An interesting wine tasting

We started with two Swartland wines, Adi Badenhorst’s Secateurs White, a blend of Rousanne, Grenache blanc, Viognier, Chenin and Sauvignon, and Lammershoek Roulette blanc

which was a delicious way to get our palates in tune for the wines which followed. Our host then opened three most unusual wines: a Neil Rosenthal import, Coenobium 2009 from the hills round Rome – 45% trebbiano 35% malvasia, 20% verdiccio, priced at $22. This was a rich, mellow and deep white wine, quite unlike any we have tasted here.

This was followed by
Bressan Venezia Giulia, 100% pinot grigio 2004, a very deep gold/amber perdrix colour. It was quite oxidised, almost like a pinot noir in flavour.

Then we were given Sophia fruit wine 2008 (from Louis Dressner). It tasted rather like a good English West country cider, but was not as dry. It was made in an amphora from oranges and developed Naartjie & yeast flavours followed by a herbal finish of basil and oregano.

An interesting local wine, with a very humorous label was Testalonga El Bandito 2009, made by Lammershoek winemaker Craig Hawkins, a 100% chenin blanc, intense, rich, and a little oxidised, honeyed, but dry with good acidity and a big mouthfeel.

This was followed by Silwervis Egg wine, a tank sample under screwcap with a huge stink of sulphur on nose. It will be bottled next February and it will be interesting to see how it develops. Silwervis is slang for silver plastic wine bag in a box.

We then had De Trafford Chenin blanc 2001, a good demonstration that South African whites can last. Flavour was lemons at first with a chalky minerality, which was followed by caramel, marmalade, and, after a while, toffee apple flavours.

La Vierge Pinot noir 2010 was far too young. The colour has a purple tinge and the flavour is fresh strawberry jam. It is a bit too thin and lacks structure.
From here, everything became quite magnificent with a Boekenhoutskloof Cabernet  2006, a Premier Cru Chambolle Musigny (Burgundy) and a magnum of 1991 Vina Tondonia Rioja.

It was a wonderful opportunity to taste some amazing wines and we are very grateful to Michael, who was our host.

Moz-am-Bik restaurant, Ballito

We asked locals for the best restaurant for prawns and they sent us to Moz-am-bik, Boulevard Centre, corner of Jack Powel and Compensation Beach Road. This has a Moçambiquan beach bar feel,

it has Kingsley Holgate’s Dhow on the top balcony, converted to a function venue

and we had lovely Mozambican inspired food. Prices are low and, understandably, they are very successful and busy.





Lynne started with a Prawn Thermidor, 6 large peeled prawns in a rich cream, mushroom and garlic sauce accompanied by a Portuguese roll and chips (which we declined) for R56.

John had calamari tubes in a peri peri and lemon sauce with a roll to soak up the juices and they  were really stunning.

Everyone seemed to be eating the Prego rolls so we had these with chips (and another roll) for our main course (R50 each) and they made lovely crisp chips.

Bill for the 2 of us with corkage was R262.
We took along a bottle of Cape Point 2009 Stonehaven Sauvignon Blanc which we were excited to discover on sale at the local Checkers.

Manager Davin Gradwell showed us round

Dinner at the Oyster Box

The Oyster Box

The Ocean Terrace restaurant

Umhlanga Rocks Lighthouse at night

The Ocean Terrace restaurant patio

Ocean Terrace pizza oven and curry bar

A pre-dinner libation with Joanne Hayes  in the Palm Court
Sommelier Eric Botha poured the Simonsig Kaapse Vonkel

The Grill Room

Starters

Mains

Dessert

Britannia Hotel curries

Everyone in Durban says you must have a curry lunch at the old Britannia hotel. So this is where we went next and had a mutton and a chicken curry in their Capsicum restaurant. Classic curries served in a rather dark and sombre room. If you like a lot of buzz and a lot of cigarette smoke and sport on TV the place to eat (but not for us) is the bar. Super service, nice food. Don’t try to Google it, we couldn’t find it anywhere and had to phone for directions. It’s at 1266 Umgeni Road alongside the river behind the new stadium.

Litchi orchard market in Umhlali

Saturday morning, we decided to find the local Saturday Dolphin market (Busman’s holiday!) mentioned In our Information booklet (but with no signage and no address, we drove for ages and finally found the charming Litchi orchard market in Umhlali. Literally set in an orchard next to a great nursery, there were art, clothing, antiques and a very nice small food market. We met lots of lovely stall holders and bought some John Platter branded Sutherland Sauvignon Blanc from Gerard Koenig for our supper, some great chutneys, fresh veg and a couple of presents.