Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Three course lunch at Devonvale Golf Club for R130

Devonvale in the Bottelary Hills is a golf club, it has a lodge, a restaurant and it also has its own wines. We received an invitation from the owners the Provoyeurs to come and visit and taste the wines and have their very good value three course lunch for R130 (till September).  So we set out last Saturday as we were already going to Hartenberg for the Shiraz and Charcuterie festival
The Entrance to Devonvale announces the lunch in the Chez Shiraz restaurant. We think this is good value. A remarkable price now-a-days when you can pay this just for a main course at other restaurants.
The entrance to Devonvale Lodge
and the entrance to the restaurant
From the restaurant upstairs, you can watch the golfers practicing their putting while they wait for their round to start.
Their interesting wine list, which has three of their own wines to drink with lunch under the Provoyeur label. We had  glasses of the good Simonsig Chenin Blanc with our starters and a glass of the Shiraz for Lynne and the Pinotage for John with our main courses.
That day’s menu. It does change.
You can also eat off the normal a la Carte menu. We liked the look of the breakfast section.
The chef’s version of a spinach roulade was leaves of spinach wrapped around fried peppers and onions. Not quite what we know as a roulade.
and the chicken ‘terrine’ was a little free form and the chicken pieces came with mushrooms in a creamy sauce
The kingklip with a beurre blanc sauce was superb. Such fresh fish and not cooked to rubber, so even John liked it.
The good Beef sirloin was nicely smoky from searing on a chargrill with a good jus, nicely pink and it came with small roast potatoes with their skins on.
A small banana tart with vanilla ice-cream had rather leathery pastry but tasted very good
The duo of chocolate with a berry sauce. The smaller triangular piece was a good rich chocolate. The larger piece showed more evidence of cocoa powder
Book before you go, this Sunday might be popular

And you can park your golf cart near the entrance
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014

Old Mutual Trophy public tasting at the CTICC

At last a chance to taste the winning wines (and several others) that we have heard about over the last few weeks. The judges are right, South African wine continues to improve and reach higher and higher standards. There were some knockout examples. At a large tasting like this we aim to taste as many trophy wines as possible and then fit in others. We find that this competition really does seem to drive quality, progress and innovation in the industry.
The fairly controversial wine that won the Trophy for the Best Shiraz and the best red wine overall Mount Sutherland Syrah from the Sneeuwberg mountains was very interesting. We didn’t find it to be an in your face fruit bomb, it is much more restrained, elegant and tight with some tannins but you can see the potential and why it scored 96 points. Saronsberg also scored 96 points and a gold medal for their elegant and structured Provenance Shiraz 2012 and this is ready to be enjoyed now.
The Chardonnays we tasted were exemplary, especially Trophy winner and best white wine on Show Mulderbosch 2013, Richness and freshness is what winemaker Adam Mason says he want – he has got it Museum Class trophy winner Chamonix Reserve 2008 really charmed us with it crisp acidity holding onto the lovely layers of golden fruit. And gold medallist Iona 2013 might just have to be put into our cellar soon. The Discovery of the Show Baleia Bay is there already.
We could cover pages with recommendations for many, many more of these wines. Ifyou see a wine with one of these awards and you can afford it buy a bottle to try and then buy some more if you like it. One you won’t be able to find is the KWV 1930 LBV Muscadel which won a gold medal in the museum class. What an extraordinary wine and how fortunate we were to get some in our glass, so thick and syrupy, so balsamic and yet still a joy to taste. Why do we ignore, neglect and not appreciate our superb sweet wines? They are one of the best jewels in our wine varietals
A good crowd gathers at the beginning of the evening
De Kranz makes excellent ports and they bear many awards, including this years Tony Mossop Old Mutual Trophy for the best Cape Port for their Cape Vintage Reserve 2011. The 2010 was the last of this style of wine to carry (legally) the appellation Port. After that, descriptions like Cape Vintage Reserve, Late Bottled Vintage etc. may be used, as long as we don't say "Port", even though the palate tells you that  that's what they are!
Boets Nel looking deservedly proud of the Trophy
Boets Nel chatting to Christian Eedes, Publisher and editor of Wine Magazine on line
Elsie Pells, Cape Wine Master, on the Bon Courage stand
Abrie Beeslaar’s lovely ladies with his 2012 Pinotage
Brendan Butler, winemaker at Nitida, having fun tasting - for a change
Winemaker Werner Muller with the superb Iona 96 point Gold Medal Chardonnay
Kyle Zulch, winemaker with Daniƫl de Waal at Super Single Vineyards. Their Mount Sutherland Shiraz won two trophies: Best Red wine Overall and Best Shiraz
Zia du Toit from Ormonde and their Ondine 2013 Sauvignon Blanc and Mark Norrish of Ultra Liquors with his Secret Cellar sauvignon blanc and also the trophy winning best MCC, the Table Bay Blanc de Blanc NV
Ollo Parker of Altydgedacht and his lovely ladies with their trophy for the superbly floral Weisser Riesling 2013
Tariro Masayiti and Hildegard Witbooi of Springfontein with their 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon. Incidentally, several of the Nederburg award winning wines this year were made by Tariro when he was white wine maker there.
John enjoying a taste of the De Wetshof MCC with Marketing Manager Bennie Stipp. We are very fond of this wine
The Convention Centre on a crisp, still winter’s evening
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014

Thursday, June 05, 2014

Main Ingredient's MENU - Morgenhof, Kyoto Garden, GF&W Show, Port Awards, Steakhouse champs, Nutty Banting bread

MENU
Main Ingredient’s weekly E-Journal
Gourmet Foods & Ingredients
Eat In Guide’s Five time Outstanding Outlet Award Winner
+27 21 439 3169 / +27 83 229 1172
Follow us on Twitter: @mainingmenu
Cormorants flying home ahead of a cold front
In this week’s MENU:
* The Tradition of Morgenhof
* KWV Classic Wines go with Japanese
* Good Food and Wine Show at the CTICC
* Any Port in this storm?
* Shiraz and Charcuterie Festival
* Angala Packages
* The Wolftrap Steakhouse Championships
* Old Mutual Trophy public tasting
* Nutty Banting bread
This week’s Product menu – Winter is with us and we all want something warm. The Portuguese live with a similar climate to ours (apart from the North-West corner of Portugal) and their cuisine is very popular here. We are told that June 10th will be National Portuguese Day. We have written about South African Ports lower down, but the warm spices of the Iberian peninsula will also help to spice up the spirit. We are investigating some interesting chilli products but can offer you a great idea. Smoked Paprika is a wonderful spice to use in many Portuguese and Spanish recipes. Try it with stir fried prawns... See them here.
If you can find it in the supermarket, we don't usually stock it, just the products you would struggle to find.... Check our online shop to see more details and prices.
The Tradition of Morgenhof       It has been 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 last Thursday. Owner Madame Anne Cointreau 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 led us on to a great lunch prepared by chef Thys Esterhuizen. MORE.....
KWV Classic Wines go with Japanese     at Kyoto Garden restaurant, off Kloof Nek Road last Thursday, where KWV presented their Classic range to the media and we ate our second multi-course meal of the day. Luckily, the beautiful food at Kyoto Gardens is light and has barely any carbohydrates, so we managed. Yes, we did crumble at the four pieces of Wild Alaskan King Crab sushi. The wines are aimed at the middle market and sell very well, as they are competitively priced at R40/42 for the whites and R57 for reds - KWV Cellar Door prices. MORE.....
Good Food and Wine Show at the CTICC     We spent the morning at this exhibition and were amazed to see the absence of the large food conglomerates and supermarkets, the increased presence of small, good producers and so much charcuterie. We tasted lots of it, all good apart from some really dodgy looking red hot dogs and frankfurters which we saw being sold. We avoided all the sinful pastries and confectionery and spent 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, had a stand. We tasted 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 the show this year. MORE.....
Any Port in this storm?     Yes, there was - at the Third Annual Port Awards, held at Muratie on Tuesday. We drove there at the start of a big storm and it was lovely to sit near the wood burning stove in the cellar and taste... first, lots of different wines made from Port varietals, and then some beautiful award-winning ports. Everyone was hoping the famous Muratie Lamb shanks would be on the menu and we were delighted that they were. If you want to see the full list of the Cappa Port & Wine Awards click on this link. Some of the wines and ports were available during lunch and we particularly enjoyed the Boplaas Portuguese Connection 2012, which you will find on sale in Woolworths. Axehill’s Distinta was also a great food match. Both were in the top 10 table wines. We drank some of Peter Bayly’s Cape Vintage 2004 port which got a gold medal in the museum class and it was so smooth and full of Christmas fruit. We are off to the Calitzdorp Port Festival soon and will write up the ports and wines in more detail then. We love good Port and encourage all of you to try it, if you have not had the opportunity. In blind tasted international competitions, many of our best Ports have proved to be a very good match for the European equivalent!  MORE.....
The Shiraz and Charcuterie Festival is being held on Hartenberg this Saturday; we hope to see lots of you there. What else are you going to do in bad weather? Not sit at home feeling miserable, but drinking great Shirazes and eating wonderful charcuterie, surely.
Angala Packages      You may remember that we stayed at this wonderful Guest House in April. They have some super packages at the moment and we think you should investigate Click on http://www.angala.co.za/packages
The Wolftrap Steakhouse Championships 2014     The final five steakhouses for 2014 (in alphabetical order) are: HQ (Cape Town). Fahrenheit (Edenvale), Johannesburg. The Godfather (Centurion), Pretoria (Finalist in 2013). The Local Grill (Parktown North), Johannesburg (2013 Champion). Theo’s (Mouille Point), Cape Town.
In the next few weeks the Final Five will be visited by a select group of South Africa’s food experts and chefs to select this year’s winner, and the 2014 Steakhouse Champion will be announced on 24th June at The Local Grill in Parktown North, Johannesburg (the inaugural 2013 Champion Steakhouse). Follow on their website www.steakhunter.co.za where you can also win a prize for predicting the winner.
The Old Mutual Trophy public tastings     Last week, we attended the Awards ceremony and reported on it. There are many wonderful wines to be found among the winners. Tomorrow, Friday, D Day, 6th of June, Capetonians will have an opportunity to taste the best of them at the CTICC and our many Johannesburg readers will be able to share the experience at Sandton Convention Centre, Bill Gallagher Rooms on Thursday, 12th June. Click here for more information and to book.
This week’s Recipe...
...is a wheat free ‘loaf’ recipe which was in last week’s Sunday Times and is so easy to make and so good to eat, that we thought we should reprint this in case you missed it. It makes a small rich loaf, but you could double up the quantities should you need more. It does keep, if wrapped in cling film and put in the fridge. Lynne might experiment with adding some mixed seeds to this to make a more complex and toothsome loaf next time.
Nutty Banting bread
2 ½ cups almond flour – ½ tsp salt ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda – 3 extra large eggs – 15 ml runny honey – ½ tsp apple cider vinegar
Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In another bowl mix the honey with the eggs and vinegar. Stir into the dry ingredients. Oil a small loaf pan or line it with buttered baking paper (this has quite a cakey consistency) and bake at 160°C for 45 to 55 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Turn out, and cool.
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 and drives the wheels that enable us to produce MENU possible. 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. Karen Glanfield has taken over the UnWined wine appreciation courses from Cathy. See the details here
Chez Gourmet in Claremont has a programme of cooking classes. A calendar of their classes can be seen here. NadĆØge 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 Thursday evenings and she has decided to introduce LCHF (Banting classes). The Kitchen Confidence classes, which focus on essential cooking skills and methods, have been expanded and are now taught over 2 evenings. She continues to host private dining and culinary team building events at her home. She trained with Raymond Blanc, and has been a professional chef for 25 years. More info here

5th June 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.
This electronic journal has been sent to you because you have personally subscribed to it or because someone you know has asked us to send it to you or forwarded it to you themselves. Addresses given to us will not be divulged to any person or organisation. We collect them only for our own promotional purposes. We own our mailing software and keep our mailing list strictly confidential. If you wish to be added to our mailing list, please click here to send us a message and if you wish to be removed from our mailing list, please click here to send us a message.


CAPPA Challenge 2014 – Highlighting the best of the best

The third Cape Port Producers’ Association (CAPPA) Challenge highlights the very best Cape “Port” and Portuguese varietal table wines, showcasing the enviable variety and sheer quality these wines offer the consumer. This year, the overall CAPPA Challenge Trophy went to the Boplaas Cape Vintage Reserve 2011, while the top scoring Top 10 table wine went to the Boplaas Tinta Barocca 2013.
Although the Portuguese varietal table wines, blends and Cape fortifieds represent a niche in the Cape’s wine landscape, it is doubtless that there is a category possessing such a grand heritage and reputation for delivering world class wines. So, for the third year the Cape Port Producers’ Association (CAPPA) held its annual CAPPA Challenge to identify the top Cape “Ports” and Top 10 Portuguese varietal  and blended table wines, judged by means of a blind tasting conducted by a panel of wine experts, chaired by Dave Hughes. This year’s trophy winner and top performing Cape fortified went to the Boplaas Cape Vintage Reserve 2011 crafted by the ubiquitous fortified experts Boplaas Family Vineyards from Calitzdorp, while the Reserve Champion went to the Boplaas Cape Tawny Vintners Reserve N/V. The top scoring wine in the TOP 10 table wines went to the Boplaas Tinta Barocca 2013, which was joined by two other gold medal winning wines the Boplaas Family Reserve Touriga NaƧional 2012 and De Krans Tritonia 2011 – proving that the Cape’s hotbed for these wines is definitely Calitzdorp.
As always, all wines are blind tasted by a professional panel, independently audited and the Cape fortifieds are judged according to the styles – Cape Ruby, Cape Vintage, Cape Tawny as well as “Other Cape Port” category – for the Cape Pink, White  and Late-bottled Vintage styled wines, and Museum Class – for wines a decade from vintage or older. This year, as in the past, the panel of Cape Wine Masters was chaired by Dave Hughes.
The Cape Ruby category delivered its first gold in a while, with the Slanghoek Cape Ruby 2013 walking away with category winner for this Breedekloof cellar, while the Northern Cape was represented by GWK’s Landzicht Cape Ruby 2011 runner-up in the category. The judges were impressed by the aromatic profile, soft tannins and quality exhibited in this class, especially that of the winning Ruby. The “Other Cape Port” category delivered a silver medal for the Axe Hill Late-bottled Vintage 2009 from Calitzdorp.
This year’s Museum Class was won by the gold medal winning Peter Bayly Cape Vintage 2004, an achievement made all the more special, as Peter and Yvonne Bayly are celebrating their 10th vintage this year from their small patch of vines in the Groenfontein valley near Calitzdorp.
Although a small class of entries, the Cape Tawny category impressed the judges with the complexity and authenticity of the wines, with the winner being noted as “an outstanding wine, possessing all the attributes of a fine Tawny”. The winner of the Cape Tawny category was the Boplaas Cape Tawny Vintners Reserve N/V – crafted from Tinta Barocca  and barrel matured for 12 years prior to blending, while the runner-up went to De Krans Cape Tawny Limited Release.
By far the largest category of entrants, the Cape Vintage category delivered superb examples of this style with the judges noting the best in this class possessing all that is required of a fine vintage “Port” – deep dark colour, firm yet ripe tannins, aromatic and flavour complexity with integrated oak allowing for further bottle maturation. The overall trophy winner emerged from this class, as well as four gold medal winning wines. Boplaas’s Cape Vintage Reserve 2011 took top honours in this category, as well as the trophy for best wine of CAPPA Challenge 2014; while Calitzdorp native, MornĆ© Vrey’s Delaire Graff’s Cape Vintage 2012 took the runner-up laureate, as well as a gold medal. The other two gold medal winners in this category were awarded to the De Krans Cape Vintage Reserve 2011  and Muratie Ben Prins Cape Vintage 2010.
An oft over-looked fact was the advice given in the early 1920’s by Prof. A.I. Perold, that the South African wine growers should look towards Portugal, Spain and the Mediterranean regions of France for wine grape varieties rather than the classical winegrowing regions of Bordeaux or Germany’s Rhine. South Africa boasts a mere 221ha of Tinta Barocca, 104ha of Touriga NaƧional, 53ha Tinta Roriz, and total plantings of Portuguese varietals amount to approximately 0.4% of vineyard area, making table wines from these varietals a definite niche. This year the judges noted the table wines exhibited a greater focus on elegance with red fruit, spice and supple tannins the order of the day, offering consumers approachable wines with enough complexity for further cellaring. The balance, varietal expression and focus on crafting fine wines rather than simply another wine for the portfolio or a consumer oddity was also noted by the judges. This category was open to all Portuguese varietal table wines  and blends consisting of a minimum 40% Portuguese variety/varieties.
This year’s TOP 10 delivered three gold medals for the Boplaas Tinta Barocca 2013, Boplaas Family Reserve Touriga NaƧional 2012 and De Krans Tritonia 2011. The other seven wines in the TOP 10 are: Overgaauw Touriga NaƧional 2013, Woolworth’s Boplaas Portuguese Connection 2012, Axe Hill Distinta 2012, Boplaas Tinta Chocolat 2013, Allesverloren Tinta Barocca 2012, Boplaas Touriga NaƧional 2013 and the Allesverloren Touriga NaƧional 2011. The sheer value  and quality offered to the consumer is epitomized by the overall top scoring wine, the Boplaas Tinta Barocca 2013 which is available from the cellar door for less than R60-00.
In future it is hoped that the CAPPA Challenge will grow from strength to strength gathering entrants from over the entire winelands to showcase the finest Cape fortifieds and the exceptional Portuguese varietal table wines produced in the Cape, not only by CAPPA members, but by all the producers of these wines.
CAPPA would like to thank ElsabĆ© Ferreira and Johannes van Willing from Elpro Promotions for organising the tasting, as well as Raymond NoppĆ©, Colin Firth  and Meryl Weaver for offering their time and expertise on the tasting panel, and a special thanks to Dave Hughes for chairing the panel.
Full Results List:
Overall winner CAPPA Challenge 2014 Trophy – Boplaas Cape Vintage Reserve 2011
Reserve Champion CAPPA Challenge 2014 – Boplaas Cape Tawny Vintners Reserve N/V
Cape Ruby - Class Winner – Slanghoek Cape Ruby 2013 (Gold medal),
Runner-up – GWK Landzicht Cape Ruby 2011
Cape Tawny: Class Winner – Boplaas Cape Tawny Vintners Reserve N/V (Gold medal  and Reserve Champion CAPPA Challenge 2014)
Runner-up – De Kranz Cape Tawny Ltd. Release N/V
Cape Vintage:
Class Winner - Boplaas Cape Vintage Reserve 2011 (Gold medal  and CAPPA Challenge Trophy winner 2014)
Runner-up – Delaire Graff Cape Vintage 2012 (Gold medal)
Gold medals – De Krans Cape Vintage Reserve 2011  and Muratie Ben Prins Cape Vintage 2010
Museum Class:
Class Winner – Peter Bayly Cape Vintage 2004 (Gold medal)
Other Cape “Ports”:
Class Winner – Axe Hill Cape Late-bottled Vintage 2009
Material supplied by CAPPA
RETURN TO OUR STORY ABOUT THE AWARDS LUNCH

Port Producers Awards at Muratie

Any Port in this storm?
Yes there was at the 3rd Annual Port  Awards held at Muratie on Tuesday.  We drove there at the start of a big storm and it was lovely to sit near the wood burning stove in the cellar and taste first lots of different wines made from Port varietals and then some beautiful award winning ports.  Everyone was hoping the famous Muratie Lamb shanks would be on the menu and were delighted that they were.  If you want to see the full list of the Cappa Port & Wine Awards  click on this link.  Some of the wines and ports were available during lunch and we particularly enjoyed the Boplaas Portuguese Connection2012 which you will find on sale in Woolworths.  Axehill’s Distinta also was a great food match. Both were in the top 10 table wines.  We got to drink some of Peter Baylys Cape Vintage 2004 port which got a gold medal in the museum class and it was so smooth and full of Christmas fruit.  We are off to the Calitzdorp Port Festival soon and will write up the ports and wines in more detail then.

The Cape Port Producers Association report can be seen here
A line up of winners
Lively discussion as we try the winners and others before lunch
Emil Kanstinger of Anura with Rijk Melck, owner of Muratie
Lunch at the Langtafel in the cellar
Carel Nel of Boplaas opens ceremonies
Taking notes
Cape Wine Master Raymond NoppƩ of Oldenburg Vineyards gives a report from the judges
Judge Winnie Bowman CWM presents the umpteenth award to winemaker Margaux Nel of Boplaas who received lots of well deserved awards this year
Peter Bayly gets his gold medal for his Museum class Cape Vintage 2004 Port
Lynne with Mike Neebe of Axe Hill with his award for Best in Class for Axe Hill LBV 2009
Margaux received the trophy for Boplaas Cape Vintage Reserve 2011 with her father Carel. Presented by Winnie Bowman and Raymond NoppƩ
All the winners
Left to right: Carel Nel (Boplaas), Raymond NoppƩ (Judge), David van Velden (Overgaauw), MornƩ Vrey (Delaire Graff), Margaux Nel (Boplaas), Louis van der Riet (De Krans), Peter Bayly (Peter Bayly wines), Jaco Theron (Slanghoek), Mike Neebe (Axe Hill) & Ian Sieg (Landzicht GWK)
The Nel father & daughter team with their Trophy
The best lamb shanks in the Cape.  Ever.  Cooked long and slow in a wood fired oven. Served simply with mash and peas and sweetened carrots. You can get these only at Muratie. Phone to check they are on the menu.
Lots of chatting and lots of tasting after lunch
Louisenhof owner/cellarmaster Stefan Smit with a charming luncheon companion
Yvonne and Peter Bayly with their award
Mike Neebe offering his Axe Hill Cape LBV Port for tasting. Delicious
Some of this wine needs to be purchased and its easy to find at Woolworths
Muratie's characterful tasting room.
Winter vines, stormy weather coming in. We just made it to the car
Beautiful colours on the dying vine leaves. Thank you Muratie for a lovely day
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014