.

Thursday, August 01, 2013

Graham Beck Origin of Excellence lunch at the Camps Bay Retreat

The entrance to this lovely building

A very welcome glass of one of our favourite Graham Beck bubblies, the Blanc de Blanc 2008,

Served with two canapés: Beetroot cured salmon crostini and Caprese tartlets

The flight of wines we are about to taste

Chatting before we begin on this balmy day

Graham Beck cellarmaster Erika Obermeyer seated next to André Morgenthal of WOSA (Wines of South Africa)

The glorious view

The red wines, lined up

The whites cooling in an ice bath

And we begin

The media and Graham Beck staff: Tasting, listening, writing and tweeting: multi-tasking at its best. On the left winemaker Rocco de Villiers; Sales Ambassador Kerry Kirby, Nelia Vivier of Get It Magazine, Erika, André Morgenthal, Chloe Canderle and, on the right, Christiane Von Ulmenstein, Jonathan Snashall, PRO Nicolette Waterford, Greg Landman of Country Life and Lynne

Magnificent view of the Atlantic with our tasting table through the Dutch style door

Into the dining room for lunch: Jonathan Snashall, Erika, Chris von Ulmenstein, Graham Beck Sales Ambassador Chloe Canderle, Global Sales & Marketing Exec Etienne Heyns, André Morgenthal of WOSA. Sales Ambassador Kerry Kirby Winemaker Rocco de Villiers , PRO Nicolette Waterford, Nelia Vivier of Get It magazine and Lynne

They served a really well balanced and perfectly cooked five course menu, if you count the canapés

First Course: small butternut ravioli with sage and walnut beurre noisette. Comment: delicious, but we all wanted more. Served with the well-matched Bowed Head 2011 Chenin Blanc

Etienne, Photographer Danie Nel and Chloe Canderle

A plethora of glasses awaiting wines with each course

The second course: an excellent tranche of belly of pork with a smoked apple butter and a crackling twirl. Served with The William 2009 and The Ridge Syrah 2011

Discussion in and about the wine industry over lunch. Spot another attendee on the left, Radio personality Guy McDonald of Good Hope FM

The main course of pepper encrusted fillet with a mushroom jus and truffle frites. This was served with a herb and parmesan shaving salad and some well roasted vegetables with feta and balsamic reduction. Tender beef, good flavours. Only gripe for some was the overcooking of the fillet, others were perfect. Oh you noticed, this is John’s portion sans the mushroom jus. Accompanied by the 2011 Coffeestone Cabernet and The Joshua 2011

Dessert was a rich macadamia topped cheesecake served with a sublime salted caramel ice cream which sang when matched with the Rhona Muscadel.

Etienne Heyns and Kerry Kirby

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Elgin Pinot Noir Tweet-Up Tasting

We were invited to participate in this event this morning. The venue was Caroline's Fine Wine Cellar in Strand Street.

We tasted 13 Pinots from Elgin.

Simultaneously, the same wines were tasted by the winemakers at Paul Cluver in Elgin and the tweets from both venues were posted on a screen

and a table of wine professionals and writers began to taste and tweet

Norman McFarlane conferring with Karen Glanfield, who convened the event

The first flight....

and the tweets demand concentration

in a corner of Caroline's extensive cellar with its huge selection of wines

A great selection of Pinots. See the tweets at #elginwine

Wine Merchants - Caroline Rillema and Mike Bampfield Duggan of Wine Concepts
Visit Caroline's Red Wine Review next Wednesday and Wine Concepts Sauvignon Celebration next month. See details in our Events Calendar

Bennett Street venue launch

A welcome glass of Rickety Bridge with a rare picture of the photographer at his craft – see in the mirror

Sean Skibbe, winemaker at South Hill, telling us about his wines

A guest with a blue lagoon

and the whisky tasting

Lots of takers for the World's Most Awarded Single Malt – Glenfiddich

Guests were function organisers, travel trade professionals, film and ad agency people, conference organisers and some media

Chris von Ulmenstein with one of the friendly Gold staff and a platter of sweet and spicy paper-wrapped prawns (filo actually)

The upstairs terrace where the smokers congregated

Everybody enjoying the event

TA DA! The opening ceremony of the Bennett Street function venue.

In the plastic bubble, an electronic violin player, next to a table set for a celebration dinner, as an example of what they offer

The Violinist was very, very good

Behind the table, a nice comfortable seating area with couches and comfortable chairs and, behind that, the long bar

Launching their venue, Kevin King and Jan van Huysteen

The bar, fully stocked

The dance floor, with seating all around, and it has an upstairs section as well

The view of the room from the upper level. Note all the interchangeable lighting

And in another area, a formal dining area

or space for smaller more intimate functions

The manager tells us what the venue has to offer

Cindy Muller tells us what Gold can add to your experience

We were treated to a drumming performance by the Gold staff

The Mali puppets

African singing and dances

Kevin King introduces us to their short film, which you need to see as it shows all the many different applications for which the venue has been and can be used