So tender inside the crisp coating

Louw Strydom, Ken Forrester’s Commercial Manager with Allan Forrester

The Venison Carpaccio topped with rocket and Parmesan cheese

A main course of the fish of the day, which was oven baked kingklip on a bed of mixed vegetables

Lynne went against her usual choices and had the 200g Hollandse steak with a pepper cream sauce and those really irresistibly crisp chips. Cooked medium rare as ordered, it was tender and the aged beef was so impressive in flavour, as was the rich peppery sauce

Another envied dish was John's Duck and Cherry Pie, a fixture on the menu. He has been eating it for years (first at Ken’s previous restaurant Gatrile’s in Johannesburg) and he cannot resist ordering it each time we come to 96 Winery Road. The chef has changed it slightly in that now it is a stand alone pie, which resembles a wine amphora. Previously, one was served a slice from a much larger pie

The pastry is buttery, crisp and flaky and the contents just as expected, rich duck and sharp cherries

No one could manage dessert, but coffees were ordered before we departed, very replete