Vinimark Trade Show at the Crystal Towers and supper at Knife Restaurant

These trade tastings are always well attended, in fact so well so this time, that at about 5.30 Lynne suggested that one of the wine makers should stand on a chair and say loudly “OK, all Sommeliers back to work please” . (Of course he didn’t).  It was Monday and not many of them were working that night.  It was rather crowded and there were lots of lots of good wines from great producers to taste. There were four wines which stood out for us amongst a very, very good selection.  Shannon’s newly released Sauvignon Blanc is sensational. So much fruit, so many layers, so much elegance and potential.  Constantia Glen’s 3 a blend of has always impressed us, it did so again, in spades.  Very full on soft luscious red fruits with such well balance wood and acids and soft tannins with all that fruit. Reyneke’s 2013 Reserve White Sauvignon Blanc Fumé is very fumé at the moment but that will soften.  It is very giving with limes and lemons and is another food wine. Edgbastons Chardonnay is a real pearl. Lovely minerality, and rich golden fruit held together but not smothered by butterscotch wood

Stephan from the House of Krone shows Shawn Benjamin and Lynne their Chardonnay Pinot Noir

 Ginette de Fleuriot CWM pours a glass of vintage Ayala Champagne

 Bertus Fourie shows his Barista coffee Pinotage

 Jean Smit and Marc Kent of Boekenhoutskloof with their 2004 Semillon

 Gus Allen and Justin van Wyk of Constantia Glen showing their excellent 2014 Sauvignon blanc

 Carolyn Martin and her Creation team

 Katharine Harris of Delaire Graff with Allan Mullins

 A very busy scene

 David Brice of The Wine Cellar with Simon Barlow of Rustenberg

 Jessica Garlick, Reyneke winemaker, with Johan Reyneke

David van Velden pours a taste of Overgaauw Tria Cordia for Rian du Plessis of Pick 'n Pay's Waterfront wine shop

 Hattingh de Villiers and Rijk Melck of Muratie

 Winemaker Luke O'Cuinnegan shows Glenelly's Grand Vin red blend

 Werner Els and Paul de Wet of Zandvliet in Ashton

 After the tasting we went next door to Knife for supper

 Birthday girl and boy - Lynne with sommelier Xolani Mancotywa

 and the wine flowed

 Barend Barnard of L'Avenir

The special of the evening was steak, ribs and fries with a sauce

John just wanted the steak

Lynne ordered the ribs and a salad and was more than mildly surprised at the mini serving. Usually in rib restaurants you get too much to handle. This was just five small pieces.  Not sure why she was served the small bar serving. This was supper.

The bill for three

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014

Sunday buffet lunch at The Twelve Apostles

The weather has been slightly spring-like for the last week and now is back to cold rainy and miserable, but Sunday was a lovely exception and we had the good luck to have been invited by the 12 Apostles to come and try out their Sunday buffet at Azure restaurant.  We sat on the terrace enjoying the sunshine and watched whales dance in the bay while enjoying our lunch and some good wines

One of the most beautiful coastlines in the world

Azure has a large terrace just perfect for lunch. Above is the bar, where people meet for drinks before lunch

Inside the blue restaurant with the buffet spread in the centre

Starters and fresh salads, crudités, and dips

Lovely background music by Jenie Oliver

Just half of the dessert buffet!

The cheese platter

Seafood pasta

Stir fried vegetables and butternut

Char grilled dorado. This was absolutely delicious. The fish was very fresh, moist and had that lovely wood charred flavour

Lynne chats to old friend Gavin Ferreira, F&B Manager of the 12 Apostles, who had explained the buffet to us

The carvery offered rib eye of beef, very tender perfectly pink and good roast lamb.  In the background pretty amazing Yorkshire puddings

More beef and barbecue chicken wings

John does a meat oriented starter

Lynne fish and salad, That small breadcrumbed ball was mushroom risotto with truffle.  Superb

Our extremely pleasant and helpful waiter Onela poured us first some lovely Bouchard Finlayson wines. Lynne had a glass of their award winning Sauvignon Blanc and John had the Sans Barrique Chardonnay

One aspect we don’t like of the terrace, they allow guests to smoke. We find it does not go well with lunch.  Or dinner, or breakfast. This woman chain-smoked right through our lunch

Dorado, pesto orzo and some good raw asparagus and roasted vegetables for John

Head Chef Michael McIntyre is responsible for this good Sunday buffet which costs R285 pp and will run till the end of September. If you are celebrating your birthday, they offer you a complimentary bottle of Sparkling Wine to complement your meal in the Azure Restaurant. Just bring your identity document to qualify

A meat eater’s portion of beef, lamb and Yorkshire pudding

Was this cake irresistible to John? No. Lynne had a spoonful of the very creamy rice pudding and a spoonful of the malva pudding and covered them in the vanilla custard and the caramel sauce. Heavenly way to cheat.  But no seconds

Another dessert selection

John’s slice of cake with some fruit

Head sommelier Gregory Mutambe with a media pack for us to take home. It contained lots of information on the hotel and the Red Carnation Group and a rather nice notebook, always a welcome gift to a journo

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014

Diemersdal launches SA's first Grüner Veltliner

Why did Diemersdal make a Grüner Veltliner? “Because I like the grape and the wine” said the winemaker Thys Louw. Good answer ! and he has had the patience to plant the grapes and wait the required years for the grapes to mature and now bottled this lovely fresh and lively white wine, which is much more common in Austria than anywhere in the New World. We think this will be a commercial success too.

We met at the long table in the restaurant.  On the table were glasses of the just released 2013 Grüner Veltliner and a tank sample of the 2014, What does it taste like? Crisp, dry, very layered, full of limes and lemons, almost like a sugarless lemonade and it has long flavours. There is no added acid and it is a wonderful food wine and a quaffer. With age, we see it becoming more complex and sophisticated.

Hearing about the grape, the vines and the motivation

Thys has planted 3 hectares and it is the first grown in South Africa

Chef tells us how he has matched the food

The menu

The starter was succulent smoked trout with creamed horseradish and a watercress salad, with squares of beetroot and some foraged herbs and flowers

The wine

Thys discussing the wine with Marlene Truter and his father Tienie Louw, who has handed the keys of the kingdom to Thys

We also had an Austrian Weingut Bründlmayer 2002 Trocken Grüner Veltliner from Alte Reben with which to compare it

Main course of Wiener Schnitzel, potato salad and cranberries. A huge portion but the cranberry sauce was a lovely complement to the dish and to the wine

Another Weingut Bründlmayer 2002 Trocken Grüner Veltliner, this one from Langenlois

Thys also poured us some of his Grenache

The tank sample in a flask

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014