Thursday, September 20, 2018

Chenin blanc Beach Party at Grand on the Beach, V&A Waterfront

Now this is what you’d call a good party! Held the day before Cape Wine 2018 began, the Chenin Blanc Association held their party on "the Beach" at the Grand Cafe next to the V&A Waterfront. We were invited to join the party, play and taste some of the best Chenins in the land. We were instructed to wear suitable beach attire and, in the grey and damp week leading up to the party, we wondered what woollen attire would be suitable (long johns with a snorkel were mentioned). But the Cape climate played ball and we had marvellous sunny and warm weather
Welcomed by a marimba band to get us into the mood. It worked.
Malu Lambert and Jan Sleet chatting
A friend with Ina Smith, Manager of the Chenin Blanc Association, which organised the great event
 What would they do without this wonderful woman who tirelessly promotes this versatile grape
A visiting foreign wine delegate tasting at Anthonij Rupert Wines' table 
Ken Forrester, Chairman of the SA Chenin Blanc Association, welcomes us all
David and Nicholas Trafford chat to a guest
Hannelize Mouton of Diemersfontein
Karen Steytler of Kaapzicht in conversation with Fleur du Cap winemaker Pieter Badenhorst
Alastair Rimmer, Cellarmaster at Kleine Zalze, tastes a Ken Forrester wine from a huge bottle
Some of Ken Forrester’s’ lovely Chenin Blancs, including the amazingly fresh 2007
Higgo Jacobs starts off the first Wine Olympics. The teams had to answer a series of questions about Chenin blanc and then participate in a competition to see who could sabrage a bottle of Ken Forrester’s Sparklehorse sparkling Chenin and send the decapitated top of the bottle through a hoop
Guy McDonald of Magic Radio was the MC and tried to keep the contestants under control
Pieter du Toit of Cederberg, aka King Neptune, was judge and jury of this hilarious competition
Attie Louw of Opstal, Sebastian Beaumont and Chris Boustred of Remhoogte
trying to get their answers straight
You can see it in their faces; they don't have a clue about the question. Not many of them did!
We got one right! Celebration. Sommeliers Neil Grant, Kim McBride and a British colleague; Winemakers Attie Louw, Sebastian Beaumont
Kimi Blackadder, Fiona McDonald, Martin Moran MW with those hoops that had to be rolled
Siobhan Thompson & Maryna Calow of WOSA, with Thea van der Merwe of Jordan,
taking a well deserved breather before Cape Wine begins
Guy MacDonald gives instructions about how the obstacle course is to be approached
Alastair Rimmer, Danie Steytler, Siobhan Thompson, Maryna Calow
Lynne enjoying the sun and the very funny entertainment
Next time we suggest flaming hoops for the dogs - oops, contestants to leap through
Pieter du Toit, aka King Neptune, watches the action
Judge Spencer Fondaumiere checking the answers! Sebastian has a problem with that answer...
The line up of warm wines for each team to "Find the Chenin"
Even the staff were amused
Such a laugh! Lynne with Jeff Grier and Lucille Botha
Chris Boustred gets tips from Sebastian Beaumont on finding the seam for Sabrage ...
... and sends that cork flying through the hoop
as does Attie Louw
David Clarke succeeds too
A tandem attempt by Kim McBride and Chris Boustred. They got a previous question wrong and had to go again. The ringed cork came from Chris, but it missed the ring
The teams having fun
MC Guy MacDonald with those really tricky questions about Chenin Blanc
Kimberly McBride, Manager at Salut Wines, Manchester serves us some of the Sabraged bubbles
Chris Boustred with their Remhoogte Chenins
The not-so-younger-generation; Graham Knox and Francois Naude having fun
Jeff Grier makes a very short speech while Anel Grobler listens in the background
Chris Boustred chatting to Jean Daneel. It was a very convivial occassion, very social with rather a lot of chenin consumed rather than tasted. Some of us had a rather tender time next day
Posted by MENU at 10:11 pm 0 comments

On the MENU this Week. Ginger Poached Pears in sweet white wine

This uses a Natural Sweet white wine. We used the Natural Sweet White from the Four Cousins range made by Van Loveren in Robertson. It is non vintage. You’ll find it in Checkers for R40 a bottle. While we sometimes enjoy a sticky, sweet wine after dinner, we do like cooking with it too. Lynne came up with the recipe for entertaining friends who will be coming back to our house after a Chinese meal together. The quantity of pears you use depends on two things: the size of the pears and how many people you are serving. A bottle of wine is enough for six pears with some syrup over for serving
4 or 6 nearly ripe firm pears – a bottle of sweet white wine, e.g. Van Loveren Natural Sweet White – a vanilla pod – 2.5cm piece of fresh ginger root – a pinch of salt – a squeeze of lemon if necessary – 1 spoonful of honey - a jar of maraschino cherries
Peel the pears. Remove the stalks, then halve them lengthways and scoop out the cores with a teaspoon. Arrange the pears, cut side up, in a circle inside a heavy bottomed frying pan with a lid, with the stalk end pointing inwards. Peel the ginger (easy to do with a teaspoon) and cut it into thin slices
Add enough of the wine to cover the pears and add the vanilla pod, the ginger slices and a pinch of salt. If your wine is not very sweet, add a dessertspoon or two of honey if necessary. Bring slowly to the boil, then turn down the heat and let it simmer gently for 15 minutes with the lid on. Then, carefully turn the pears over and continue cooking until the pears are just tender – about 15 more minutes. Check your syrup – it should be light, not reduced, and sticky; add more wine if it starts to become too thick. And taste and add more honey if it needs it. Add a dash of lemon if you find it is too sweet – sometimes the pears can add lots of sweetness. The pears will add their own beautiful flavour to the delicate syrup
When the pears are just tender, turn the heat off and, leaving the lid on, let the pears cool in the pan. They will continue cooking and give out more of their juices as they steam
Discard the ginger slices and the vanilla pod. Arrange the pears on a serving dish, cut side up. Put a maraschino cherry in the middle of each and surround them with some of the syrup. Serve chilled or at room temperature, accompanied by more syrup, whipped cream or thick Greek yoghurt
Posted by MENU at 9:54 pm 0 comments

MENU's Wine of the Week. Bellevue Estate Sauvignon blanc 2017

A classic Sauvignon Blanc with green peppers, elderflower  and some passion fruit on the nose.  Crisp and tangy, the flavours echo what is on the nose with the addition of some pineapple and litchi, cleansing the palate and adding enjoyment to food.  Long flavours, this wine is forward and easy drinking
R75 from the farm
Bellevue currently has a September Special for their 2018: Buy 5 Bellevue Sauvignon Blanc 2018 and get one bottle of Muscat d’Alexandrie 2018 added to fill your box! Was R430, now only R375. Check out their website https://bellevue.co.za/bellevue-shop/
Posted by MENU at 9:15 pm 0 comments

Sushi lunch at Fortune House, Sea Point

To our distress, our favourite Sea Point Chinese restaurant, Dynasty, has recently changed hands and has been re-named. We were looking for an alternative. Lynne found an offer on Hyperli that was hard to refuse, so we bought our coupon and headed to Fortune House for lunch this week. It is on Main Road, near the corner with Hall Road, on the beach side of the road
A bit dark inside, but there was a regular string of people ordering takeaways and several people eating in the restaurant. It is also on Mr Delivery. We asked a local what the sushi was like and she said "very good"; they order it almost weekly. Prices are reasonable
A bit night clubby, but clean and comfortable
We discovered that our waitress, Joyce, was previously employed at Dynasty
The owner is also the chef; he was very obliging and was busy making the sushi
They do not have a licence, so we took along our own wine, 
a 2015 Sea Salter Sauvignon blanc Semillon blend from Groote Post
It is crisp and full and has hints of the sea
It is a very good match to sushi
We had a plate of 30 pieces of sushi, all made there and then, with very fresh fish and excellent rice
The cost of the voucher for this was R110 and it certainly was enough for 2 people to share 
To Lynne's delight, they do not use cucumber. This offer is not on their regular menu,
but there are many different options to choose from, including several platters
We heard someone ordering dim sum dumplings, so we had to try them. You get 10 in a serving, according to the menu, but they brought us 11 with a good dipping sauce; you can have plain steamed or steamed and fried. These are the latter and the content was beef. They also have chicken. They are good and are nice and filling
A close up of a delicious dumpling
Our bill for the dumplings. We will be going back soon to try some of the other menu items
We were impressed
Posted by MENU at 6:39 pm 0 comments
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