Wine Magazine's Brenn-o-Kem Shiraz Challenge Awards

Wednesday, July 20th 2011

Wine magazine's Shiraz Awards lunch, which had elements of a wake, was at Catharina's on Steenberg wine estate in Constantia. Garth Almazan's excellent food was paired with the winning wines. It was a beautiful, clear mid-winter day, the only sad note being the imminent closure of the magazine. Of the 165 wines tasted, only one wine received 4.5 Stars and was an outright winner. Eight faulty wines were not scored, which left 5.7% of the wines scoring 4 Stars, 8.3% scoring 3.5 Stars and 22.6% receiving 3 Stars. a five-person panel (Carrie Adams, Miguel Chan, Karl Lambour, Angela Lloyd and James Pietersen) tasted the wines blind and assessed them using the 20-point/5-Star scoring system. Carrie Adams, the co-ordinator of the judging panel, said that the overall quality of the wines was very good, but that there was too much brettanomyces infection in the submissions. The outright winner, Land's End Shiraz from Hidden Valley, made by Louis Nel, was well clear of the others. The Best Value Award winner was Obikwa 2010, which earned 2½ stars.

Steenberg manor house

Alan Ramsay, Stuart Lowe and Michael Olivier

Norman McFarlane and Friends

Lynne with Cathryn Henderson

Judging co-ordinator Carrie Adams, dressed for a chilly Johannesburg

Dave Hidden with his Award-winning Land's End (Hidden Valley) Shiraz, made by Louis Nel.

Garth Almazan, Catharina’s Executive Chef

Higgo Jacobs, Sommelier

The lunch dishes:

fresh salmon cured in biltong spice, red wine jus, served with the Value wine winner, Obikwa Shiraz 2010.

Chargrilled springbok loin, served with the Award-winning Land's End Shiraz.

Chocolate trilogy

Cathryn Henderson, Publishing Editor

Celia Gilloway, Events Co-ordinator

Kate Clohessy, Events & competitions assistant

Lynne, Samm Bain, Wine National Sales Manager and Andrew Moth, Hotel & Restaurant Editor

Stuart Lowe, Managing Director

Brandon de Kock, Group Content Director

Allan Mullins CWM

Alan Mullins with Lauren Cohen

Angela Lloyd 

Kim Maxwell, Michael Bampfield-Duggan, Mel Minnaar, Michael Olivier, James Pietersen CWM 

James Pietersen, Karl Lambour, Nikki Werner, Kim Maxwell, Mike Bampfield-Duggan, Mel

Minnaar 

Garth Almazan and his team 

Norman McFarlane

Kobus du Toit, Brenn-O-Kem CEO

Greg Landman

Kathy Marston, Garth Almazan and Dax Villanueva

Dax Villanueva (Relax with Dax)

Graham Howe

Fork's Joubert-Tradauw food and wine pairing

The Menu: 
Amuse bouche: Vietnamese chicken broth with glass noodles, mint basil and chilli
Joubert-Tradauw Chardonnay 2010/Poached sole with prawn mousse and bisque cream

Joubert-Tradauw Chardonnay 2008/Grilled tiger prawn wrapped in pancetta

Red wine granita

Joubert-Tradauw Bordeaux Blend 2006/Mini kudu filet with chocolate sauce

Joubert-Tradauw Bordeaux Blend 2008/Cep mushroom and truffle risotto

Joubert-Tradauw Syrah 2006/Beef fillet on crouton and mushrooms with red wine sauce

Joubert-Tradauw Syrah 2008/Pan seared ostrich fillet with a sweet and sour chutney and rosemary honey dressing

Flourless chocolate cake

Tokara lunch

After visiting Rickety Bridge, Mont Rochelle and Grande Provence,

we had a superb lunch at Tokara - Richard Carstens' amazing food paired with Miles Mossop's Tokara wines. Jaap-Henk Koelewijn, sommelier made the excellent wine suggestions

baked Alaska rainbow trout with meringue baked on top, smoked salmon ice cream, citrus salsa, salmon caviar, ginger soya & mirin sauce – paired with Miles Mossop Saskia 09

Chicken, crisp pancetta, prawn, 62°C egg, almond & sofrito - with Tokara Director's Reserve White

Kabeljou, pan seared and finished in the oven with chlorophyll potato crème, sauce bouillabaisse and al dente seasonal vegetables - paired with Zondernaam Chardonnay 2010

Pork belly, celeriac purée, coffee yuzu gastrique,  hazelnuts, mint  & white chocolate oil - paired with Tokara Reserve Stellenbosch Chardonnay 2009

Lemon, mascarpone mousse, white chocolate sorbet, meringue & almond financier

Hazelnut ice cream, pistachio sponge, aerated chocolate, coulant, streusel & honeycomb

After settling our bill, we had a chat with Miles Mossop in the tasting room