The
entrance to the Cape Town International Convention Centre
A
welcoming glass of Simonsig bubbly with Johan Malan, Rianie Strydom of Dombeya
Wines, Mrs Malan and Lynne
The
line-up of winners being served with dinner
The
vast ballroom held over 600 people for dinner and the awards ceremony
Announcing
the awards to rapt attention by all concerned
The menu
in two languages
10
on each table meant a lot of silver and glassware
Charles
Hopkins, Cellarmaster of De Grendel was presenting the awards
You
know how they always say unidentified fish always tastes like chicken - and vice versa? These
were rather cold fish goujons which did indeed taste of chicken and had a very
similar stringy texture. The addition of cumin flavoured hummus was good but
made it even more like chicken.
Finally
we get to taste some red wine - Delaire Graff’s Merlot which won a silver. Good
but needs much more time
A
warm main course of perfectly pink lamb cutlets, an unctuous confited potato,
fresh asparagus, a good flavourful lamb sausage and some butternut, mushrooms.
It was enjoyable. But what slivers of fresh cucumber, baby onions and small
tomatoes were also doing on the plate is the question – too busy and not
necessary. Best food we have eaten at
the convention centre – so far.
Table
companions Emma Moffat, winemaker at Hidden Valley, with her Double Gold medal
for their 2013 Sauvignon Blanc with Anita Streicher, who handles their sales
and marketing
Good
cheese platter with a slice of the SA Cheese of the year Dalewood’s Hugenot.
And behind it a glass of jelly and custard. OK the description read
“Pomegranate verrine (Wikipedia:
A verrine is originally a small thick-glass container with no base
(?), which purpose is to contain a solid or liquid dish (starter, course or dessert),
rather than a drink.) Panna Cotta with pomegranate jelly and a salad of
orange, grapefruit, sweet pea tendrils (!) and Madeira croutons with shards of
black pepper meringue. Hard red jelly on
thick custard with far too much else on top.
The shard of ‘meringue’ was the most interesting thing on the dish being
a possible molecular gastronomy event. It melted in the mouth and was hot and
peppery. We pinched a couple from
uneaten desserts, of which there were a few.
Lots
of different styles of dancing when the disco started after the awards
presentation.
Carel
Nel of Boplaas and his winemaker daughter Margaux, absolutely delighted with
their many awards: 5 double golds, six golds and 3 silvers.
Dr Winnie
Bowman celebrating the Boplaas medals with Carel Nel
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2013
Nikon DSLR ruined the cut of the dinner jacket, so these were taken with a Nokia Lumia 920 phone
Nikon DSLR ruined the cut of the dinner jacket, so these were taken with a Nokia Lumia 920 phone
