Guests gather
in the Waterkloof restaurant and we examine a fridge full of great wines
Renée Daneel,
Francois Naude and his wife Magda
Rows of tables
automatically divided us up into teams
Norman McFarlane
and Andre van Rensburg heading for a look at the wines
What a
sensational view from the restaurant
Our host, Cees
van Casteren MW
Teddy Hall of
Teddy Hall Wines and Andre van Rensburg of Vergelegen, discussing the finer
points of winemaking
The amuse of
duck liver paté with crumbs and a mango emulsion
Duncan Savage
of Cape Point Vineyards with Tierhoek winemaker Roger Burton
Duncan with
Philip van Zyl, editor of the John Platter Guide, and David Trafford of de Trafford
wines
A selection of
stunning wines
Norman
McFarlane of The Bolander and his wife Eppy
Waiting
for the dinner to begin
We were
intrigued by this amazing collection of old wines and a port that is as old as
Lynne. They did appear later in the dinner as part of a quiz
The kitchen, getting ready to present the first course...
... lime cured Fisantekraal trout with roasted
beetroots, a wasabi cucumber sorbet,
a creamed horseradish sauce and a sesame
crisp
Cess van
Casteren MW tells us of his path to becoming Holland's second Master of Wine and
his thesis on Chenin Blanc
Head chef
Gregory Czarnecki, originally from
France, on the pass.
He places emphasis on using superb produce, sourced locally
A rapt
audience of wine people listens to Cees explain how the quiz will work later
Fellow guests at our
table included Roger Burton of Tierhoek wines and his charming
wife and Duncan Savage
Chef Gregory Czarnecki explains the night's menu
Smiling Valley
Marron, Revisited “prawn cocktail” is the menu description.
A marron is a fresh water crayfish, now being
farmed here, and this was served with a marie rose sauce, a slice of avocado, a
lovely lemon cream sauce and very interesting fritter containing marron meat
and dipped in a very sweet syrup, a sweet and savoury koeksuster? Some loved it (us), some did not
A view from
the gallery of people chatting while awaiting the next course
John sat next
to Richard Hilton of Pax Verbatim wines, Lynne sat next to Nora Sperling Thiel of Delheim, who is next to her husband Erhard
Thiel. Opposite them are Duncan Savage, Ginny Povall of Botanica Wines, Norman
McFarlane and Epi McFarlane
Cees discusses
Chenin with Richard Hilton
Ginny Povall
chats to Duncan Savage
Muratie owner Dr Rijk Melck, the
winner of the first stand up quiz, who guessed correctly that we were tasting a
left bank Bordeaux wine - 2008 Chateau Gloria from St Julien - and just pipped Joostenberg's Tyrrel Myburgh to the post
The wine we
all had to guess and there were some very interesting conclusions..
Rijk received a
very nice prize of a bottle of Château Branaire, St Julien 1986
Chef Gregory
doing the rounds and getting some very good feedback
Main course
was the most tender springbok fillet with aubergine caviar and a cream and
brandy sauce with roasted hazelnuts
Grand Cru Chateau La Lagune 1968 Haut Medoc, one of the
wines opened for the second part of the quiz, where each table had to guess the identity of the wine they were given to taste blind.
Another wine tasted was Chateau Duhart Milon Rothschild 1978 Pauillac Grand Cru Classé
Cees van
Casteren MW reads out the table quiz results.
Our table came a creditable second, correctly guessing that the wine we tasted was from Italy and Tuscan, mainly due to the
Sperling end of the table. It was Lagerla Rosso di Montalcino 2007. We were way out on the vintage, believing it to be much older. The winning table, which included Mr & Mrs André van
Rensburg, Francois and Magda Naude
and Philip and Cathy van Zyl MW, correctly guessed theirs. It was a red blend from
Chile, and they cracked the vintage: 2006.
Next came the
cheese course, a 9 month matured Healey's cheddar, served with a spiced pear tarte tatin
Duncan, looking
happy after all the wonderful wines we had tasted
The waiter
pours our dessert wine, Rudera noble late harvest
Our first dessert
was a Tellicherry Pepper Panna cotta , Cape gooseberries, smoked pear sorbet, and
muesli soil
Lynne got to
taste and take home the empty bottle of Hutcheson Port Colheita 1947 for our
cellar. There was a lot of ullage and
sediment and many of the flavours were suppressed by age, but you could still
taste the tawny port character.
Our second
dessert was coriander macaroons, fresh mango with a mango spuma and mango gel
with a lavender cake
Our urbane,
friendly and attentive Malawian waiter, Jaco Male
And finally,
friandise: wicked dark chocolate truffles, citrus pastilles, and tiny
shortbreads
The line up of
wines for the second part of the quiz
A view of the
very modern Waterkloof restaurant and Circumstance winery as we departed, with
the lights of Somerset West in the distance
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2012
