.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Cape to Canton: Chinese New Year at the Vineyard

Queuing for tickets at the entrance

and picking up bowls, chopsticks and glasses

Vineyard GM Roy Davies with Pamela Cunningham

Neil Pendock

Neil Pendock and Roy Davies with Mr & Mrs Paul Cluver

The Vineyard's beautiful gardens made a stunning venue

Giant tortoises are a feature of the gardens. In the words of Noel Coward, one of these had a puncture and the other was pushing him home

We paid a visit to our Sauvignon Blanc grape vine in the vineyard and it has one lovely bunch of grapes on it. Harvest will take place this Friday morning, the first in many years. We will write about it next week

observed and cautioned by the neighbour's dogs

Roy Davies and Lynne with James and Pamela Cunningham.

Thank heavens for the Chinese parasol

Special fried rice was served with a Thai green herb and spinach steamed dumpling.

These are the side dishes. The chilli was absolutely wicked.

We started the tasting with Plaisir de Merle MCC bubbly

Empty steaming baskets waiting to be refilled

The tortoises finally made the fountain for a drink

Rows of beautifully made dumplings waiting to be cooked

Leopards Leap is excellent with dim sum

Pork and Prawn sui mai open dumplings

Post sticker dumplings and our favourite dish of the day, sweet potato and carrot cakes with the chef/owner who made them: Ed Hung from the South China Dim Sum Bar in Long Street

What a way to spend a Sunday afternoon

Neil with Jonathan Steyn, Lize-Marie Gradwell of Distell's Cape Legends and her husband, Geoff Gradwell of KWV

Talented artist Luan Nel with Neil

Other food writers Jan Loubser and Anel Grobler, enjoying a cold beer

Traditional drumming and the Chinese dragon dance

Steamed prawn dumplings with Anthonij Ruperts Optima

Roland Peens had some very interesting wines and bubbly on offer inthe Bisquit Brandy area and some customers dressed for the occasion

A different dumpling served by a helpful staff member

The Bisquit crew

Dax (Relax with Dax) Villanueva, definitely relaxing with Roy and David Wibberley, the Vineyard's food and beverage manager of The Square restaurant

Beautiful costumes and beautiful food and wine

Jonathan Steyn, David Wibberley and Lynne having a chat about the afternoon and the future

A great fan of the day

John managed to get into the Bisquit area to take some photographs

The working day over, the Chinese could celebrate

Our taxi home awaits.

Tasting Tokaj at Glen Carlou

The tasting was held in the evening at Glen Carlou’s beautiful tasting facility.

Welcomed by Johan Erasmus, the Estate manager of Glen Carlou, we had some lovely Glen Carlou wines to start the evening

Elsie Pels CWM, who organised the evening, with Cathy van Zyl CWM, Winnie Bowman CWM and Cathryn Henderson Editor of Classic Wine

We await the first wine

The wines we tasted were brought to South Africa by Andras and Phyllis Bruhacs from Tokaj Classic. The vineyards of Tokaj Classic Winery Ltd are predominantly in the historical village of Mád, which is in the Tokaj-Hegyalja region of Hungary.

The Oremus wines In order of tasting from the left.

We learn more about this magical wine, its history, its grapes and its mystique

Andras and two fellow musicians developed a fascination for the wine growing region and, in Mád, the musicians refurbished an old estate and acquired vineyards in premier locations in Király Hegy (King’s Mountain), a region with a wine-growing history dating back over 400 years - formerly owned by the Hungarian high nobility. The vineyards are now owned by the Spanish company Vega Sicilia and the wine is made at Oremus cellar in Hungary. These cellars’ walls are covered in a thick black mould which is essential for the wine’s character to develop. During the communist days, when the State owned and ran all the vineyards, the quality of Tokay wines slipped somewhat, but now they are again being made privately in the traditional way and the results being achieved are superb.

Andras shows us a picture of the grapes bearing the noble rot Botrytis and tells us how they pick them individually over several days

The first wine we tasted was a 2005 Late Harvest (105 gsl with an acid of 7.8); this wine has a full perfumed raisin/sultana nose and tastes of honey, pears and herbs with a long finish. 13.5% alcohol

Wine number two was a 3 Puttonyos Aszu 2007 (94 gsl, acid 8+). Intense rose petal nose with honey, herbs, thyme, limes and pears – extremely pretty. On the mouth, clean fruit finishing with limes, honey and roses. A perfect match for blue cheese and chocolate 11.5%

Wine three was a 5 Puttonyos Aszu 2008, made in 135 litre barrels and left to ferment for 2 years. Rose petals, Turkish delight and tobacco, pears, honey and English gooseberries on the nose. A honey delight on the palate, with a great follow-through of limes and pink grapefruit from the acids. With 155 gsl, one was left with a lingering pineapple finish. 11%

Neither of us had ever tasted the next two wines; they are so expensive and rare that they are not normally offered for tasting.

Wine 4 was a 6 Puttonyos 1999 Aszu (180gsl, 11/8 acidity) Andras said that this vintage was the most classic he has tasted. Deep amber in colour, it has a surprising cognac nose and is full of violets, roses and Oloroso sherry, with a little wood and some umami notes. On the palate, acid limes on top of a honey base, deep and layered. A wine that keeps on giving! A silky mouth feel and great balance. It tastes less sweet than the 5 Puttonyos because of the good balance. 11%

And then the crowning glory: Essencia 1998. Described as a lightly alcoholic syrup, this is made from the free run juice, before the grapes are pressed for the wines above and it takes many years to ferment in casks. It has an oxidised sherry/tawny port nose with hints of dried apricots, pineapple and Chanel No.5 perfume (violets, roses, sandalwood and amber). On the palate, full of pineapple acids, honey with notes of tobacco, jasmine, rice and lemons. 250 gsl with good balanced acidity.

Some of the canapés served to us by Glen Carlou after the tasting - Beef Carpaccio wrapped around crudités with fresh herbs with a mustard dip

Sesame prawn toasts with a sweet chilli dip

Tender belly of pork with a garlic mustard sauce

Tiny cheese croquettes with a light tomato sauce

Discussing the phenomenal tasting afterwards

The Fords' special wines at home 2013

We have been most fortunate this year and have enjoyed some rare and special wines:

1994 KWV Cabernet Sauvignon

This wine, at 19 years from the harvest was very elegant, with only 12% alcohol, it still had delicious cassis fruit and very soft tannins. It was brought to us by John's brother Bill from his cellar in Johannesburg

Duas Quintas Douro Vinho Branco 2011

and KWV 1966 Tawny Port

The Duas Quintas was brought by our friends James and Pamela Cunningham for a Portuguese themed supper. Made from Voizinho, Rabigato and Arinto grapes, it was quite unlike the white wines we are used to. It had moderate acidity and ripe tropical fruit flavours.

The KWV Port was a 60th birthday gift to John 7 years ago from our neighbours Geoff & Liz Cork. Rich Christmas pudding with very little sediment and absolutely delicious.

Laurent Perrier Brut Rosé NV

Another gift, this time from our friends Ian and Claudia Simpson. Opened on Valentine's evening. Lovely gentle acidity with a soft mousse and rich Pinot Noir flavour.

Our house is on the slopes of Signal Hill. It is single storey at one end and double storey at the other and one of the first things we did after we bought it 9 years ago was to dig out a cellar. These photographs were taken for an article in Classic Wine in 2012