Nederburg Concert with the Esperanza Trio at the Nederburg Manor House, Paarl

We love classical music and opera and, sadly, our busy life does not allow us enough time to go to as many concerts and recitals as we would love. So, when we were invited to an early evening recital at Nederburg on Sunday, we jumped at the opportunity to hear the Esperanza Trio play some excellent chamber music in the Manor House. The concert finished at 7 and was followed by a simple supper of soup and canapés, accompanied by some good Nederburg wines, all of which are included in the price. There are three more concerts in the series for which you can book: www. concerts@distell.co.za or from Webtickets. They are held on the last Sunday of each month, except for the last which will be on Saturday 21st November and will be the Picnic concert. It was the perfect evening for a concert, wet and cold

The Nederburg Manor House, which houses the Red Table restaurant, in the rain

A view from the terrace of the huge marquee that has been erected for the Nederburg Wine Auction which will be held over the weekend of the 12th and 13th of September. We will be attending.

The interior of the restaurant with a nice fire burning in the fireplace

It is a lovely terrace on a sunny day

An old Dutch master hanging in the main room. It looks like it needs some restoration, the colours would come up beautifully if it was handled properly.

There were glasses of Monis sherry to welcome us, Pale dry (our choice) Medium and Cream. It is nice to see sherry served, it has slipped from people's attention very badly and makes a wonderful aperitif. There were also alternatives for people not wanting alcohol

The pianist's assistant waiting patiently

The Esperanza Trio. The concert began with Weber's Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano, Op. 63. Liesl Stoltz is the flautist, Polina Budukova the cellist and Kerryn Wisniewski is on piano

Flying fingers on the Yamaha grand piano. The next two pieces were Hans Andrè Stamm's Suite for Flute, Cello and Piano and Hendrik Hofmeyr's Notturno Elegiaco

At interval some bobotie spring rolls were served with a coriander chilli dip

And we enjoyed a glass of Nederburg Brut MCC

The cello was made by the internationally acclaimed South African luthier, Dawne Haddad, who was in the audience. It has a magnificent bronze sound

The trio take a bow for the next piece which was Three Watercolours by Philippe Gaubert which we enjoyed enormously.

The last piece was by Astor Piazzola: Four Season of Buenos Aires. He was an ambassador of tango music, but also wrote classical music like this

Two soups were on offer, a thick vegetable (John) and a creamy chicken and mushroom (Lynne)

And there was a huge selection of small bites. Of special mention were very crisp coated, succulent fishcakes, beef Carpaccio on small biscuits, and small smoked chicken salads

Everyone enjoying supper

We had met the chef Edmore Ruzoza last year and he remembered us and came to say hello

Chef with the organiser of the evening Annetjie Hopkins

Four of the 6 wines on offer. They were very good with the food, especially the 2013 Beautiful Lady Gewürztraminer with the soup and the Ingenuity white and red blends with the canapés.. A lovely evening. Driving home however, in pelting sheets of rain, was not much fun

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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In the Pink - Launch of Rosé Rocks, SA's first Rosé competition at Cavalli

We've been told that this is the first ever competition for rosé wines in South Africa and it is hoped that it will raise the profile of the rosé wines that we can produce so well. Rosé wines have (sadly) been viewed in the past as wines only suitable for giving to your girlfriend or mother on Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day. And, usually, they are seen as sweet and characterless. We think they are worth much more than that. Overseas, especially in the South of France, these easy drinking, fruity wines are enormously popular with food, especially at lunches, often in the summer. They are normally lower in alcohol and you can share a meal of fish, seafood and meat without having to order more than one bottle of wine, as most rosés pair excellently with all dishes. A few years ago, many farms upped their game and produced some really good rosé wines - we used to sell lots - but many have now disappeared. The supermarkets are selling too many characterless wines, with one or two excellent exceptions. Do we blame their buyers or the uninformed public for excluding those dryer, more elegant rosés from their shelves? Perhaps this competition will bring the good rosés to the fore again.

What is a rosé wine? Officially it is made from the first free run juice of a red wine, bled off to increase the concentration of the juice used to make the red wine. To quote Wikipedia, rosé is "wine that incorporates some of the colour from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine". Very pale pink wines can be known as Blanc de Noir (white from red). It has all the nuances and flavours of its red grape, just few tannins and no wood. It can be made from a blend of white and red wines, illegal in France but not in South Africa. You might like to know that in the UK, they spend ₤1.8 million on rosé wines each year, so this could be a great market for our Rosés.

We were invited to lunch at Equus restaurant at Cavalli wine estate on Thursday to hear about the competition.

Judging will take place on Wednesday, 9th September, and the results will be announced within 2 weeks of the competition. The Judges are: Chairman, Alan Mullins, CWM and Woolworths wine buyer; Journalist Neil Pendock; Marthelize Tredoux, Journalist and wine exporter; Tinashe Nyamudoka Head Sommelier at The Test Kitchen;, Tatiana Marcetteau, Sommelier at Cellars Hohenhort ; Praisy Dlamini, winemaker; and food and wine Journalist Malu Lambert.

Chef Hilton Espey produced a great lunch menu which paired very well with the wines we drank. He told us he was waiting for the delivery of the main course fish, so we knew it was going to be very fresh

Chair of the judges Alan Mullins with Leah van Deventer of Good Housekeeping, on the terrace with a good glass of pink MCC from Villiera

Chef Hilton Espey explains the lunch menu while Lynne takes notes on her phone

On the other side of the table, Terri Dunbar Cohen of Independent Newspapers and Shante Hutton of Wine.co.za

Sommelier Farai Magwada telling us about the wine to be served with the first course

The Morgenzon Garden Vineyards 2014 Rosé from Shiraz, Grenache, Mourvedre. Crisp and dry with notes of summer fruits

Gentle citrus cured gravadlax of local trout with pear slices poached in red wine, a num num gastrique and flaked almonds, topped with spring pea shoots. Num Nums are the sour red fruit of an indigenous variety of jasmine. We had never had pears with trout and this works very well. The puree added the acidity and the almonds a good texture crunch.

Lots of tweeting happening. We did trend for a while

Fresh glasses

The main course was served with Cavalli's Pink Pony rosé made from Grenache, was well seared and just delivered fresh Hake fillets on a bed of truffle mash with a saffron seafood sauce

Sommelier Farai tells us about the next wine, the Vondeling 2015 bright and lively Rosé, made from Merlot, which was served with dessert. This is a marvellous lunchtime wine, dry with soft cherry & strawberry fruit and a hint of nuts

Dessert was a deconstructed white chocolate cheesecake, ginger biscuit crumbs and lemon ice cream and a shard of cardamom blond caramel, which added unusual hints of cucumber. Rich and unctuous

All attending finished off the lunch with a toast to rosé and the competition

For those who see journos as over-thirsty, the table at the end of lunch

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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Great fun on a wine tour to cool Elgin

Most of the tours we conduct go, by the clients' choice, to the most well-known (to foreign visitors) areas, such as Stellenbosch. As most of our readers know, we go there very often. Stellenbosch, in itself, can be seen as a generic term because it is a large area with many very different terroirs. While it has a huge number of wonderful wine producers, it is quite close to home and therefore convenient. It also claims a massive share of the South African wine industry limelight and some other areas get lost in its shadow.

Which is why we really enjoy taking visitors to some of those other areas. Recently, we had the opportunity to take a party of American and South African wine enthusiasts to Elgin. The same party came with us to Durbanville earlier this year, having toured in Constantia and Stellenbosch on other visits. This time, we started at Paul Cluver. Cellarmaster Andries Burger had to be in Johannesburg, but he put us into the very capable hands of their Sales manager, Shaun McVey, who showed us the cellar and their wines with great enthusiasm and knowledge of his subject

Shaun showed us the winemaking equipment

and then took us through the cellar, telling us about the way the wines are matured, the wood used in the barrels and what goes into the wines they produce. In addition to wine, Paul Cluver also make cider and apple brandy, apples being an important crop for most Elgin farmers

Then, in a private tasting venue, Shaun took us through the wines produced at Paul Cluver. Our visitors were accustomed to tasting what they regard as typical South African varietals, Shiraz, Cabernet sauvignon, etc. Here, they were able to experience wonderful wines made from varietals which grow best in a cool climate; Sauvignon blanc, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay which can compete with the best from other areas internationally. They were especially impressed with the flagship Seven Flags Pinot noir and arranged to have it shipped to them in Michigan

The Paul Cluver wines we tasted: Sauvignon blanc, Gewürztraminer, three Rieslings (including the Noble Late Harvest), Chardonnay and three Pinot Noirs

From Paul Cluver, we moved on to visit Sean Skibbe, winemaker at South Hill. We have known Sean since he called on us at our shop in South Hill’s early days, when he doubled as winemaker and sales rep and convinced us of the quality of his Sauvignon blanc and, later, his Cabernet sauvignon. His brief has expanded and he now makes wines under the label of Kevin King, South Hill’s owner, in addition to the original South Hill wines. The farm was planted with a variety of wine cultivars and Sean now makes a variety of wines under the Kevin King label from Barbera, Malbec, Mourvedre, Pinot noir, Semillon and Syrah as well as the two original sauvignon varietals. He took us through a most informative tasting of his wines

For anyone looking for food, Elgin shuts down on Mondays, probably because they are a popular weekend destination. They have a variety of really good places to stop for lunch, but they all close on Monday and Tuesday. Thank heavens for the Peregrine farm stall, a very important local landmark. This is not just a roadside stop for a quick refreshment. It has a very good bakery, sells excellent local fresh veg and meat products and a good selection of wines from the area. Last year, they had a devastating fire, probably sourced in the pizza oven, which destroyed the restaurant. They rebuilt remarkably quickly and this was our stop for lunch

One of our Americans, looking for something typically local, chose the Boerewors roll, made with the famed Grabouw wors from the local butchery, served with chips and salad

The ladies in the party opted for the Falafel, served with salad and a goats’ cheese dip

The other boys chose the delicious springbok pie, the local piece de Resistance

The chips were not as well done as we would have liked. The Cape penchant for underdone, half cooked, “slap” chips strikes again, despite "well done" being on the order! But great value

A good lunch for six people for R 590 plus tip, which is $44, €39 or £29

Then we were off to see Paul and Nicky Wallace at Wallovale and taste their wines. Paul is consultant viticulturalist to a large number of wine producers and Nicky has been involved in the sharp end of wine marketing for many years. At Wallovale he specialises in Malbec - his Black Dog Malbec is excellent - but also produces very good Sauvignon blanc, Pinot Noir and a red blend. The party liked the Black Dog so much that they bought nine cases

Paul Wallace with his son Mark, who is assistant winemaker at Hamilton Russell in the Hemel en Aarde Valley

Dr Steve with Paul Wallace

The party in jovial mood before returning home

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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Chenin comes of age at the Top 10 Chenin Blanc Challenge Awards at Cape Grace

We have said this before and no doubt will again. Chenin Blanc is the grape that defines the South African wine industry. We grow more of it than any other grape. It can be grown all over our winelands as it is not terroir specific and can produce many different styles, very well. We have vineyards of great age and elegance that continue to produce superb wine, Astoundingly, all the winners in this competition come from vineyards that are at least 25 year old, and many are 40 years or more. It is our best hope of overseas attention and respect. We are producing some absolutely amazing Chenins, at all price levels. And some are very affordable. In fact at the prices quoted below, all would sell in the UK for around or below ₤10 yet their international competitors would sell for much, much, more.

This week, we were at The Cape Grace Hotel to attend the award ceremony of the Standard Bank Top 10 Chenin Blancs for 1915

Always nice to get a warm welcoming smile and a glass of some bubbly

De Morgenzon’s DMZ NV Chenin MCC

Two other MCC's made from Chenin were available for tasting: Perdeberg's Brut Reserve NV and Sparklehorse from Ken Forrester with its pretty carousel label. All are excellent

Canapés of salmon, topped with mayonnaise in vol au vent cases, circulated

Photographer Danie Nel with PRO Nicolette Waterford

Getting the organisation sorted out is Ina Smith, the doyenne of organisation and management at the Chenin Blanc Association

Mercy Mwai, the sommelier of Nobu restaurant at The One & Only Hotel, with Lynne and Journalist Graham Howe

The awards function was held in the hotel's Signal restaurant

Chairman of the Chenin Blanc Association Ken Forrester opens proceedings. It has come of age. To quote Ken: "Chenin Blanc seems to belong everywhere with wines from Durbanville, Paarl, Piekenierskloof, Swartland and Stellenbosch represented in the Top 10. There can no longer be any doubt of the role that old vines play in the excellence of Chenin Blanc with all the wines coming off vineyards older than 20 years. May it stay long in the ground”

Billy du Plessis, Standard Bank Executive Business Banking Head in the Western Cape, tells of Standard Bank's commitment to these awards

Christian Eedes of Winemag.co.za. Christian, one of South Africa’s most respected wine judges, was chairperson. The other judges were Jamie Goode from the United Kingdom, a London-based wine writer, currently wine columnist with UK national newspaper The Sunday Express; Higgo Jacobs, certified with the Court of Master Sommeliers and wine judge; François Rautenbach, a man deeply invested in hospitality and heading up the ‘Singita Premier Wine Direct’ programme for Singita Game Reserves and sourcing and supplying wines for the Singita properties in Southern and East Africa; Cathy van Zyl, Master of Wine, regular judge and associate editor of Platter’s South African Wine Guide, as well as associate judges Jaap-Henk Koelewijn, sommelier and partner in Tokara Restaurant, and Tongai Joseph Dafana, sommelier at La Colombe. 145 wines were entered, 15% more than last year

The menu, with each course paired with two of the winning Chenins

A morsel of pickled yellowtail, with avocado lime mousse, crisp Kataifi pastry shards and some salad leaves. it was accompanied by a rather robust curry apricot chutney. Paired with KVW Cathedral Cellar 2014 R85 (from 54% from a Paarl vineyard approximately 25 years old, 33.2% from a Swartland vineyard 36 years old and 12.8% from a Stellenbosch, approximately 30 years old) and Perdeberg The Dry Land Collection Barrel Fermented 2014 R77 (from two vineyards in the Agter-Paarl, one 26 years old and the other 32 years old).

We tried to hang on to some of our glasses but there were just too many people and they needed the glasses for the next pouring. This is the next course. Potato gnudi, fried in butter with a very creamy foam with gentle hints of gorgonzola, served on poached pear with semi dried tomato and a walnut crumble. Someone at the table compared it to muesli at breakfast and we would have liked more sight of the gorgonzola, but it went very well with the two wines: the DeMorgenzon Reserve 2014 R210 (from a vineyard on the Stellenbosch property planted in 1972, 43 years old) and Lynne's favourite wine of the tasting, the L'Avenir Single Block 2014 R195 (from a vineyard on the Stellenbosch property planted in 1972, 43 years old) which has delicious hints of pine nuts on the nose with nutmeg and a sprinkle of cayenne on top of rich fruit

Ina Smith of the Chenin Blanc Association with the sponsor of the Challenge, Darius Rasool, ‎Marketing Manager at Standard Bank Group

The next course was an Asian flavoured glazed square of tender pork belly, with a crunchy vegetable slaw topped with a salted sesame nougatine. This came with Simonsig's Chenin Avec Chène 2014 R115 (from the Stellenbosch property’s oldest Chenin Blanc vineyard planted in 1986) and Spier 21 Gables 2014 R139 (from a Durbanville vineyard, 40 years plus in age)

Dead soldiers

Fourth course of confit duck roll, a swipe of sweet potato purée, a curried jus and topped with lovely onion crisps and served with green vegetables. The paired wines were Aeternitas 2010 R120 (from a 49-year-old Swartland vineyard) and Stellenrust 49 Barrel fermented 2013 Chenin R130 (from a 49-year-old vineyard in Bottelary, Stellenbosch )

And then to dessert. An old fashioned Bread and Butter pudding (we wanted much more!) with a passion fruit cream, citrus marmalade and Lynne's nightmare, rooibos ice cream, which she left on the plate. Paired with Boutinot Tea Leaf 2014 Chenin R74 (from a Piekenierskloof vineyard, 40 years plus in age and surrounded by Rooibos ) and Leopards Leap Culinaria 2014 R70 (from 90% Chenin some 30 to 40 years old and 10% Grenache Blanc, both from Voor Paardeberg)

Six of the winners

The other six

All the winners with their awards and their wines From L to R: Kobus van der Merwe, KWV. Dirk Coetzee, L'Avenir. Hannes Meyer, Simonsig. Albertus Louw, Perdeberg. Marinda Kruger-Van Eck and Donovan Rall, Boutinot. Tertius Boshoff, Stellenrust. Johan Grimbeek, Aeternitas. Carl van der Merwe, DeMorgenzon, Eugene van Zyl, Leopard's Leap. Jacques Erasmus, Spier

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This week's easy recipe is Pork fillet with Bacon Jam

We were given a jar of Bacon Jam with brandy as a gift when we visited Lush Bistro and Bakery at Vrede and Lust wine farm near Franschhoek and Lynne wanted to use it in a dish. This is remarkably easy, but first source your Bacon Jam. Other people do make this interesting condiment. It’s a rendering down of finely chopped crisp bacon, bacon fat, a kick of brandy and some slight sticky sweetness. Marvellous on eggs, or sandwiches or used as a relish with food.

Pork Fillet stuffed with Bacon Jam

1 fresh pork fillet, approx 200g - 1 jar of bacon Jam - 2 t canola or olive oil - 5 large cloves - salt and pepper

Using a sharp knife, remove any fat or silver skin from the surface of the fillet. Cut a small pocket in the fillet, but leave the ends closed. Season it inside and out. Put a generous amount of Bacon jam inside the pocket and seal up the loin with a skewer. Briefly brown the outside of the fillet in some oil or butter in a small pan. Cool slightly, then rub some more Bacon Jam on the outside and stick the five cloves into the top of the loin. Put the pan with the fillet in the oven for 10 minutes to roast; remove, cover with foil and rest for another 10 minutes. Remove the cloves and the skewer, slice thickly and serve. This goes well with baked potatoes, or try sweet potato, celeriac or butternut mash. Add lots of steamed vegetables and you have a very quick and easy meal with lots of flavour. You could add a simple meaty or wine gravy made from the pan juices and a spoonful or 2 more of the jam. Serves two.

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