Opening of the Lanzerac tasting Room in Stellenbosch

The historic Lanzerac Manor House

We were invited this week to the launch of the new Lanzerac tasting room, which has been completely changed and now has outside access on the rear as well as on the front facing the werf

There are lots of tables for the tasting and a counter, where you can buy wine to take home

Some good canapés were on offer. A caprese salad topped with Parma ham

Small jars of duck liver paté, topped with sticky orange and onion jam and a rather large grissini

They make a range of onion marmalades for sale in the new Deli

The list of the canapés we enjoyed

The deli has a bakery

and also stocks charcuterie and cheeses

The Deli menu, which also shows the picnic baskets which you can select on the day and pay the per kilo prices, or you can pre-order one for R595 which comes with a bottle of Lanzerac wine. They require a R400 deposit for the picnic basket. How does this compare with other picnics on offer? Check out our other picnic blogs

 Lots of comfortable chairs in the tasting room and they have air conditioning, which is very necessary in a hot Stellenbosch summer

Here the media listen to Aylinda Booysen talk about the Tasting room and its history 

or you can sit up at the tasting bar

The tasting menu offers several options. Some are rather expensive, but two of the tastings do come with handmade chocolates, also on sale in the tasting room

The Deli Menu  with drinks

Duimpie Bayly, who worked at Lanzerac in the early days, makes the opening speech

Great memories for Michael Olivier, who started as a young 20 year old and ended up as the Restaurant Manager

Winemaker Wynand Lategan tells us of the history of the teardrop bottle, which Lanzerac has now reintroduced for its Alma Mater range

We heard some lovely stories from the past about Lanzerac,  its owners and customers from Michael Olivier, Manager of Lanzerac for 1975 to 77,  and Hermanus (Oom Manie) Anthony, who is now the head waiter and has worked at Lanzerac for over 40 years. 

They reminisced about the cheese lunches which cost 75c per person when they first started (currently an 8 cheese platter costs R140) and became iconic part of Lanzerac’s history – everyone has a story of them. Then there was the famous Sunday Buffet for only R1.75 and, just as with Luke Dale Roberts' Test Kitchen these days, you sometimes had to book up to six months in advance. And one of the journalists reminded us that it was the only restaurant for which you could book a table through the South African embassy in London! We loved the story of Chef David Broughton putting the famous restaurant manageress, Mrs Green’s, white cat into cochineal dye.

Executive Chef Steven Fraser, who is also in charge of the Deli

Some of the open sandwiches offered to us for lunch

and some of the filled mini rolls

We could help ourselves from a board with local cheeses, fruit and onion jams

or from a charcuterie selection

Chef Steven Fraser, Marketing manager Jo-Anna Looms and Pippa Pringle, PRO for Lanzerac

One of the cakes available for purchase in the Deli

Three historic personages involved with Lanzerac in the 70s: Duimpie Bayly, Oom Manie and Michael Olivier

We had dessert with sweet wine on the lawn of the new picnic area, which is on the top of the cellar. Winemaker Herman Lategan pouring us glasses of the Special Late Harvest dessert wine

On offer were chocolate éclairs

Mini cheesecakes

Strawberry tartlets

Cup cakes

and mini lemon meringue tarts

Maryna Strachan, editor of Wine Extra, with Duimpie Bayly

Lanzerac has a wonderful view of Table Mountain over the Bottelary Hills

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014

Main Ingredient's MENU - Between Heaven and Earth, Franschhoek Summer Wines Competition, RIP Francois Conradie, recipe- watermelon, onion, feta salad

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A tranquil Hemel en Aarde evening

In this week’s MENU:

 Between Heaven and Earth

 Competition: Win a pair of tickets for Franschhoek Summer Wines Festival

 RIP Francois Conradie

 This week’s recipe: watermelon, onion, feta salad

 Riesling Rocks, Starlight Classics and more events

Follow this link to see our Main Ingredient blogs, because to tell our whole story here would take too much space. Click on Bold words in the text of this edition to open links to pictures, blogs, pertinent websites or more information.

This week’s Product menu: Many of us enjoyed some wonderful things to eat and drink in the past month or so and we are hearing the word “diet” all round us. This immediately makes one think of salads. And many of us think “boring”! They don’t have to be, especially when one uses good, interesting oils and vinegars, like argan, hazelnut and walnut oils and some of the wonderfully flavourful vinegars we have. These include the delicious and ever-popular balsamic raspberry vinegar from Protea Hill Farm and the Spanish sherry vinegars. Have a look at them here and order now.

Between Heaven and Earth     It is wonderful to visit a wine route and to see such impressive improvement in the wines in their style and quality. The Hemel and Aarde has always produced good wines; they seem to stick with what they grow best. Now we are finding some that are truly exceptional, and there is a such marked rise in quality and enjoyment throughout at some farms. Terroir plays a huge part, but so do very careful and knowledgeable viticulture and wine making. They know and really understand their area, its climate and its assets and drawbacks and are maximising every worthwhile aspect to aid the production of these wines. Platter’s Red wine of the year, Windansea Pinot Noir, comes from Newton Johnson and the accolade is so deserved. We spent a lot of time with winemakers discussing what they are trying to do and learned a lot more about an area we know and love to visit.

They tell us that sales are up, despite the recession and the prolonged road building in the area. The dirt road between Hermanus and Caledon is being turned into a good tarred road, some parts will be dual carriageway, but it is taking a very long time. Now the developer seems to have stalled at a crucial point and no one is sure what will happen next. The current dirt road should not deter you however; we had a couple of very easy trips up and down it, and apparently it has not deterred other visitors over the holiday period.

After this last, wonderful wet winter, we all assumed that the Cape would have a great harvest but, sadly, with the recent rains and escalating heat and damp from wet earth, many farms, all over the Western Cape, are having to deal with severe mildew and late ripening. The start of the harvest will definitely be moving into February in many areas. All the grapes we have seen in the last couple of weeks are still very small and the reds had not yet started to colour.

We have not had a proper break for quite a while and we needed some country air. We have a friend here from Greece, who asked us to take him on a wine tour, so it seemed sensible to put the two together. We have wonderful friends who own a lovely country cottage in the Hemel and Aarde Valley who said we could borrow it again. Everything started to fall into place. A quick collection of some interesting and some traditional food, a little baking; we filled the car with food, things to imbibe and books to read, hats, suntan lotion, anti-mosquito deterrent and there we were for three mid-week days. The weather was perfect at a max of 34 degrees, there were nice cooling breezes, and lots of birds to watch.

On the way to the cottage, we called in at Paul Cluver which is exactly one hour from our front door. Royally welcomed to their tasting room, which is full of wonderful pieces of a huge ancient yellowwood tree from the farm, turned into the counter and tables. We tasted through their wonderful wines.

Then we made a quick stop at the Houwhoek Farm stall and purchased three delicious homemade pepper steak pies and some crisp, syrupy koeksisters for dessert that evening. This is always a good authentic place to stop for refreshment.

Onward down the sweeping pass to the Bot River valley and then a left turn approaching Hermanus, brought us into the valley where Heaven and Earth meet. We had a quick lunch on the cottage stoep, taking in the wonderful views of the mountains, consumed the pies and some refreshments, and were off up the valley to visit Ataraxia, owned by Kevin Grant and then went further up the valley to Creation to taste through their wines. Click here to continue to our story of the first day.

We prepared an authentic South African braai (barbecue) for our friend Terry, which we enjoyed on the stoep, drank a few more good wines and then had an early night in preparation for yet more sensational wines the next day.

Our first port of call was Bouchard Finlayson where we were so kindly taken through the wines on their list and a few more besides by Peter Finlayson, the winemaker. Onward to Newton Johnson just in time for lunch at the relatively new Restaurant where chef Eric Bulpitt, previously of the Roundhouse in Camps Bay, is earning a fine reputation for his innovative food. We then had a full and generous tasting of the Newton Johnson wines in the tasting room with Bevan Newton Johnson. Click here to read about this and the food.

We meant to go down to the sea that afternoon, hoping to see some whales, but were in need of some quiet contemplation and relaxation, so postponed it to the next day.

Next morning we called in at Sumaridge and did a tasting of their wines. Were we beginning to flag? Then it was off to the beachfront in Hermanus to scan the sea for sadly absent whales and spot some good seabirds. It isn't really a good time of the year to see whales. There should be more in March when they start returning from Antarctica.

Then we rather fancied some fish and chips, so we went off to a restaurant in the harbour which we have written about before: Harbour Rock. Wow, so not a purveyor of simple fish and chips now. The restaurant still looks used and faded and, speaking kindly, could perhaps be described as shabby chic, but they seem to want to attract a more moneyed crowd and their prices now seem more than we might pay in town. A plate of kingklip (on the orange Sassi list) was R170 and the menu focussed on Asian food and sushi, with a few fish and seafood dishes written on a blackboard. So sad, when they are right on the harbour and have access to lots of fresh fish and seafood. We decided it was no longer for us and headed off to another old favourite, Milkwood at Onrus where, for the small sum of R380 for three with coffees and tip, we got exactly what we fancied: a large portion of extra fresh hake – two in beer batter, one grilled, good chips and a bottle of a good local wine that matched perfectly  - Beaumont Raoul’s Jackal's River White. Click here for the complete story

Competition: Win a pair tickets for Franschhoek Summer Wines Festival     We have two pairs of tickets for this exciting wine festival being held at Leopards Leap Estate in Franschhoek on Saturday 8th February. Participating wineries include, amongst others, La Bri, Morena, Môreson, Anthonij Rupert Wines, Bellingham, Noble Hill, Leopard’s Leap, La Motte, Solms-Delta, Haute Cabrière, Grande Provence, Cape Chamonix and Boekenhoutskloof.

All you have to do is send us an email with your name, address and telephone contact details and answer this simple question. Your entry will go into a draw and two lucky winners will be drawn. Closing date will be next Thursday January 23^rd and we will email the winners direct. They will be announced in MENU next week.

Question: Name the owner of the estate which will be the Festival venue.

During the previous weekend we were treated to dinner at La Bohème, our favourite casual bistro in Sea Point. See the photographs of the meal here.

RIP Francois Conradie     We were distressed this week to learn about the death of Muratie’s winemaker Francois Conradie, after a short battle with cancer. Rijk Melck, Muratie’s owner, wrote a moving tribute to him, which you can see here. Our condolences on the loss of a fine young man go to the Melck and Conradie families.

This week’s recipe is a salad Lynne made as our contribution to a New Year party. It is lovely and fresh and light and goes very well with most foods. We had it with delicious fresh poached salmon.

Small red onion – 30 ml lime juice - 1.5 kg ripe watermelon – 250g feta cheese - 100g black calamata olives - good handful of fresh mint - good handful of fresh flat leaf parsley - 4 T extra virgin olive oil - black pepper

Peel and thinly slice a small red onion. Marinade this in lime juice for at least one hour. Cut watermelon into roughly 2.5 cm cubes and remove all the pips.  Cut the feta cheese into similar sized cubes. Stone the olives and cut in half. Roughly chop the  mint and parsley. Combine everything in a large salad bowl and pour over the lime juice with the onion and  olive oil. Add a good grinding of black pepper. Mix gently but well. Rest in fridge for a couple of hours for the flavours to blend.

Riesling Rocks etc     A highlight this month will be the annual Riesling Rocks festival at Hartenberg on Saturday, January 25th. We have not been able to enjoy it properly in the past because we worked in the market on Saturdays, but this time we will be able to enjoy a relaxed day at Hartenberg and we look forward to seeing you there. Another, on March 1st, will be the annual Starlight Concert at Vergelegen. Find them and the others, including several Valentine’s Day ideas in our Events Calendar.

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.

Food and wine (and a few other) events for you to enjoy

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

17th January 2014

Remember - if you can’t find something, we’ll do our best to get it for you, and, if you’re in Cape Town or elsewhere in the country, we can send it to you! Check our online shop for details and prices.

PS If a word or name is in bold type and underlined, click on it for more information

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. Our restaurant reviews are usually unsolicited. We prefer to pay for our meals 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 our best policy. While every effort is made to avoid mistakes, we are human and they do creep in occasionally, for which we apologise. Our Avast! ^® Anti-Virus software is updated at least daily and our system is scanned continually for viruses.

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RIP Francois Conradie - a tribute by Rijk Melck

In Memory of Francois Conradie

By Rijk Melck

Francois, our beloved winemaker and friend, tragically passed away on 13th January 2014 after a short battle with cancer. He leaves behind his lovely wife, Adel, and their two young children, JD and Annabel.

Francois joined us as winemaker at Muratie on 1^st December 2005. What struck me from day one was his inimitable humility, honesty and ability to make time for anybody and everybody. Always with a smile on his face, no job was too big for Francois. He was always ready to give and reluctant to receive. In addition to making our wines, conducting our wine tastings and planting our vines, he also took it upon himself to look after my mother’s beautiful garden, assist her with her prized hanepoot and fig jam and do everything else that needed to be done. He sat in on all our monthly farm meetings, keeping his head while listening to all the varied opinions and suggestions. At Muratie we never saw Francois as just our winemaker; he was a member of the family.

Francois leaves behind a treasured legacy at Muratie. He saw the huge potential on the farm, accepted the challenges, and in his eight years with us, took Muratie from the dark ages of winemaking into the light. He has been an inspiration to us all, be it in the office, in our homes, in the vineyards or the cellar, imbuing Muratie with his own unique signature of modesty, kindness, passion, integrity and courage. Francois will also be sorely missed by our colleagues in the wine industry, our loyal customers and visitors to the farm.

As with all the special characters who came before during our estate’s rich history, Francois’s spirit remains woven into the very fabric of our farm, our minds and our hearts. We extend our deepest condolences to Adel, JD, Annabel and the family. Francois we will miss you more than you could ever know.

Hemel en Aarde tastings day three

Day three in the Hemel and Aarde valley started a little late after we had packed up the car and tidied up the cottage. Then we were off to Sumaridge for a tasting of their wines. The cellar also looks rather like the outside of a stone church and is situated next to one of their dams.

You can stand at the tasting counter, or sit, as we did, on the balcony or in the tasting room.  They charge for their tastings; R25 per person, refunded to you individually if you buy a bottle of wine

Savey (sort for Sauvignon Blanc) is the white tasting room cat and there is a large totally black one but he is not as approachable as Savey.

The gorgeous view from the balcony, over the dams towards Betty's Bay and Walker Bay

Cellarmaster/General Manager Gavin Patterson welcomed us, answered all our questions and told us a great deal about the farm and the wines and the terroir .

We liked his 2011 Chardonnay:  woody and buttery with marmalade on the nose, Nice fruit and deep and full on the palate with orange peel limes and lemon but perhaps a tad too much wood for us. The 2013 Rose has a pretty ‘pink’ nose and is made from 50% Merlot,  25% Cabernet Franc, 25% Malbec.  The Pinot Noir is made in the darker, more concentrated style  with dark fruit and lots of licorice and smoke -  lots of elegance but will need time. And the Epitome has expensive wood notes and savoury deep dark fruits and is made from an unusual blend of Pinotage and Shiraz

Then it was off to the seaside to try to see some whales and do some sea bird spotting

Hermanus in all her glory

Cormorants having a roost

Lunch at Milkwoods at Onrust.  It is on the edge of the Onrus River estuary

and right on the edge of the beach, which is great for surfing and has a lifeguard

We ordered and enjoyed a bottle of Beaumont Raoul's Jackal's River White and took the unfinished half home. The crisp acidity was a perfect foil for the fried food

Delicious, crisply beer battered hake, garlicky tartar sauce and crisp chips

Lynne had the grilled hake with a small salad and a hollandaise sauce with chips and a Becks alcohol free beer

The very reasonable bill before our tip was added.  They forgot to charge us for the wine (R100), but we EFT’d a payment in the evening, so our good waiter, Rodney, wouldn't have to pay for it.

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014