Tasting Creation wines in Riedel glasses at Creation with Georg Riedel

We meet Georg Riedel of Riedel Glass at Creation Winery

This was the main reason for our visit to Hermanus. A lunch had been arranged at Creation winery by Michael Fridjhon and Michael Crossley of Reciprocal Trading, who are the distributors of this glassware in South Africa and they had invited lots of media and restaurateurs to meet him. Over lunch, we would sample Creation wines in Riedel glasses – the one designed specifically for that varietal and also in another. This does make it easy to see how well the correct glass showcases both the aroma, the taste and the enjoyment of each wine. We learned much more about Riedel Glass and how they formulate these special glasses for specific wines, based on very scientific methods

Creation winery from the parking area. It is surrounded on all sides by vines and some lovely indigenous gardens

A warm welcome

A lovely presentation box of The Art of Creation wines, Creation's new premium range, perfect for a gift or your cellar

The tasting room all laid out for the lunch and tasting

Carolyn Martin with Michael Fridjhon

Jean Claude Martin with Michael Crossley

The Creation wines we will taste with their appropriate Riedel glasses. From l to r Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Merlot

Lots of discussion before the tasting

Georg Riedel had come from his factory in Austria to inform and instruct us on the correct use of his glasses. He says size and shape matters,. And, one and a half centimetres can make a difference – the Chardonnay glass is the same shape as the Pinot Noir glass, but higher and the wines taste completely different in each glass

The menu: first the wine tasting in the glasses paired with five canapés, then a main course selection and coffee and chocolate

With the Sauvignon blanc, a slightly sweet, fruity tomato gazpacho containing pineapple with some finely chopped scallop

“Wine makes the music, we are the loudspeakers”

Carolyn explains the canapé pairing with the wines

The full citrus and vanilla Chardonnay paired with prawn, avo and vanilla mayo on pastry

If you travel and cannot take your full set of Riedel glasses with you, you can travel with The O glass, a stemless glass which comes boxed as a pair and which Carolyn is holding. There was some amusing controversy about the correct glass for the Syrah/Grenache

Listening to the Maestro

who is passionate about his products and their use

He showed us how to swirl and wash the wine around the inside of the glass to get the maximum aroma and taste

He showed us how to smell – your face must make contact with the glass.

And he showed us how the same wine in different glasses was completely different in taste and smell and intensity

A tiny slice of thin beetroot atop a goats milk cheese panna cotta topped with lentils to go with the Pinot Noir

Waiting or the next wine pairing

The Merlot

with its tiny cup of warm cauliflower and gorgonzola soup

and finally the Syrah Grenache with a lovely duck rillette on a poppadum with aioli

Michael Fridjhon thanks Georg for coming

John’s main course of rare roast loin of springbok, greens, a fondant potato and a smoked marrow with a pinot noir and cranberry reduction.

The same dish for Lynne came with mushrooms

Creation have a superb selection of different teas for you to order. We smelled cinnamon, chocolate, vanilla mint and many more exciting tea flavours.

JC Martin, Georg Riedel, Carolyn Martin and Michael Fridjhon on the lawn after the tasting

Monika Elias, Shante Hutton having fun and in the background. Dieter Odendaal, Sales Manager of Creation, capturing the moment.

Creation’s Executive Chef, Warwick Taylor, who designed the menu for the day

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014

Riding City Sightseeing's Red bus to Constantia with the Klink Awards team

Friday's event was a ride on City Sightseeing’s Red Bus tour to Constantia. We started from outside the Aquarium with some of Klink’s staff, other media and Klink fans. www.winetourismsouthafrica.co.za/klinkawards/

After a late start, we headed off on the bus through the southern suburbs to Constantia Nek where we were served a lovely cold glass of Steenberg’s MCC (this is NOT part of the normal tour!) before boarding the Wine Bus, which ambles through this leafy suburb and takes you to visit several wine farms. We ended up at Groot Constantia, where a special event had been set up for us. You, too, can enjoy this tour; it is a great way to see our city if you don’t want to drive – http://www.citysightseeing.co.za/tour-timetables.php

The best pick up point is outside the Aquarium in the V&A Waterfront

Boarding our special bus

Our friendly and very competent driver, Mampe

Monika Elias, publisher of Wine Tourism South Africa and the Klink Awards, tells us about the planned trip

On De Waal Drive - the best place to sit is right in front, for the view. You are given earphones for a tour commentary along the way, pointing out all the important and historic landmarks

We arrived at Constantia Nek where the Wine Bus was waiting for us. This has been nominated for a Klink award this year and you can vote for it - the first time a tour bus has been nominated for an award

Jenny Prinsloo, CEO of Franschhoek Wine Valley gets a welcome glass of Steenberg Sauvignon Blanc MCC from Caroline van Schalkwyk, Steenberg’s Marketing Manager

Lots of takers for this lovely wine, including Grant Newton, Groot Constantia Sales & Marketing Manager

There were choices. Steenberg has been nominated for a Klink Award

Monica reads us the itinerary

Vincent is the driver on the Wine Bus

Mandi Jarman, Sales & Marketing Manager of City Sightseeing, makes sure we are all on board

Arrival at Groot Constantia

We all walk down the avenue to this historic landmark

and pause for a group photo

The event, put on by the Constantia farms nominated for Klink awards, was held in front of the historic winery behind the manor House. Here Thinus Botha of Buitenverwachting pours a glass of their lovely Hussey's Vlei Sauvignon blanc. Their Restaurant has been nominated in the Fine Dining category

Chef Edgar Osojnik had produced a lovely selection of biscuits and petit fours for us

The Groot Constantia Valley stand had Chanette le Roux, dressed as Napoleon, and a chocolate and wine pairing, always available in their tasting room, which has been nominated

Chef Edgar also produced a lovely stacked vegetable canapé, much appreciated by the hungry mob of journalists and bloggers ...

and was happy to help with pouring the wine

Lynne tasting and chatting to Justin van Wyk, who makes the wine for both Constantia Glen and Beau Constantia

Jenny Prinsloo with Gus Allen of Constantia Glen

Beau Constantia’s Pas de Nom (translation is Without a Name), but these wines are certainly not without character!

The stands set up in front of the historic wine cellar

The team from Constantia Glen

Caroline offered us cheese platters with the Steenberg wines

Back on the bus and time to go home. The wine bus drops you back at Constantia Nek, where you re-board the Red bus which goes via Hout Bay and follows the Atlantic coast all the way back to Cape Town, a lovely scenic trip

One of Lynne’s favourite views from the bus, of Llandudno, where her family used to live

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014

Sunday seafood platter at Ocean Basket

Sunday bloody Sunday

Sometimes you have to turn a disaster into a positive. We were invited to lunch on a Helderberg wine farm but, when we got there, no one we spoke to knew about the invitation! A bit of a PR nightmare, but apologies have been received. After a long drive, huge expectations were dashed. So we decided to go down to the sea, where we had a lovely seafood platter at one of our favourites, Ocean  Basket on the Strand. Marvellous views. 

For those of our readers who are overseas, this wonderful selection for two costs only R215. Which currently equates to about €15.37 or £12.25, for which we conjecture you could buy a couple of muffins and 2 coffees in some of the countries we have visited

The bill. No corkage was charged for the bottle of Kleine Zalze Chenin Blanc we had bought locally, thinking we might have to picnic on the beach. We have to say a special thanks to the Blue Bottle liquor store, who gave us a wine glass to go with the one we already had in the car

A brave fisherman wearing waders.  It was the beginning of the Spring tides and the water was right up to the top of the beach and roadside

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014