Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Robertson Wine on the River

The wine farm stands inside the marquee
Tasting some MCC on the Weltevrede stand and talking to Elzette
A great warm welcome from Paul de Wet of Zandvliet
Not that you would have wanted to with the river rising after the heavy rains
We could not resist the food sold on the Zandvliet stand. John had the crisp battered yellowtail with onion rings and chips and Lynne the tenderest lamb chops cooked to perfection with a very good marinade, also with crisp onion rings and chips. Only R45 a serving.
The muddy entrance to the festival: Lots of us wore wellies
Heading for the Chardonnays of the valley tasting where they pair all the wines with food
A bit wet for a boat trip. Next year!
The tasting in full swing Lourens van der Westhuizen chats to Bernhard Hess of Mimosa Lodge in Montagu
Fanus Bruwer of Quando making some notes
These wines were on the Tropical flavour table

These wines are on the Complex flavours table. In front is a list of the food pairing

These wines were classified Creamy. We don’t always agree!
Two bubblies for tasting

Lourens talks us through the tasting
Some “wrapt” attendees
A good crowd attends the tasting for each session, which is completely free. 
You just need to book your place
These are the food pairings
Zandi Beetge, the chef who made them
Elegant style indeed
Clark Truter from Siris Vintners, who represent some of the farms
Ivan Oertle, Wine Selector for Woolworths, and his wife talking to Lourens
A boat trip begins for a few hardy souls
Fanus Bruwer of Quando
How we ended the day. Those wines all dwindled as it wore on towards evening
The rain pouring down and the Hess children really enjoying it
The clouds begin to part and the river is suddenly calm
Fida Hess from Mimosa Lodge in Montagu and friend
Fashionable footwear this year was... wellies
We are discussing the next festival – Hands on Harvest in February. See you there?
No-one really wants to go home
Photographs © John Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2012

Dinner at the new Bizerca

The chalk board menu for the evening of Friday, October 19th
The restaurant frontage onto Shortmarket Street.  Some space for tables outside perhaps?
Inside the restaurant, bare brick and stone walls show the history of this very old landmark building, Heritage Square
The French Maitre d’ explains the menu to us
The ready mixed steak tartare with hand-made crisps
Green asparagus wrapped in pancetta with a quail egg and BĂ©arnaise sauce
Veal tongue with braised baby leeks, herb gnocchi and jus gras
Warm mushrooms (oyster/black/porcini) with artichokes, tomato, kalamata dressing
Lynne’s starter of Dorado carpaccio with avo, papaya, coconut and jalapeno dressing
John’s starter of rillette and a good terrine, served with pickled pear and tiny toasts
Main course for Lynne was a starter portion of the fish soup
A grilled beef fillet with echalote mash, porcini mushrooms, spinach, Bordelaise sauce made with marrow
Our host’s dish of seared veal kidneys with spring onion risotto, mange tout in a ginger sauce
John’s main course of Grilled Eland Loin with guava tatin, celeriac puree, brocollini, quince chutney and ginger sauce.
John’s dessert of apple sorbet with apple crisps drowning in wonderful calvados
Chocolate brownie ice-cream
A Three in one pudding: crème brulée, raspberry sorbet and a wicked chocolate pudding
Putting the world to rights at the end of a great meal
 Photographs © John Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2012

Biltong Maker of the Year Awards 2012

The glass plaque award for the Stellenbosch Hills/Freddy Hirsch 
Biltong Maker of the Year 2012
The function for the winners and the media was held over lunch at 96 Winery Road
Allan Forrester, manager of 96 Winery Road...
The interesting menu. The wines were sponsored by Stellenbosch Hills
The starter of cheese straws, caramelised onions, grana padano cheese shavings and topped with shaved biltong
The wine that went best with the food was 
the 2013 Best Value award winning Chenin Blanc
Lynne’s serving of Norwegian salmon interestingly wrapped in crisp Greek kataifi pastry served on wilted greens
The Stellenbosch Hills Pinotage also won the 2013 Best Value award. 
We were also served the Shiraz
Portions were enormous and very generous
John’s enormous portion of the ‘Hollandse” Pepper fillet in a cream and brandy sauce which came with a basket of chips, butternut and roasted beetroot
Schalk van Deventer, the third prize winner, received a cheque for R5000.
Jakes van der Merwe from Middelburg in Mpumalanga won the second prize of R10000. 
He is a professional hunter.
Frik Crafford, a policeman from Worcester, won the First prize of R15000 and the trophy
With dessert we were served the sweet Muscat de Hambourg 2010
A divine slice of the richest chocolate cake ever with a good vanilla bean ice cream
Crème Brulée with a tuille
And we took home a sample of the winning biltong and a sharp knife
Photographs © John Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2012