42nd Blaauwklippen Blending Competition prizewinners' lunch

An invitation to meet the top four competing wine clubs and taste the winning blend with lunch

Pouring a welcoming glass of Brut Cap Classique

As our welcoming drink, we chose the Cap Classique

Canapés while we waited for all to assemble included mini Caprese on sticks

Chatting to MC Guy McDonald, Wine.co.za owner Judy Brower and winemaker Alastair Rimmer

He and Guy were two of the judges of the competition. The others were Clive Torr and Marius Lategan

Very good bobotie spring rolls and chicken brochettes with a yogurt dip

Competitors, guests and media arrived

Judge and wine expert Cape Wine Master Clive Torr chatting with some of the competitors

The 2023 Blaauwklippen wooded Chardonnay was served with the first course of lunch

Everyone being seated for lunch

Winemaker of the Year and Blaauwklippen winemaker for many years, Narina Cloete

and on the table in front of her, the winning blend to be opened and served with the main course

Narina with talented Master of Ceremonies, Triathlon competitor and broadcaster on Smile FM, Guy MacDonald

He is very good at his job

Narina told us that the Blaauwklippen wines chosen for the blend this year

were Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Merlot

Competitors were asked to produce a classic Cape Bordeaux style blend

She asked the wine clubs competing to make a blend using one wine at 60% and the others with no less than 5%

and they could choose any one of the four to dominate

The result proved to be very, very interesting

The menu

The winning wine, traditionally bottled in magnums, was opened for us to taste and drink with lunch

It had a good note of the perfume of Petit Verdot violets and was attractive, complex

and full of dark black cherry, cassis, rhubarb and mulberry flavours

Not the usual Cabernet cassis signature. On the palate, silky and it did not resemble a Cabernet-based blend at all

but was very drinkable with lots of sweet and sour berry fruits, chalky with grippy tannins and high acidity

which were masked by the chalk

The fruit was repeated with added plum and sour cherry, so Lynne and John concluded that it was a Merlot-led blend

One by one the clubs stood up to introduce themselves and tell us a bit about their club

The Bloemfontein club Free State Wine Tasters Guild is a group of 21 men only, founded in 1976

The Lydenburg Wyngilde is from Mpumalanga

The Sunday Tennis Club is from Bryanston, Johannesburg

Winey Hootsens is from Durbanville in the Western Cape

The starter was a Quattro Formaggio Raviolo, served with a slice of toast

Main course was slow cooked Beef Short Rib on a bed of tomato Orzo pasta with baby tomatoes

The Panko crusted Haloumi cheese bites on a bed of rocket and pomegranate seeds

Narina about to present the Trophy

The winning team was Lydenburg Wyngilde from Mpumalanga, represented by Michelle and Renier van der Merwe

and their blend was 48% Merlot, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Cabernet Franc and 7% Petit Verdot

The wine was indeed a Merlot-led blend, which many in the media had also concluded from tasting it blind

Free State Wine Tasters Guild and Winey Hootsens came joint second
and The Sunday Tennis Club was in third place

Dessert was Mini Crème Brulées, some topped with very hard to break caramel,

mini baked cheesecakes in pots and macarons

There was a terrible fire at Blaauwklippen last year

The famous and very beautiful historic Cape Dutch Manor House (it was then a hotel) was burned down

It was a terrible sight and a huge loss

But it is being rebuilt with as much of the original character as possible being reinstated

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Stanford market, Bientang's Cave, dassies, birds and whales in Hermanus

Stanford village was celebrating, showing off the winning South African Exhibit

from this year's Chelsea Flower Show in London and had opened its doors to the public

After we had viewed the magnificent exhibit, we decided to have a cup of tea at the restaurant opposite

and to explore the market behind it

We were told that residents had made 50 Scarecrows that were distributed around this charming country town

about two hours' drive from Cape Town

John settled for a refresher -  the Honey Blonde ale from Birkenhead Brewery in Stanford, Judi for a lager

Lynne settled for green tea with scones, cream and jam; sister Marcelle had a couple of reviving coffees 

Someone had crafted this huge protea on the stoep

Marquees were set up on the village green for the market
Spring can be a bit unpredictable with the weather in the Overberg, so a safe option

You could buy plants and cut flowers in this one which was linked to the exhibit in the hall

Talking to Tristan Woudberg, who was one of the main members of the SA Chelsea team

He answered quite a lot of questions people had about the show and the plants - thank you!

We really liked the look of this plant with pea-like blue and purple flowers

and lots of proteas,  ericas and other mixed bouquets to buy and  take home

Lots of interesting stalls inside the craft market 

Temptations galore!

Jewellery, clothing, pottery, candles on offer

Hand made silver items modelled by the lost wax technique

using real seeds and flowers which are then replaced with silver

Romuleas are indigenous star-like flowers; this one was growing wild outside a marquee in the market

At this time of year, our favourite place for lunch in Hermanus is Bientang's Cave, a restaurant above the rocks

and below the promenade, which specialises in sea food

And it is in Walker Bay  where the Southern Right whales come to calve during the late winter months,

before heading south with their new babies. You can spot them from the restaurant, breaching in the bay

Our very nice waitress who promised to send us her name....

The perfect local wine to drink with sea food - Bouchard Finlayson's Blanc de Mer,

crisp and delicious, complex and layered fruit, with minerality and length

It's an unusual blend of 65% Riesling, 19% Viognier, 16% Chardonnay

Cormorants and Black Oyster Catchers nesting on the nearby rocks

We all ordered the same dish, the Seafood curry which comes with a poppadum, rice, a tomato and onion raita

and is full of mussels, prawns, calamari and fish in a delicious mild curry sauce

Getting stuck in to this great dish. They do have another version without curry

A seagull on the watch above our table

and a whale comes up for air in the bay, watched by the cormorants; there were several in this pod

Our ubiquitous Hartlaub's gulls. They always look a bit quizzical and surprised!

Looking across the bay to the nearby Voëlklip suburb

Fast asleep Black Oystercatchers, balancing on one leg

An African rock hyrax (Procavia capensis), also called rock rabbit or dassie,

on a rock just off the coastal path in Hermanus

The hyrax is about the size of a small cat and its closest relative is the African Elephant!

Who knew that they climbed trees?

Nibbling on the foliage

Still with a winter coat on. This was one of several we saw grazing on the lawn near Fick's Pool

On our way back to our friends' cottage, our accommodation in the Hemel en Aarde,

we dropped in to show our friend Judi, Bouchard Finlayson's winery

This is their barrel cellar, where you can enjoy a wine tasting

From the Hermanus Brewery - Old Harbour beer being photographed in the cellar at Bouchard Finlayson

We are very good at making good ales and beers

and we also called in at Newton Johnson to say "hello" to winemaker Gordon Newton Johnson

and to show Judi the fabulous views of the valley and the sea from his excellent wine estate

Then it was off to light a fire and settle down for the evening in our kind friends' cottage at de Werf

The view from Newton Johnson, down the valley to Walker Bay

All the stories we have produced since 2012 can be opened from the archive list near the top of the column on the right of this page

Click here to follow our blogs

Follow us on Facebook,  Instagram and LinkedIn

If you would like to purchase a signed print of one of our photographs, please click here
All content in this article is © John & Lynne Ford, MENU

See John's photographs and follow us on YouPic