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Wednesday, June 04, 2014

The Good Food and Wine Show

We spent the morning at this exhibition and were amazed to see the lack of the large food conglomerates and supermarkets, the increase in small good producers and so much charcuterie. We tasted lots of it, all good except some really dodgy looking red hot dogs and frankfurters we saw being sold. Avoided all the pastries and confectionery and spend some time and some money in the wine area. We were delighted to find that Baleia Bay whose Chardonnay won the trophy for the Discovery of the Show last week at the Old Mutual Trophy Awards. We tasted it and immediately bought a case. It is very lean and crisp and entirely to our taste. We also tasted their Pinot Noir and so another case was purchased. This has to wait a while but is full of red berries and elegance. We enjoyed it.

The food truck area where you could buy something to eat and sit down

Prices were in line with what we’d expect to pay in the usual markets

Some good sausages to taste

There were lots of cooking demonstrations to watch in the theatre with invited celebrity chefs

James Kielczynski with his new variety of a home pizza oven next to great macaroons

Australia’s Masterchef winner Emma Dean signing copies of her book

How to pack a giant bottle of Kanonkop Cabernet for export. This bottle contains 18 litres of wine and is called a Melchior, named for one of the Three Kings in the Bible. Most of the extra large wine bottles are named after characters from ancient Middle Eastern history

We met Leon Ehlers and Ayama wines

Rob Munro and Mark Herd (of Sunset Beach Wines) on the VinOAir stand

KWV had a double stand

Christine Vosloo, Lourenza Britz and Marili de Swardt - pretty promotion staff on the Vrede en Lust stand

We reconnect with La Bourgogne from Franschhoek, we visited there last year

Issy Mabaso and Inge Schreuder

Sunny Derschug and Ilse Elton, old friends selling extra good German sausages on this stand. You will find them each weekend at the Biscuit Mill and at a kiosk in St Georges Mall during the week

Jenny (Giggling Gourmet) and David Morris with a friend, Roxanne Khan, enjoying the show

Principal Rebecca Hurst at the Hurst Campus stand with working students. It is, in our estimation, one of the best culinary academies in the country.

Chef Pete Ayub of Sense of Taste doing a demonstration on the Braun stand

Not going there. A scorpion lolly. John was interested, Lynne repelled.

You could try lots of insects, if you are brave or foolish enough, with Nathalie Leblond on Rentokil's Pestaurant stand

Another friend, Pesto Princess

And more friends, still at the Old Biscuit Mill on Saturdays - Terry Townsend, Steven Jeffery, his wife Kaylene and the gang with their Charcuterie

They make superb filled rolls. You will find them this weekend at Hartenberg’s Shiraz and Charcuterie Festival.

It was this big! Really..

We meet Penny Streeter OBE, the new owner of Benguela Cove winery, and promise to visit soon

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A five course lunch at Morgenhof

The Tradition of Morgenhof

It is a while since we visited this beautiful farm in Stellenbosch and it was delightful to be asked to come for lunch and taste their new vintages on Thursday. Owner Madame Anne Huchon was there to welcome us and despite it being another chilly grey day, the fires were lit and we had a good tasting followed by an excellent lunch. She was at pains to tell us that she is NOT trying to produce French style wines here in South Africa but, working with viticulturist Pieter Haasbroek (who has been there since 1998) and winemaker Andries de Klerk (since 2012), they are trying to express the best their dry land terroir can give them. It certainly shows in the wines Morgenhof has always produced excellent Chenin blanc from really old bush vines and the vintage we tasted, 2011, was full of lovely tropical fruits with the richness nicely balanced by good acidity. Their reds do need time as they have both structure and elegance and we enjoyed drinking them with food very much, particularly the Cabernet Franc, which is drinking beautifully and is a lovely food pairing wine. Which leads us on to a great lunch prepared by chef Thys Esterhuizen.

The start of the tasting

The line up: Morgenhof Brut 2008, Chenin 2011, Merlot 2010, Estate 2005, Pinotage, Cabernet Franc

Owner Mme. Anne Cointreau welcomes us and tells us of her philosophy of wine making in South Africa

Rapt attention

DUPLICATE TAKE OUT

Anetha Connan, Morgenhof’s marketing manager, is about to go and live in California

Herschel ? has joined from Nitida Swop with below

Winemaker Andries de Klerk

The wines on show

Lots of canapés with the Morgenhof bubbly

We have an aperitif while waiting for lunch

Herschel, Winemaker Andries de Klerk and viticulturist Pieter Haasbroek

The restaurant with another welcome fire

Pearl Oliver sommelier at the Mount Nelson's Planet restaurant, Siobhan Thompson, new head of WOSA, Andrew Baker of WineWorx, who represent Morgenhof, and Kimi Blackadder, sommelier at Rust en Vrede

Two menus: the one on the left is a special for John with no mushrooms. The food was really good. And Chef has taken on board many of the Banting rules so we were able to enjoy most of the dishes without much guilt (with the exception of the ravioli and the arancini! Which were irresistible and thankfully small)

So clever, so smooth and savoury: Curried chicken & goats cheese crème brulée. Another one to copy at home

Prawn and salmon ravioli in beurre blanc (butter with reduced shallots and vinegar) sauce with paprika oil. A very pretty dish

Mozzarella stuffed arancini (risotto rice ball) in a beautiful mushroom velouté (rich creamy soup)

John’s version was in a Basil velouté

Beef fillet wrapped in leeks and mushrooms in mushroom broth topped with sweet potato crisps

John’s version had the mushrooms and the broth removed and was surrounded by a rich Morgenhof Estate jus

Under a pepper tree just outside the restaurant, a small hen had made her nest and laid so many eggs that some were escaping.

The esteemed David Hughes enjoying his lunch

The final course was Almond crusted lamb cutlets on beetroot and butternut purees with a five spice polenta disc, glazed carrots and the rich Morgenhof Estate jus

Anne Cointreau introduced us to the Chef Thys Esterhuizen

Dave Hughes said Grace at the beginning and thanked the farm at the end for a great tasting and lunch

At which point we discovered there was another course. Scrumptious chocolates and biscotti to go with coffee. A happy end to a good day

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