A Vintage day at the 330th Anniversary of Boschendal

Vines were first planted in the Cape in 1655 by Jan van Riebeek. Boschendal in the Franschhoek valley was established thirty years later in 1685. They invited us to join them in commemorating 330 years of wine at Boschendal last week. There was a special gala dinner on Wednesday 12th of August, we were invited, with other media, to a celebration lunch on Thursday 13th of August.

We don't mind dressing up for an event but when you get an invitation to a 330 year anniversary lunch and the invitation says "Dress: Vintage" we did have a few anxious moments wondering what we were going to wear. Especially as we were being collected at 10h45 from the Waterfront. To wear Jacobean dress? Would we fit in the bus? To go as peasant farmers of one of the periods since wine was planted in the Cape? We certainly didn't have anything suitable in our cupboards. Lynne slept on the problem and came up with the solution. We have our own vintages and so we dressed accordingly. It was a marvellous celebration.

If you want to help them celebrate you can join them on Heritage Day on the 24th of September when they willl be having an Ox roast and for the small sum of R285 pp and R85 for children under 13 you can go and enjoy a feast. To quote them " Expect platters heaped with seasonal produce, great wine including some new Boschendal releases, and an upbeat atmosphere enhanced by the live music of ‘Slow Jack’." Booking is essential. www.boschendal.com/events/view/farm-feast-ox-roast

The historic manor house

The ladies in their vintage gear
Marguerite Nel, Samantha Linsell, JeanriTine van Zyl, Lynne Jarché Ford.
Lynne is Vintage 1947

We had some great Boschendal MCC bubbly before we embarked aboard the bus and when we arrived

Someone said Lynne looked like an air hostess, another The Queen! Hmm

John’s camera is a 1938 Agfa, given to his mother by his father as an engagement present

Three elegant ladies. Marguerite Nel, Lynne and JeanriTine van Zyl

Chatting to an old friend about his new job at Boschendal, Executive Chef Christiaan Campbell

The wine vintage

Old oaks

Our favourite Boschendal wine rep Kathy van Niekerk with the bus

A quick tour of the wine cellar by red winemaker Richard Duckitt

Where we were joined by the white wine maker Lizelle Gerber and new assistant winemaker Tammy Jaftha

It’s an impressive barrel collection

drawing off samples from the barrels using a "wine thief" . They were much enjoyed, there is lots of concentration and life in these wines to come

Richard Duckitt tells us about what we are sampling

They use mainly (expensive!) French barrels

One of the friendly farm horses

The newly planted kitchen garden for Chef Christiaan Campbell’s needs.

Lots of raised beds, arbours, with lots of different vegetables and herbs and some fruit, everything a chef could desire

Megan McCarthy, the horticulturist who is in charge of the garden answering some of our many questions

Spring plantings are springing up. This should look superb in a few weeks

Rows of different lettuces

An interesting method of raising beds, which have easy access

The restaurant overlooks the kitchen garden

More bubbly on the terrace, which looks a great place to spend a summer lunchtime

The pretty Celebration Brut bottles of the 1685 MCC, it is a clean and crisp

Many bottles were poured

The sommelier and his colleagues who were all wonderfully attentive and anticipated the guests’ every need

Canapés of smoked salmon, salmon caviar and cream cheese on a crisp cracker

Sometimes, we have to be at these wonderful events

Winemaker Lizelle Gerber impressing with some Sabrage on the MCC bubbly

The lunch menu

Welcomed by Jacques Roux, Marketing Director of Douglas Green Bellingham, who produce and distribute the Boschendal wines

Chef Christiaan Campbell explains the menu

The starter of freshwater crayfish (never enough!) with dumplings of light gnocchi, dressed with a superbly made seafood bisque sauce and a few peas. Liked the contrast of the nice crisp and tangy addition of zesty compressed apples. This was served with both the Boschendal 1685 Chardonnay 2014 and their Elgin 2014 Sauvignon Blanc. Both matched well but the Chardonnay won for us

Winemaker Richard Duckitt talked about the wines we were served with lunch

A garden salad with roasted pear with a fennel dressing

The witty main course, speared with a rib, was served “family style”, so we could help ourselves. However, this enormously generous family sized portion was served to every two guests! Succulent, slow cooked rib of beef in a master stock marinade topped with gremolata, salt baked celeriac (love it), roasted vegetables and oh, so crisp potato wedges. On the left, some tiny lilly pilly fruits (Australian cherry) which were pickled and added a great contrast to the rich meal. Doggie bags were called for. We drank the Boschendal Grand Reserve 2013 and the Grand Selection 2013, both lovely fruit filled wines with elegance

Dessert was a small “white chocolate” sponge, with fresh & dehydrated guava, a guava sorbet, aged Cape gooseberries, white chocolate worms , sprinkled with roasted almond flakes. The star wine was the fabulous 2013 Vin D'Or, absolute nectar and honey, perfect with any dessert

New DGB Marketing Director Greg Castle makes the final speech of this great occasion and thanks us for coming

A happy chef !

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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MCC tasting at JC Le Roux, Devon Valley, Stellenbosch

We must confess that it has been many years since we ventured down to the end of Devon Valley, to this winery which concentrates on making wines filled with bubbles. The bulk of their production is their carbonised range, most of which are sweet wines. We were there to taste the premium Méthode Cap Classique range. They have recently spruced up the premises and the tasting room is large and commodious, with private tasting rooms on the side. The gardens are lovely. We were invited to visit, have a tasting and sample some of their restaurant’s food, which we did on Tuesday

The impressive entrance

The main tasting area

All the bubblies on sale

On the reception counter; one of the pairings you can experience, with the cost

The restaurant is on the gallery above

The bottling line, where you can see the whole process taking place with a recorded commentary

and learn the history and process of making MCCs and other sparkling wines

The 5 Méthode Cap Classique wines for our tasting

They present various paired tastings, with different costs. One with nougats, one with biscuits, fudge and other sweetmeats and the one we had, with olives. We don't like sweet things with bubbly, so we preferred to do this savoury pairing and enjoyed it very much. They use Chrisna's olives

All tastings have a cost per person. Check out their website before you go (it is a rather frustrating site, demanding your birth date for every page you view)

JC le Roux MCC bubblies, from the left: the crisp and dry 2009 Pinot Noir, 60 months on the lees, R105. Paired with a green olive stuffed with a blanched almond. The Pinot Noir Brut Rosé, served with an olive stuffed with a feta and tomato paste. Full of strawberries and fresh, red fleshed plums. A good food wine, R135. In the middle the Brut NV; 75% Pinot Noir, 25% Chardonnay. Leesy and full of crisp fruit. Good value at R85 a bottle and their best seller. Paired with a deliciously plump, green salty olive on the stone. They substituted their top MCC, the Scintilla, for us to taste (usually it is La Vallée); 80% Chardonnay 20% Pinot Noir Vintage 2008 and R190 a bottle. Buttery brioche, tiny mousse, crisp limes and lemon chardonnay, with a buttery end. Lots of elegance. It is kept for a minimum of 5 years on the lees. Paired with a skewer of sun dried tomato, black olive and a herb feta. And finally the La Vallée Demi sec Rosé, R90. Paired with pimento stuffed green olives

Our very friendly and professional wine ambassador for the tasting was Jean Smuts, who gave us all the information we needed and charmed us

Time for lunch upstairs and a lovely view of the Stellenbosch mountains

We were given a starter of two prawns on a rather gritty salad with some pimento and spicy chorizo

Two choices for main course, so John chose the Sirloin steak and chips topped, the menu said, with Café de Paris sauce. Sadly, we think someone in the kitchen chose the wrong sauce as this was a spicy curry. The steak was good and the chips crisp. 

The dish was accompanied by sliced butternut, a piece of sweet potato, and some roasted beetroot. Lynne liked the beetroot. John had a glass of the Pinot Noir Brut

Lynne had the other dish on offer, grilled salmon steak with mango and very hot jalapeno peppers, which did rather fight with the delicate salmon. We’re also not sure if sweet mango goes with salmon; it was an odd accompaniment. She had a glass of the Brut Rosé. We finished with espresso coffees

Winter resting vines with their cover crop of barley and mustard and a view across the valley

The fruit trees in the valley have a frosting of blossom

We discovered that, although our next destination (Bottelary Road) was only 2 kilometres away on the map, the locals have closed off that end of the valley with a gate for security purposes. So we had to drive through Stellenbosch and do a 17 Km round trip

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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Du Toitskloof new releases tasting; new premier Quest range. Lunch at Melissa’s Country Kitchen

On a Quest...

The week since our last MENU began with a visit to Du Toitskloof for a tasting of their new releases, including their new premium Quest range, followed by lunch at the new Melissa’a restaurant attached to the winery. Many people don't know how much the quality of wine in this area is improving. They have superb and varied terroir, an even climate and good winemakers at Du Toitskloof. At a recent blind tasting of very good value wines at our wine club, the Du Toitskloof Cabernet Shiraz scored top marks and that was for the box wine, which had been decanted into a bottle to fool us.

A grey early morning at the Cape Town International Conference Centre where we joined our coach to Rawsonville ...

... waiting in front of the main building

Melissa's have opened a branch of their restaurant/shop on Du Toitskloof so, now, great food is available.

We were welcomed with their top end Quest 100% Chardonnay MCC. This is made by Melanie van der Merwe of Tanzanite Wines

Du Toitskloof is a Co-operative Winery whose Directors are all farmer members of the Co-op. They have 22 member farms and currently grow 14 500 tons of grapes a year - 12½ million litres, of which 55% is white and 45% red. Their business principle is "It's a Journey without a destination in mind". They are creative and search for opportunities in a congested wine market

We also enjoyed great coffee and killer muffins, especially the cheese and spinach ones

The inside of Melissa’s

People enjoying coffee and cake

Lynne explores the wares

Time for the speeches. Here are Sales manager Bernard Kotze and CEO Marius Louw. They told us that they are involved in the largest Fairtrade social responsibility project in the world and have, over the years, established programmes to enrich not only the lives of their workers, but also of their families. All 22 member farms are accredited and more than 1600 workers and their family members benefit from these social upliftment and training programmes. 5 Million litres of bulk wine are sold overseas, where Fairtrade wines get good recognition. This means 40% of the profits funds the initiatives here; that is R4 million into housing, schooling, day care and medical centres and mobile libraries

Ready to begin the tasting

We tasted the Du Toitskloof Sauvignon Blanc (R38), Chenin Blanc (R32), the new Nebbiolo (R40) and the Pinotage (R42) first. All extremely good value and the Nebbiolo blew our socks off, so we bought a box to drink at home. We suspect this will be drunk all summer long, meaning several visits to the farm

Marius Louw telling us more about Du Toitskloof

Chief Winemaker Shaun Thomson took us through the wines

Willie Stofberg, Winemaker

Bernard Kotze

Johan de Wet, Chairman

Then it was time to taste the two Quest wines. Quest are their premium quality, top of the range wines. Quest 1 is the 2011 Heroes’ Journey, a Bordeaux blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot and 12% Petite Verdot. A silky smooth, intensely complex and concentrated wine, with deep cassis and cherry flavours and a hint of violets from the Petit Verdot. R160 a bottle; a case of this came home with us for fine dining. It is accessible now and therefore will not need aging, but won't suffer if you do put it down. 4½ stars in Platter

Quest 2 is 2011 Heroes’ Journey Rhône blend, made from 62% Shiraz and 38% savoury Mourvèdre; wild fruits with a kick of pepper, cumin and heat. Delicious with a nice dark wood end. 4 stars in Platter

The standard range wines we tasted

Time for lunch on the loggia, thankfully tented against the inclement weather

Restaurant manager Jaco Brand told us that Pierre Smit, one of the Co-op farmers, picked the waterblom at 2 the previous afternoon

The classic Waterblommetjie lamb bredie went so well with Quest 2, the Rhône blend. Both were delicious. The bredie is made with slow cooked sheep’s neck and oregano with the Waterblommetjies

PRO Emile Joubert

Last course was a cheese and charcuterie platter with olives and preserves, and lots of Quest 1

The N1 on the way home. Lots and lots of early evening traffic and lots of rain 

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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