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Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Glen Carlou celebrates 30 years of wine making with the release of their new wines from Johnnie Calitz’s first harvest

We were invited to celebrate this 30th anniversary over lunch, which was paired with the new wines. Glen Carlou is on the Simondium Road in the Paarl vineyards, at the foothills of the renowned Simonsberg Mountain; the road you travel down to get to Franschhoek. Owned for many years by the Hess family, the farm has recently been sold to the Pactolus Consortium, whose chairman is Wayne Pitout, a leading figure in the mobile data industry. We were told, "Today begins a new season at Glen Carlou"

We were from collected the V&A Waterfront by bus, which departed from the V&A Hotel near the Cape Wheel. It was a glorious day

A popular event, especially when they provide transport, which is much appreciated

Glen Carlou's restaurant and tasting room is in a lovely building, built when Walter Finlayson owned the farm. Glass panels in the floor give a view of the underground barrel maturation cellar

Inside this lovely thatched building, tables were set for the event

Ah, twin minds. Neil Pendock and Greg Landman in matching shirts. And no, they didn't consult each other

Time to taste the wines. We began with the Unwooded Chardonnay which has pears and white peaches on the nose and palate, with limes and good minerality. And the 2017 Sauvignon Blanc with an almost muscat perfume on the nose, full of tastes of tropical fruit, guavas and limes from Darling fruit and a long finish. Here Fiona MacDonald, Greg Landman and Sue Wardrop get their first pour

The canapés were superb. Fresh salmon gravadlax with salmon caviar and marinated shaved fennel

Lorna and Dave Hughes enjoying the day and the wine (um, Dave ... is that a beer in your glass? Recovering from last night's Tribute dinner?). It was a beer, from CBC Brewery across the valley

Very fresh oysters and there were also lamb crostini

Time to begin, with MD Johan Erasmus welcoming us. Time to celebrate the 30th Vintage, which is also the first vintage for the new shareholders and winemaker Johnnie Calitz, who joined in December 2016. Today begins a new season at Glen Carlou

An attentive audience

The menu

We had the 2017 Curator’s Collection Sauvignon Blanc next. This was served with a fish rillette topped with radish and served with pressed cucumber and a beetroot ketchup

Next came a small salad of tomato, strawberry and bocconcini mozzarella - the dressing of tarragon and tomato water seemed to be missing as was the seasoning?

It was paired with the delightful 2017 Pinot Noir Rosé which has a nice tongue tingle and lots of strawberries, light and refreshing, a very nice summery wine. It made a good dressing for the salad

Next, a Spring pea soup, poured at the table with a piece of chicken thigh, some crisp chicken skin and some cured bacon bits. Before the pour

and after. A really lovely PPPPP soup. This was served with the six month wooded Curator’s Collection Chenin Blanc, full of golden fruit, tropical flavours and some oxidative lees character at the end

Winemaker Johnnie Calitz talked us through some of the wines. He says that the 2017 Sauvignon Blanc is primary fruit, uncomplicated, to enjoy. The Rosé goes with everything except, perhaps, cocoa pops and the Pinot Noir is made to age in the bottle

A line up of the bottles

The next wine was the Quartz Stone 2016 wooded Chardonnay with wood notes on the nose; it is a lively wine with good peaches and limes, rounded off with wood, an excellent Chardonnay

Our next course was a twice baked Parmesan and gorgonzola cheese soufflé, light as air, with good deep cheese flavours and served with a walnut pesto, dill and an apple and leek slaw

Thank heavens the courses were small, as there were so many of them. The kitchen was doing a sterling job. Next came the slices of beef fillet with grilled asparagus, horseradish, unctuous bone marrow and a lovely jus. It was paired with the 2011 Gravel Quarry Cabernet Sauvignon, with incense wood and cassis on the nose, rich berries, cherries and warm alcohol on the palate. Not long

Dessert was a wobbly and mousse-y lemon cheesecake , served with lemon curd, frozen lemon yoghurt, candied lemon, a nutty crumble .... and olive oil. Served with a glass of 2015 The Welder, Natural Sweet Chenin Blanc. The wine was really good with the lemon sweetness of the dessert. The olive oil got a bit in the way, especially of the sweetness

The end to a marvellous day of great wines, and lovely food. We were able to salute and thank the chefs and the kitchen staff and our serving staff. We can heartily recommend the wines, the venue and the Glen Carlou restaurant

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Showcasing Ormonde wines at The Taj Hotel in September

Ormonde wines from Darling are being showcased at The Taj hotel in Cape Town for the month of September. This is a taste teaser for the chef’s pairing dinners with the wine estate’s wines throughout the month. They were presenting their Barrel selection range. Ormonde and The Taj hosted an early evening launch last Thursday evening in the foyer of the hotel and we were invited. The present owner of Ormonde is Theo Basson. The farm is large, 3500 hectares with 380 planted with grapes. They also produce the Alexanderfontein wines. They say "the Darling hills are on contours of an ancient granite intrusion. These molten rocks, forced from the earth to 300m above sea level, guard the Atlantic Ocean while banks of fog roll to the foot of the hills, blessing the vineyard with coolness and moisture". And they produce grapes of such quality that there are many wine farms in other areas that buy these superb grapes for their wines

Adre Rheeder, COO of Ormonde was there to meet and greet the guests

One of two white wines on offer, the 2016 Sauvignon Blanc; typical Darling grapes, tropical guava and hay, a good mouth feel with crisp and dry gooseberries, figs and limes and some soft tannins

The wines were served by one of the Taj staff members to hotel and invited guests

Adre and Samantha Koegelenberg who is responsible for Ormonde's sales and marketing

Canapés were served. This is a version of Caprese salad; pesto tomato and mozzarella on bread

Mini cheese croquettes

The 2014 wooded Chardonnay with whiffs of smoke, golden apricots and hay. An intriguing nose. A good tingle of fruit acid, rich fruit, cooked apples and marmalade, nicely blended with the wood. A food wine of good character. Very quaffable too!

Two premium wines from their collection in a showcase, named after the two grandfathers of the Basson family who own Ormonde. The Ormonde Vernon Basson a Bordeaux style red. Vernon Basson was present owner Theo Basson's grandfather and The Vernon Basson wine is dedicated to their founding principal and grandfather who lived by the creed, "Mediocrity is never an option". The Theodore Eksteen, a blend of Shiraz and Grenache is named for the grandfather and patriarch to his descendants who own Ormonde

There were three good red wines for tasting

Some sauced beef mini sosaties

The Ormonde 2015 Pinot Noir is aromatic and perfumed with cherries and fynbos herbs. The sweet cherry fruit carries over to the palate with the addition of salt and licorice, most enjoyable

The 2014 Ormonde Shiraz has incense wood and spice with raspberries and red fruit on the nose. Dark mulberry fruit, some warmth and more of that salty licorice on the palate. Some grippy tannins which soften to dark caramel toffee wood on the end. Another food wine

The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon is a classic with cassis and violets on the nose and palate, with some dark malt and black cherries. The wood supports in the background

Some beef rolls with carrot and rocket went well with the red wines

and were also good with the Sauvignon

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Friday, September 08, 2017

This Week’s MENU. Matjiesfontein continued, Sutherland, Winemag Sauvignon blends, Dave Hughes benefit, Steenberg launch, Two Seasons Broth, Nguni Malbec

Bud break signals the end of winter in the vineyards in front of Buitenverwachting’s 18th Century Cape Dutch manor house in Constantia

Another hectic week. We continue the story of our jaunt to the Karoo and have stories to tell you of wonderful wines and a dinner in honour of one of our South African wine industry’s legendary figures, so please read on...

Matjiesfontein and The Lord Milner Hotel, continued

We awoke refreshed to see nice weather, much warmer than we thought it would be. We went down to breakfast to find that there are two options, or both combined. You can have just the buffet breakfast, or something cooked off the menu or both. We started with some juice, black coffee - real, from a dispenser, a little weaker than we like it - and a very good mini croissant from the buffet.

Visiting the South African Astronomical Observatory at Sutherland

We would have liked to have gone to see the stars at night from SAAO at Sutherland, but driving 110 kilometres in the dark there and back from Matjiesfontein was not for us. Another time, we hope to stay in Sutherland and do that tour. The observatory is so high that it has the best view of the skies in South Africa and it is far away from any light pollution

Winemag Sauvignon Blanc Semillon Blend & Wooded Sauvignon Blanc Report 2017

Held at Nitida, this annual award deserves attention; and a sponsor. South African wine drinkers, you are missing a trick! Do we need to bang heads together to get you to pay attention? It is just not cool to ignore blends and only drink single varietals. Many of the famous, most lauded wines of the world are blends - Bordeaux's red and whites particularly. You do not know what you are missing. Yes, some of the bulk producers are filling tanks with bulk wine and selling it cheap as weekend wine, but at the top end of the scale, you find examples like these superb wines. Go on, get with the In Crowd and buy a bottle of one of the wines below and see how it changes your life. Only in South Africa do people ignore the best wines being made for them. The rest of the world snaps them up. To quote wine writer Jancis Robinson, "... Semillon alone is rarely responsible for great white Bordeaux. ... it is in conjunction with Sauvignon Blanc that it displays its dazzling best”

Steenberg Celebrates the release of their new range of wines

We were invited to Steenberg's Bistro Sixteen82 on the first day of Spring to come and celebrate the release of their three new wines, all named after the ships involved in the Battle of Muizenberg: a 2017 Ruby Rosé, The Sphynx 2017 Chardonnay and the 2015 Stately Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz blend, which would be served with lunch. The grapes for these wines come from other areas like Robertson

A tribute to a living Legend in the South African wine industry. Dave Hughes

We attended the second dinner and wine auction last week. It was held at Neethlingshof Wine Estate. Why two? There were so many people wanting to pay tribute to Dave Hughes, that they had to have two. Neethlingshof donated the venue; the food and the wines served were also donated, the chefs gave their time to the cause and all of the wine in the auction was also donated. He is much loved and respected in the industry

What's on the MENU this week: Two Seasons Broth

Winter and Spring are vying for attention at the moment, some days are warm with spring berg winds, then the North Westerlies sweep in across the sea and bring chill and welcome rain. This week's soup can be served in either weather. It is fresh and light with some Asian flavours but full of warmth from the fresh ginger and five spice powder. It is a great way to use up left over roast pork or chicken. And you can add a dash of Tabasco or chilli sauce should you wish it warmer. If you use raw meat or chicken add them just after the leeks and onion and make sure they are cooked through before serving. If you want to make this vegetarian you can. You could use mushrooms or silken tofu

1 T oil - 2 leeks, sliced - 1 small onion, chopped - 2 diced carrots - 1 fennel bulb, finely sliced and chopped - 1 clove of garlic, chopped - 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger - ½ teaspoon five spice powder - 180g cooked pork or cooked chicken, chopped - 750 ml chicken stock - 50g green bean noodles or egg noodles - ¼ cup fresh bean sprouts - ¼ cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley - ¼ cup chopped celery tops - 2 or 3 spring onions, trimmed and sliced - salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

In a large saucepan, sauté the leeks and onion in the oil till they are transparent and soft, then add the carrots and the fennel and continue to cook for a couple more minutes. Put in the garlic and ginger and five spice powder, stir to warm through and then add the meat or chicken and the stock. Let this simmer for about 15 minutes. Add the noodles and cook until they are done. Then add the sprouts and the herbs and season to taste. Just before serving add the spring onions

MENU's Wine of the Week Nguni Malbec 2015

Malbec is apparently the fastest selling wine in Europe and, while much is made in Argentina, Australia is busy planting quite a lot of it. We have some here in South Africa, often used as a component of blends but it is only 0.5% of our 'national vineyard'. Darling has 9 hectares and is producing some very lush wine. This wine comes from négociant Charles Withington who owns the Darling Wine Shop. It is grown on Oranjefontein farm in Darling. Nguni are the colourful indigenous African cattle. Charles sent us a bottle to try and we liked it so much that it is our wine of the week

It has that typical Malbec savoury herbal nose, with prunes and incense wood. On the palate, it’s full of soft sweet berries, cherries and prunes, soft chalky tannins, marmite salt and perfume

Who could resist? R90 from Charles Withington, who delivers. http://darlingwine.co.za/shop/ Or, you could do yourself a favour and go and visit Darling for their Spring flower show next week and grab some then. Darling Wildflower Show www.darlingwildflowers.co.za/ We’ll be there too, on Friday 15th

8th September 2017

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Recommendations of products and outside events are not solicited or charged for, and are made at the authors’ pleasure. All photographs, recipes and text used in these newsletters and our blogs are © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus. Our restaurant reviews are usually unsolicited. We prefer to pay for our meals and not be paid in any way by anyone. Whether we are invited or go independently, we don’t feel bad if we say we didn’t like it. Honesty is indeed our best policy. While every effort is made to avoid mistakes, we are human and they do creep in occasionally, for which we apologise. This electronic journal has been sent to you because you have personally subscribed to it or because someone you know has asked us to send it to you or forwarded it to you themselves. Addresses given to us will not be divulged to any person or organisation. We collect them only for our own promotional purposes. If you wish to be added to our mailing list, please click here to send us a message and if you wish to be removed from our mailing list, please click here to send us a message.

MENU's Wine of the Week. Nguni Malbec 2015

It has that typical Malbec savoury herbal nose, with prunes and incense wood. On the palate, it’s full of soft sweet berries, cherries and prunes, soft chalky tannins, marmite salt and perfume

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