As if this week could not get any better? Then it did.
On Thursday we attended a tasting of the KWV Mentors newly released wines at
the Test Kitchen, where some of their best wines were paired with the food of
South Africa’s number one chef Luke Dale Roberts. It was a tour de force of
wines which, to quote Johann Fourie Chief Winemaker at KWV, “started the
renaissance of KWV”. This renaissance was driven ably by Cellar Master Richard
Rowe.
KWV managed to
take over the restaurant for the lunchtime service
Eamon and
Clare McLaughlin welcome guests at the door,
Fiona MacDonald chats to Marco Ventrella, Chief Viticulturist at KWV
We love watching
these chefs doing preparation in the very quiet kitchen. They each have a job
to do and they do it silently and efficiently, then the food is assembled
and the magic happens
Everyone knows
exactly what is expected of them
First a
tasting of 7 white wines, then 7 reds and then the Noble late harvest 2013
Tasting,
tweeting, discussing, photographing and making notes happen throughout
From bottom
left: 1. Mentors Semillon 2013, so classic, so clean and crisp with long
flavours of citrus. HOW can we get SA drinking more of this wonderful wine? 2.
Mentors Stellenbosch 2013 Sauvignon Blanc with cats pee notes and quite austere
for Stellenbosch! 3. Mentors Darling 2013 Sauvignon Blanc was shyer, with more
asparagus, crisp and dry, very different, will age when it settles. 4. Mentors
Sauvignon/Semillon blend from Groenekloof. Grassy, dusty, nice glycerols, crisp
lemons and melons. 5. Mentors 2013 Chenin Blanc. Dusty but full of fruit salad - peaches and melons, nice crispness and elegance. Drink now! 6. Mentors
Verdelho. Herbal and full of peaches, nutty apricots, with minerality and
elegance which was unexpected, but not powerful enough, needs more fruit and
acid depth 7. Mentors 2013 Chardonnay. Golden delicious apples, shy, with wood
notes but no smoke. Some umami hints on nose. Golden flavours, vanilla apricot
and peach but dry, not sweet
Richard Rowe
talks about the wines
Eamon McLaughlin
Winemaker Johann
Fourie and Viticulturalist Marco Ventrella
Johann talks
about the way they make the wine and source the grapes
Marco Ventrella spoke about the way they select vineyards for their special characteristics, to find the best terroir for each varietal
The line up of
red wines
Chef Luke Dale
Roberts
The red wines
from bottom left: 1 Mentors 2012 Pinotage. Very rich, bloody notes, with intense
red berries on nose. Wonderful mouthful of rich berries, long flavours. No
metallic notes, toasty on end. Lynne would drink this (second pinotage this
year!) Keep it and it will show its Pinot Noir parentage 2. Mentors 2012 Shiraz. Amami, tomato soup notes, sweet fruit, deep and delicious, pepper, spice and
black cherries and mulberries 3. Mentors Cabernet Franc. Elegant. Incense
wood. lovely berries violets and vanilla. A Dive-in nose. On the palate, clean
bright fruit, beautiful minerality, and nice chalky tannins. Superb flavours.
Lynne has written I WANT SOME, so this might be her Birthday wine this year. She
scored 19½/20 4. Mentors 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon. Cassis, warm fruit, classic
nose. Cassis and amaretto cherries on mouth, chalky tannins and minerality.
Needs 10 years to settle. Will be great 5. Mentors 2012 Petit Verdot. Shy but
full of promise. Violets, roses, pure Chanel. Rich, full pure fruit, a lovely
expression of the grape, vanilla on end. Nice structure. Taste this in 4/5
years 6. Mentors Orchestra 2012. Bordeaux blend. Blockbuster blend. With layers
and layers, great balance; berries are expressive but not overripe. A 10 year
wine 7. Mentors Canvas 2012 Rhône blend. “Hot country” wine, with nice acids
and depth of fruit layers; violets and chalky closed tannins. See me in 10 years
please. So unusual for a Rhône blend to be more closed than a Bordeaux
The menu
paired with 5 of the wines
Pipers
A smiling chef
A plate of delightful
amuses to go with the bread platter. It included some savoury millionaires' shortbread, a square of foie topped with gold leaf – more, we want more, we
muttered
Luke tells us
about the food to come
So hard to
resist this bread and pretzel platter, but we managed
Tony Jackman,
Eamon McLaughlin, Neil Pendock and Marco Ventrella
‘Home dried’
tomatoes served with aubergine and sesame puree, with the burnt aubergine jelly
and a goats cheese mousse. It was everything you ever wanted a tomato to be.
Paired with the Mentors 2013 Chenin
Another view
of the same to make you even more hungry
Tuna sashimi
with a miso cured quail egg on top of baby lettuce, toasted garlic and ginger
dressing. Paired with the Mentors 2013 Verdelho
A sweet and
perfectly grilled scallop on fine green beans, braised & raw shiitake
mushrooms on a tofu miso suke (fermented bean paste), braised scallop dressing with
miso on toast for crunch. Perfect with the Mentors Semillon 2013
A palate
cleanser of pomelo and grapefruit three ways, a sorbet, a foam and small
segments, sprinkled with herbs
We all have to have a photograph of THAT!
Pan seared
rare Springbok loin, baby beets, springbok skilpadjie, (red onion and almond liver
parfait wrapped in caul fat) with a roasted springbok and beetroot
‘extraction’. Such a perfect match with the Mentors 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon
And as a fine finale, an Assiette of chocolate, grilled white chocolate and cinnamon sponge, caramelia cremeuz, guanaja parfait & almond streusl and maple foam went with the perfect glass of The Mentors Noble Late Harvest 2013
Take a bow Mr Dale
Roberts and KWV
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014
