A malachite sunbird shows off
his brilliant colour
In
this week’s MENU:
A busy week
Wine
Concepts Champagne Festival
Annual Summer Picnic at Nederburg
Kershaw Elgin Wines
Genevieve MCC lunch
Jordan Bakery and Deli
Confit duck
This week’s Product menu: Christmas is only just around
the corner and we do have most of the things you like to buy from us. But
PLEASE don’t leave it to the last minute to get them from us as our suppliers
have limited supplies this year and we are only carrying a limited number of
each item and just ordering what we need as sales so far have been slow. Have a
look at our on-line shop and order now.
Our market activities Come and visit us at the Old Biscuit
Mill’s wonderfully exciting, atmospheric Neighbourgoods
Market, as always, this Saturday and every Saturday between 09h00 and 14h00. Tip:
Some visitors tell us how they struggle to find parking. It’s quite easy if you
know how. Click here for a map which shows where we park.
As usual, we have a link at the bottom to our calendar of wine and food related events which should interest all
lovers of great food and wine and events which promote them. We have always had
a few from centres outside the Western Cape, but we now have enough to justify
a separate list, so, if you live in one of the other splendid places in our
lovely country, have a look. If you are promoting an event in any of
these places, please let us know and we’ll add it to the list.
So you think you have had a busy week? We are in the
middle of the busiest period we have encountered this year and for 14 days we
are nose to tail at really great events, one of which included John’s birthday
which we tried to do justice too without letting him down due to lack of
preparation time. Many of our readers say ”We don’t know how you do it all” and
we usually say “but we are having such a great time”. We certainly are, but
even we are finding this a little challenging. Just organising life around the
work and fun gets pushed into corners a bit and means more late nights and
early mornings. But we are not complaining, we love our life.
Last Friday lunchtime saw us at the well organised Craft Beer
Festival held at Hamilton’s Rugby Club on the Green Point Common.
You may think of us as wine people but we both really love good beer of all
types, local and international. John has been brewing since he was in his 20s
and we love the new push for great craft ales and beers that is going on in the
country. We beat the weekend crowds by going early and tasted some very, very
good, some extremely interesting and sadly one or two misdirected and just a
couple of weak and wobbly beers. The food available was good (Lynne had some
very good US ribs) but minimal and we hope they had a marvellous festival,
which you all attended so it can be repeated next year. Click here for the photos.
Wine Concepts Champagne Festival This was a very glamorous, smart and fun
evening indeed. Held at the Vineyard hotel last Friday evening, this year people
really embraced the Moulin Rouge theme and there were some very good costumes.
Of course, there were also some extremely good French Champagnes, notable for
us was the Taittinger, the Ruinart, Pol Roger and one of Lynne’s all time
favourites, Piper Heidsieck, but there were a few new marques as well, some
exciting, some sadly not. We think we are spoilt here with our own really
impressive Method Cap Classiques so, when you encounter a flabby French
champagne, it gives one pause for thought. But a good French Champagne can be
legendary. If you missed this, check out the photographs here and
do remember to book for next year.
Annual Summer Picnic at Nederburg It was delightful to be invited to the Summer Picnic
at Nederburg last Saturday. We sat on the lawn in the late afternoon sun, looked
at the magnificent Paarl Mountains and the beautiful manor house, enjoyed a
super concert and ate their very good and generous picnic, drank some wine and
then arrived home in time for a relaxing evening.
The concert started at 17h00 and gates opened at 15h00
to allow everyone enough time to choose a picnic spot on the sprawling lawns.
We packed up at the Biscuit Mill and flew down the motorway to Paarl. Places
were available on a first come, first served basis and we found a lovely shady
area on the side under the trees for our chairs and our picnic basket. Concert
tickets cost R100 while, for children under 12, entrance was free. The Sterling
EQ instrumental pop group and the multitalented South African Sopranos
entertained us well for two hours while we enjoyed the beautiful late afternoon
sunshine and our picnic.
You could pre-order a picnic basket from the Red Table
restaurant, and it was a very generous basket of freshly-prepared dishes made
from locally sourced ingredients, for R180 per person. Individual brie, onion
and bacon quiches, tender chicken kebabs, meatballs, a good salad with roasted
butternut, beetroot and feta with leaves, a chocolate and date cake and more. Pictures here. Guests were able to
bring their own picnic, but all wines had to be bought there. Sadly, there was
a fairly limited selection available from the Winemaker’s Reserve range and the
two white wines we had, one which came with the picnic and one which we bought
as an alternative were rather sweeter than we like and quite understated in quality,
so the balance of each came home with us. It was a bit like slipping back to
the wines of the 1980s. We loved the event and can’t understand why Nederburg
do not continue these picnics all through the summer.
A Passion for wine This week, we attended the launch of the
Kershaw Elgin Wines. Richard Kershaw is a British Master of Wine who now lives
in Elgin and we have seldom encountered anyone more passionate and
knowledgeable about his subject or his wine. On Monday, we went to Rodwell
House in St James for a tasting of all the clones he chose to put into his
newly released 2012 Chardonnay and Syrah. Richard calls himself a clonehead and
we discovered that the amount of knowledge and detail he has amassed about the
clones, terroir, climate, viticulture, and the many other things that affect
the vines he selects, nurtures and picks is truly amazing. He gave us a very
informative Powerpoint presentation and then we tasted the wines made from the
individual chardonnay (CY76, CY96, & CY95) and Shiraz (90 & 22) clones
and the finished wines, blended from these clones. This was not something we
have done before and it was a hugely valuable learning curve. Each wine had
quite distinct differences and yet each, while adding to the finished wine,
contributed something important to the blend. Not all were entirely pleasant on
their own but, in the structure and finesse of the final blend, you could
detect their influence. This Chardonnay is clean and crisp and elegant with
multi layered minerality, deep flavours of white peaches and citrus. An
important wine that has already won an impressive award, being one of this year’s
5 star Platter wines. The clones all show the wood structure quite markedly; it
is (thankfully) almost undetectable in the finished blend, but holds the wine
together. His Syrah, which will be released in March, was very similar in makeup,
with the two clones used both showing complimentary characteristics which came
together to make a very interesting wine. It has a waxy, very spicy nose with
rich dark wood mixed with rhubarb and violets and keeps on opening up giving
different aromas. It has a full mouth of soft red berries and lovely gentle
chalky tannins. The curry spices also appear on the palate and add to its
complexity. We think these wines have a bright future and Richard has a novel
way to sell them as he is going to start a Clonehead Club, where members will
get an allocation as production is quite small. Photographs here.
Genevieve MCC Melissa Nelsen seems to have a passion for
life, for her brand and, certainly, for Genevieve, her marvellous Methode Cap
Classique. When she first launched this lovely wine, we were one of the first
wine shops to sell it and we have remained firm fans ever since. On Tuesday, we
and several others in the wine industry were invited to Bot River to taste the
vintages she has made, along with a lunch created especially for her by the Eat
Out Chef of the Year David Higgs, who had flown down from the Saxon in
Johannesburg to prepare this feast. We were taken by bus on a very different
road, the old Van der Stel Pass, and found ourselves in a very pretty rural
setting at an old farmhouse, seated under a marquee in the garden. We drank
lots of the 3 vintages – all Chardonnay Blanc de Blanc brut – and especially
her maiden 2008 with which she was aided by the late lamented Ross Gower. The
golden 2008 has age showing and if you have the goût anglais and like these
older, more oxidised sparkling wines, this would be to your taste. Bready,
grapes, pears and gooseberries with some nuts on the nose, it is full of stewed
apples and pears with a little cinnamon on the end on the palate and is
fantastic with rich desserts. The 2009 is, as Melissa puts it the Fat Child,
bready and yeasty brioche with butter, not as crisp as the current release, but
still very lively and is full of limes and oranges - even marmalade on the end
- but is, sadly, no longer on the market. The crisp and elegant 2010 is
delightful with a fine mousse, lots of crisp citrus and brioche and is a great
celebration wine.
We ate marvellous food and then Melissa announced her
surprise, the launch of her own perfume also entitled Genevieve. Made to echo
the aroma notes in the wine, it weaves together notes of lime, apples and pear
with a yeasty caramel undertone. We all got samples and so enjoyed the great
day out in the country. Photos here.
Jordan Bakery and Deli George Jardine is known for
superb food, but he also has a reputation as a very talented baker and it seems
a logical progression for him to open a bakery on Jordan. It will also be a
deli and we were thrilled to bring home a sample of some bacon he has made.
Jordan is currently celebrating 30 years of
Viticulture and 21 years of making wine. So into the wine cellar we went, where
Gary Jordan took us through a very interesting presentation of how the farm
evolved before we tasted through some of the older Chardonnay, Nine Yards
Chardonnay and Cabernets and Cobblers Hill red blend. SO interesting to see how
the wines have progressed and to compare with some newer vintages. The first
wine we tasted was the Jordan Barrel fermented 1996 Chardonnay and it was
remarkable how young and fresh it still is: buttery golden plums, English
gooseberries and peaches on the nose and warm complex toast, lemons and limes
on the palate. The 2006 Nine Yards Chardonnay also has golden fruit with bready
elegance on the nose and a full mouth of sweet lemons and limes with a great
length of juicy fruit and shows as a great wine to accompany rich food. The
current release of 2010 has fynbos herbs, complex French perfume and brioche on
the nose with long crisp elegant flavours and was the only one still showing
wood but just a light toast and this is followed with same lemons and limes.
With a similar length and depth to the 2006, it is another food wine and will
only get better and better. The 1993 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon has a block
buster black berry, vanilla and herb nose so approachable and classic but is a
little soft on the palate. Drink now. While the 1995 with its rose, violet and
black berry nose, it is full of rich fruits, vanilla, forest floor, red and
black currents and great wood structure on the palate and is stunning. We covet
this but drink this soon as well if you are lucky enough to have any. The last
three wines were all Cobblers Hill and our favourite was the 1999 with the 14%
Cabernet Franc visible in the blend Lynne has written “Drink now, but often”
about this rich red fruit on vanilla oak wine which is still evolving and the
2005 is following very closely behind with so much potential. With chalky
tannins, great cassis and cherry fruit, even some almond extract, these long
deep flavours still need more time to mature. It was a wonderful tasting.
We then proceeded to the new deck area under the trees
in front of the winery, where a generous spread of George Jardine’s different
breads was laid out. This was accompanied by charcuterie, pickles, chutneys,
relishes and cheese. We also thoroughly enjoyed a very good fresh and spicy
gazpacho, followed by a marvellous piece of hake that had been baked inside
some bread dough. Tender, fresher than morning and perfectly seasoned, it is a
fantastic way to showcase what is regarded by many as a very humble fish and
which we think is a jewel. This was accompanied by tender sweet new peas and
potatoes in butter. We also had a small selection of pastries for dessert and
tried out the remains of the older vintages of Jordan wine to see how well they
went with food and, of course, they were a splendid match. Photographs can be seen here.
Confit of Duck Did you know you can make
this absolutely delicious dish yourself and it is not exactly a huge ask?
Except for one thing: The quality and age of the ducks we have available to us.
Lynne spent the last few days confiting duck for John’s birthday dinner and to
say it was less than a success would be putting it mildly as, despite cooking
for over 7 hours, the duck, which tasted very good, had the consistency of
tensile steel. We will give you the recipe here in case you want to try it for
yourself but do try to get young duckling of known provenance. And we mean
white duck not all those Egyptian geese proliferating in the countryside. You
can buy the duck fat or goose fat from us. If you don’t want to bother, we also
have tins of ready made French duck confit. 2 legs or 4 to 5 leg and we can
even get larger tins for special occasions, like Christmas.
Four whole duck legs – sea salt – a sprig or two of
fresh thyme – 1 jar of duck or goose fat – 4 T honey – 1 t orange zest, or 1 t
five spice powder or any flavour of your choice.
You need to start making this a couple of days before
you serve it. Cover the duck legs all over in a liberal coating of salt and put
into a container where they are confined, with the thyme, into the fridge for
at least 24 hours to cure, turning occasionaly. Then wipe off all the salt but
do not wash the legs, you need them nice and dry. The salt cure will remove a
lot of the liquid in them. If you need to wash off the salt, pat them dry then
leave them for an hour or so in the fridge. Pack them neatly and tightly into a
casserole and make sure you cover them with the duck fat. Put them into a
preheated oven that is at 150 degrees C until they have reached that
temperature then turn it down to 90 degrees and cook for at least 4 to 5 hours
or until the duck is cooked and starting to just come away from the bone. Try
to keep the skin intact. You can also pack the duck and duck fat into large Consol
preserving jars, seal and gently simmer them in water for the same amount of
time. These will store for months. When ready to eat the duck, take it out of
the duck fat and drain it (you can reuse the duck fat for potatoes etc so keep
in the original bottle in the fridge or the freezer). Coat the duck pieces with
honey and a flavour of your choice. You can use orange zest, five spice powder,
za’atar or any other flavour that appeals. Put the legs, skin side up, under
the grill and heat for approximately 15 minutes so the skin crisps up. Serve
immediately. Good with Puy lentils or duck fat potatoes and a simple salad.
We often say that we are great fans of the screw top
for our wines. John’s birthday dinner confirmed this. We opened a 2000
Boekenhoutskloof Cabernet. The whiff of taint hit us as soon as the cork came
out. It is so frustrating to open a superb (and expensive) wine like this,
which one has kept in our cellar for a special occasion and then find that it
is undrinkable. Lynne will use it for cooking – the taint disappears when
heated – but we’d much rather have enjoyed it in a glass. We had a 2006 Cape
Point Isliedh with our sushi starter and that was magnificent, but the
disappointment of the red wine still lingers.
Buying from us On Line We have a lot of fun putting MENU together each week and, of course, doing
the things we write about, but making it possible for you to enjoy rare and
wonderful gourmet foods is what drives our business. We stock a good range of ingredients and delicious ready-made
gourmet foods. You can contact us by email or phone, or through our on line shop. We can send your requirements
to you anywhere in South Africa. Please do not pay until we have confirmed availability and
invoiced you, then you pay and then we deliver or post. When you make an eft payment,
make sure that it says who you are. Use the form on the website to email us
your order. Click here to see our OnLine Shop.
There is a huge and rapidly growing
variety of interesting things to occupy your leisure time here in the Western
Cape. There
are so many interesting things to do in our world of food and wine that we have
made separate list for each month for which we have information. To see what’s happening in our world of
food and wine (and a few other cultural events), visit
our Events Calendar.
All the events are listed in date order and we already have a large number of
exciting events to entertain you right through the year. Events outside the Western Cape are listed here.
Learn about wine and cooking We receive a lot of enquiries from people who want to learn more
about wine.
Cathy Marston and The Cape Wine Academy both run wine
education courses, some very serious and others more geared to fun. You can see
details of Cathy’s WSET and other courses here
and here and the CWA courses here.
Chez Gourmet in Claremont has a programme of cooking classes. A calendar of their classes can be seen here. Pete Ayub, who made our very popular Prego
sauce, runs evening cooking classes at Sense of
Taste, his catering company in Maitland. We can recommend them very
highly, having enjoyed his seafood course. Check
his programme here. Nadège Lepoittevin-Dasse has cooking
classes in Fish Hoek and conducts cooking tours to Normandy. You can see more details here. Emma Freddi runs the Enrica Rocca cooking courses at her
home in Constantia. Brett Nussey’s Stir
Crazy courses are now being run from Dish Food and
Social’s premises in Main Road Observatory (opposite Groote Schuur hospital).
Lynn Angel runs the Kitchen Angel
cooking school and does private dinners at her home. She holds hands-on cooking
classes for small groups on Monday and Wednesday evenings. She trained with
Raymond Blanc, and has been a professional chef for 25 years. More info here
Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656
4169
Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005
Our Adamastor
& Bacchus© tailor-made Wine, Food and Photo tours take small groups (up to 6) to specialist wine
producers who make the best of South Africa’s wines. Have fun while you learn
more about wine and how it is made! Tours can be conducted in English, German,
Norwegian and standard or Dutch flavoured Afrikaans.
Recommendations
of products and outside events are not solicited or
charged for, and are made at the authors’ pleasure. All photographs,
recipes and text used in these newsletters and our
blogs are © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus.
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and not be paid in any way by anyone. Whether we are invited or go
independently, we don’t feel bad if we say we didn’t like it. Honesty is indeed
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