Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Vertical pinotage tasting at L'Avenir with Francois Naude

To have the opportunity to go back to 1996 and taste all the eight L’Avenir Pinotages which have reached the top 10 in the ABSA Top 10 Pinotage competition over the last few years was a very special opportunity. We were very fortunate to have Mauritian-born former owner Marc Wiehe with us. He bought the farm in 1992. It had been growing grapes for Nederburg in Paarl. Pharmacist Francois Naude, who had more passion for making wine than for pushing pills, was hired as winemaker and a legacy was born. By 2004, no Pinotage had been named in the top ten in the annual Top Ten Pinotage Competition as frequently as L'Avenir, with seven out of eight vintages in the Top Ten.
Marc Wiehe sold the farm in 2005 to French winemaker, Chablisien Michel Laroche. In 2010 Laroche merged with the Jeanjean family and L'Avenir fell under the umbrella of the AdVini group, one of the largest wine producers in France.
We started with the 1996, which still shows soft fruit, soft tannins and has the Pinot parent peeping through, more than the Cinsaut. It still has some time to offer! It’s an old style, but has lovely fruit. We then tasted through 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 & 2011. All these Pinotages were made by Francois Naude, who guided us through the tasting, with the exception of the 2011, which was made by the current winemaker Dirk Coetzee. You can see the progression of these wines as the vines aged and matured and the change in style as the years went by and more was learned about how to treat this difficult grape, in the vineyard, in the cellar and in the bottle. L’Avenir produces great Pinotage.
The tasting was held in their tasting room and it was followed by supper on the terrace – thankfully with lots of space heaters. The food had been catered by Bertus Basson’s staff and was delicious.
Pieter Louw welcomed us with a glass of the new L’Avenir Blanc de Blanc Methode Cap Classique or the better-known pinotage-based Rosé
The wines we tasted
Tables all set up in the Tasting Room
Current winemaker Dirk Coetzee introduces Francois Naude, who joined Marc Wiehe when he bought the farm in 1992. It was Francois' first wine job; he was trained and had practised as a pharmacist, but wine was his passion. He inherited a 50 year old block of bush vine Pinotage on the farm and had to learn how to work with it. They also planted new pinotage vines. The old vineyard has now gone. Francois was also able to plan the farm as he wanted and has played a huge part in the style of L’Avenir’s wines. He made the first pinotage in 1994.
Mark Wiehe who sold the Farm to La Roche in 2005. It is now owned by Advini
Francois tells us about his time as winemaker at L’Avenir. He is now a consultant to the farm. He says he looks for good balance, good fruit and consistency in wine
We began with the 1996
The tasting proceeds. We could see the progression through the years as the vines matured and the new pinotage took centre stage from the older one. The description of warm sweet fruit kept recurring. 2000, 2001 and 2002 are showing really well. The 2000 is almost Cabernet-like on the nose, but big, intense, spicy and plummy on the palate. Lynne scored the 2002 18.5 and her description is: Violets, macaroons, raspberry and cherry on the nose. Very elegant, pretty and quite French in character. It shows some forest floor, warm sweet fruit with lovely spice and pine nuts. Elegance and depth. Very close to a good Pinot Noir with some cassis on the end. (And this from a cautious Pinotage drinker)
Sales and Marketing Manager Barend Barnard
The line up
Christian Eedes, Co-owner and editor at Winemag.co.za with Francois
Time for dinner. The menu
Another L’Avenir wine for tasting with dinner, their excellent 1992 Cabernet
Chef lines up the food to go out
First course:  a well flavoured steak tartare topped with radishes beetroot , pickles and spicy nasturtium leaves
Dinner was set up on the terrace
Barend brings us more L’Avenir wines to drink with dinner. Thank heavens we were staying the night in the Lodge
Francois with photo-journalist Samarie Smith
We all get to know each other
Dessert was a vanilla pannacotta topped with zesty lemon and orange ice cream
Winemakers discussing the wines at the end of a great evening
M. Wiehe in fine fettle
and comparing stories of the old and new
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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Heritage Day Friendship Table at Avontuur

Avontuur in the Helderberg is one of South African premier racehorse studs, which also makes a little wine. Well, that’s what they told us on Heritage Day, on which we were invited to visit and taste their wines. It is hard to define “a little” when they tell us that they make 48 000 bottles of their best selling Estate red blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot! They also make several other wines. The wines in the premium range are named after their prize winning race horses. The farm is owned by the Taberer family and the wines are made by Jan van Rooyen.
The entrance to Avontuur Restaurant and the new improved tasting room
We met a table of other media and bloggers
The restaurant was very busy and lively on the public holiday
Cobie van Oordt, PRO for Avontuur takes us through their wines. We particularly liked the Estate Sauvignon Blanc, good vale at R62 and the Estate Cabernet/Merlot. Many of the reds have very farmyard noses, is this influenced by the horses? John’s favourite was the Baccarat 2009, a Bordeaux blend, and Lynne’s was the Dominion Royale Shiraz from 32 year old vines
Lunch after the tasting was a shared platter of cheese, paté, droëwors and biltong with a few additions like fruit, nuts and preserved figs. These cost R120 for 2.
The restaurant menu for the day
Then we had a plate of dessert. One of the choices was a Cape classic, Melktert
We had the almond cake
A view of the paddocks at the front of the farm
The farm buildings
Spring vines breaking into bud as the weather gets warmer
A view from Avontuur of the R44 between Somerset West and Stellenbosch. We travel this road often and had no idea the hill was so steep. Of course, a long lens compresses the distance and makes it look much steeper than it is
Some of the dams with their very valuable new pedigreed foals

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014

Ten year vertical tasting of Neil Ellis Grenache on International Grenache Day

Grenache is a grape grown throughout Mediterranean France and Spain to make wines which show sweet warm fruit with spicy notes. In the Rhône, it is one of the component grapes used in Chateauneuf du Pape. It is being grown more and more in South Africa where our climate and terroir suit it well and we are producing some very interesting and attractive wines from it. Neil Ellis have been growing this for many years and we were very intrigued to be invited to take part in a vertical tasting of their Piekenierskloof Grenache dating from 2004 held, appropriately, on International Grenache day. 
Currently, these wines are made by Warren Ellis, who took over winemaking from his father Neil in 2006. Warren is also the Viticulturist. We started with the current vintage 2012 and while these newer wines are fresh and fruity they show great future potential.  As we got further back to the older wines you could see the character of the wine maturing and getting more elegant and full with softening tannins. They do clearly show their terroir and reflect the climate of the year they were made.  We enjoyed tasting these wines very much. We also did a small tasting of their Rodanos red blend where the base wine is shiraz but the other wines may vary every year.  In 2010 and 2011 Grenache was the blending wine, in 2012 it was Cinsaut. Many of these wines are very food friendly.
The wines we tasted
Neil Ellis welcomes us to the farm
A good way to display wine in a tasting room
Sommeliers, trade and media assemble for the tasting
Neil tells us the history of the farm and the wines
Warren Ellis tells us about growing Grenache. Why does he make it? He loves the grape
The very friendly Boerbul who rules the farm
A rapt audience learns about making Grenache
A very necessary log fire as the day was rather dank. grim and wet
Two braais being prepared for lunch – in the rain, so under canvas
Lots of seasoning for the lamb chops cooking on the coals
Neil adds some more, while Winnie Bowman records the moment
The science of braaiing
Neil with Winnie and Mel Minnaar
A view from the farm under the rainy Jonkershoek mountain. The vines have only just started bud break
Tatiana Marcetteaux, Sommelier at The Taj hotel in Cape Town
Mmmm, lamb chops nearing completion
and being transferred onto the platters
Looking crisp, juicy and perfectly cooked
Don’t feed the hound! But he gets to lick the lamb juices off the grid and finds every last bit of flavour

The chops were served with a good mixed salad and roast potatoes
And were followed by a cheeseboard and panforte to be shared by couples

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014

140925 Main Ingredient's MENU - MCC Challenge, Neil Ellis Grenache, Avontuur

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Spring brings the dragonflies back to our pond
In this week’s MENU:
  • * Amorim Cork Methode Cap Classique Challenge Awards
  • * Tasting Grenache with Neil Ellis
  • * Heritage Day, tasting wines at Avontuur
  • * Calling Woolworths to task
  • * Wine Concepts Festival of Seductive Sauvignons
  • * Food and wine (and a few other) events for you to enjoy
  • * Learn about wine and cooking

To get the whole of our story, please click on “READ ON.....” at the end of each paragraph, which will lead you to the related blog, with pictures and more words. At the end of each blog, click on RETURN TO MENU to come back to the blog version of MENU.
This week’s Product menu    One of the sweet tooth delights we enjoy is Italian Amaretti biscuits, delicious little almond macaroons which can be enjoyed with a cup of coffee or as an ingredient in desserts, especially when drenched with Amaretto liqueur  See them here
Amorim Cork Methode Cap Classique Challenge Awards     Every year, in South Africa, Amorim Cork sponsors this competition for the best Methode Cape Classique wines, wines that are made in the French Champagne method. The Awards ceremony was held last Friday at the 12 Apostles Hotel and there were some surprises and also some of the more familiar top names who received awards. Read On
Tasting Grenache with Neil Ellis     Grenache is a grape grown throughout Mediterranean France and Spain to make wines of sweet warm fruit with spicy notes. In the Rhône, it is one of the component grapes used in Chateauneuf du Pape. It is being grown more and more in South Africa where our climate and terroir suit it well and we are producing some very interesting and attractive wines from it. Neil Ellis have been growing this for many years and we were very intrigued to be invited to take part in a vertical tasting of their Piekenierskloof Grenache dating from 2004 held, appropriately, on International Grenache day.
These wines are currently made by Warren Ellis, who joined his father Neil in 2006. Warren is also the Viticulturist. We started with the current vintage 2012 and, while these newer wines are fresh and fruity, they show great future potential. As we got further back to the older wines, you could see the character of the wine maturing and becoming more elegant and full with softening tannins. They do clearly show their terroir and reflect the climate of the year in which they were made. We enjoyed tasting these wines very much. We also did a small tasting of their Rodanos red blend, where the base wine is shiraz, but the other wines may vary every year. In 2010 and 2011 Grenache was the blending wine, in 2012 it was Cinsaut. Many of these wines are very food friendly. Read more
Heritage Day, tasting wines at Avontuur     Avontuur in the Helderberg is one of South African premier racehorse studs, which also makes a little wine. Well, that’s what they told us on Heritage Day, on which we were invited to come and taste their wines. It is hard to define “a little” when they tell us that they make 48 000 bottles of their best selling Estate red blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot! They make several other wines. The wines in the premium range are named after their prize winning race horses. The farm is owned by the Taberer family and the wines are made by Jan van Rooyen. Read on
Calling Woolworths to task     Woolies has not yet entered into the spirit of Banting. We hear from staff in the stores that they are about to but, yesterday, we bought something for supper that was rather shaming. It was the only salad on the shelf that did not visibly contain any carbohydrates. No pasta, no beans, no potato etc. Called a Crunchy Summer Salad it contained carrot, cabbage, tomato, spinach, onion and watercress. There was a small envelope of pumpkin and sunflower seeds included and one of salad dressing. Sounds perfect, until you discover that the salad dressing includes Maple flavoured syrup, honey and Balsamic vinegar with caramel, and ‘starch’. What were you thinking? It was completely unnecessary. These small additions took a healthy 150g salad to 15.6 Glycaemic carbs, it was horribly sweet and cloying. Try harder please. Oil and vinegar work well enough.
This week’s recipe      As we are writing this in our lovely room at the Lodge in L’Avenir, there will be no recipe this week. And next week you will read about why we are here: a vertical tasting tonight of L’Avenir Pinotage with dinner prepared by Bertus Basson, one of our favourite chefs.
Amorim Cork Methode Cap Classique Challenge Awards     We gave you the results of the 14th annual Amorim Méthode Cap Classique Challenge last week, but did not have time to edit the photographsSee the full story here
Wine Concepts Festival of Seductive Sauvignons      Come and join us at this superb festival celebrating Sauvignons Blanc and Rouge at the Vineyard Hotel tomorrow. Always a glittering event, you can taste some of the best Sauvignons this country produces from 50 top farms. Bookings: Tickets cost R170 each and can conveniently be purchased via www.webtickets.co.za at Wine Concepts in Newlands or Kloof St or at the door on the evening, subject to availability. Telephone Newlands at 021 671 9030 or Kloof Street at 021 426 4401. And you could book yourself dinner at the Vineyard afterwards.
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 type of event 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 list of wine and food pairing dinners, list of Special events with wine and/or food connections, list of Wine Shows and Tastings and list of special dinner events. All the events are listed in date order and we 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
The Hurst Campus, an accredited school for people who want to become professional chefs, has a variety of courses. See the details here
Chez Gourmet in Claremont has a programme of cooking classes. A calendar of their classes can be seen here.
In addition to the new Sense of Taste Culinary Arts School, Chef Peter Ayub runs a four module course for keen home cooks at his Maitland complex. Details here
Nadège Lepoittevin-Dasse has French cooking classes in Noordhoek 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.
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






25th September 2014
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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.

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