Thursday, March 19, 2020

This Week’s MENU. Klein Constantia, Yu Asian restaurant, Mac n Cheese, Groote Post Old Man’s Blend

Sunset Storm Tanker
A tanker lying off Mouille Point in Cape Town at sunset with smoke clouds from a Table Mountain fire during a gale

This may well be our last post for a while. South Africa has shut down because of Covid-9 virus and all our upcoming events are postponed or cancelled. In addition to all the embargoes which have been decreed, a Dutch tourist who spent three weeks touring the wine country in a large group tested positive for the virus on his return home. He had been in close contact with many people who work on wine estates and all those estates are now quarantined. This has further compromised our activities. We will keep our wits open looking for stories to tell you, but the times are uncertain. Please be patient!

It never rains but it pours. On our way back from Klein Constantia last week; we called in at Wade Bales warehouse/ They had suffered a devastating fire and a huge number of bottles of good wine was ruined. He is in our thoughts and, as former retailers, we feel for him

And our thoughts go out to all of you, here and all around the world, keeping yourself away from this horrible virus. May you all be well and safe.  South Africa will rise from this crisis and we hope to see many of you in the future when it has been defeated


We were invited by the Constantia Wine Route to choose a wine farm and winemaker with whom we could spend two hours for a brief harvest experience on the farm. This was followed by a harvest lunch with all the winemakers and some other media people at Nova Zonnestraal, the newest kid on the country's oldest winemaking block. An offer like this was hard to refuse. We chose Klein Constantia, a farm with which we have had a long history, but had not visited for a while. Arriving at 10 am, we were met by winemaker Matthew Day. Read on…


A message from a friend whom Lynne has known since they were six, wishing us a Happy 17th Wedding Anniversary made us realise we had both completely forgotten about it. Embarrassing, but we did have a giggle and had to rush off to find our marriage certificate to check the date. And we always celebrate with a meal at an interesting restaurant. Lynne had read good things about Yu which is in the Heerengracht and is part of the Onyx hotel. It serves Asian food and much of it Dim Sum, which we love, so we decided to try it for lunch. Read on…


As we are at home sheltering, we are using lots of ingredients from our stock cupboard. And we do feel the need for some comfort food occasionally in these trying times. We have shared this before but thought you might like to try this again. Don’t make it in advance; it does go a bit soggy but, fresh from the oven, it is completely delicious. And for those of us with milk allergies or intolerance, the lactose free milk from Woolworths or Checkers works so well. You also need your greens so do make this with a good very mixed salad to get those vitamins. We had it with a good, rich and juicy red wine. See our Wine of the Week. Read on…

This is the “every day” red blend in the Groote Post range, made for early, casual enjoyment. In Afrikaans, a “lekker kuier wyn”. The sort of wine you can enjoy with friends, watching the sunset from your stoep. It’s also a great wine to enjoy with this week’s recipe, a delicious macaroni cheese

A Merlot led blend with Cabernet sauvignon, Cabernet franc and Shiraz; it is complex on the nose and palate, showing black cherry first on the nose, followed by licorice, chocolate, coffee mocha and dark cherry fruit. Very quaffable, easy to drink and a good food companion. R69 at Get Wine

19th March 2020
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