A celebration and a new vineyard at Ayama

Some of the best wines you are drinking contain grapes that are grown in an area called Paardeberg. It is a small but very fruitful area between Durbanville and the back of Paarl Mountain.  Although the direct translation is horse mountain, it is believed that it where Cape Mountain zebra were seen in abundance when the first settlers arrived in the Cape and they mistook them for horses.

Michela Dalpiaz and her husband Attilio bought Slent Farm 10 years ago, renamed it Ayama (a Xhosa word meaning “someone to lean on” – as the owners believe their Slent adventure leans on friendship and love )and have been making their wine and selling their grapes with great success. Now they want to do something different and last week we were invited to the farm to help them plant the first Vermentino grapes in the Cape. And what a fun day they made it. Vermentino which comes mainly from Sardinia and Corsica, is very popular in Italy we quote “Vermentino is a perfect match for our terroir, which is hot and windy and features mostly clay soils with sandy areas from disintegrated granite. The berries and bunches are large and thee grapes are late ripening, all of which fit perfectly with the existing varietals on the farm and the harvesting schedule.  ... it produces aromatic white wines which can handle wood and give you a beautifully powerful wine.”   We helped to plant it.

Under the trees on the farm, some bubbly to welcome us 

It started out as a bit of a chilly day but it brightened later

They presented us with lovely hats to ward off the sun

Trying on the sunhats and the panamas for the fellows

Owner and winemaker Michela Dalpiaz tells us about Ayama

We stand listening under the old oak tree

Michael gets a kiss from friend Simonetta dalla Cia

John can you name these people Simonetta and Giorgio dalla Cia with Dr Augusto Fabbro and the previous owner of Slent farm, Christopher New

We moved for lunch up above the farm in a fleet of 4x4s and sat under this magnificent, centuries old wild olive tree. These are indigenous to South Africa but, sadly, do not bear edible fruit

A light lunch of focaccia, grissini, Tsatziki and crudite as we were to have an early supper

They have wonderful views from this vantage point and can see from the Winterberg right around to Table Mountain

Their vineyards with the Paarl, Franschhoek and Stellenbosch mountains in the distance

Keeping the wine cool in a bathtub

Michela tells us about the vines they have and the plans for the future

Judy New previously owned the farm with her husband Christopher. They still have a cottage there and she loves to drive her Suzuki up the mountain to see the protected fynbos when they are visiting from their current home in Pringle Bay

Time to move down to see the Vermentino vineyard

Near neighbours Tanya and Willie de Waal of Scali farm with Judy New

Michela tells us what is going to happen next. The vineyard needs planting and we are going to do it!

An amused Judy and Christopher look on

Here is the equipment. And we are relieved to see that the holes have been dug

We also had a lesson in planting and an assistant to do some of the hard work. Actually, all of it for most of us

Attilio plants the first vine

And the whole family helps to tamp it in

Each of the vineyards has its own plaque

Each person attending was given custody of five vines they had to plant and a label to help locate them. In the future, we hope to be invited to help prune them and when the vineyard is ready in a few years time, pick the grapes of our vines

Lynne holds onto our first vine and helps to position it as our expert helps to arrange the roots

He then fills in the holes gently so that the soil completely covers the roots

Christine Rudman planting her vines with Attilio

John planting a vine and positioning it against the wire while the soil is replaced

A vineyard full of happy, industrious people. The hats were very useful

and everyone was involved

Ex-Winemaker Jonathan Snashall knew exactly what to do and Georgie Prout was the soil replacer

And Graham Howe did all his on his own, not for the first time. As a gardener, he just questioned whether the holes were big enough

Some people didn’t manage to get there, their vines will be planted for them by the friendly farm workers

Back to the farm and time for the tasting of 4 Italian Vermentinos from Sardinia

The bottles

Georgio dalla Cia noses one

The line-up. We found them all quite salty, with lots of tangy and crispcitrus flavours and with some honey, white peach and tropical fruity flavours on most. There is a definite whiff of herbs, sometime mint and some perfume. They all have that characteristic slight almost almond bitterness on the end. Very refreshing and great with sunny Mediterranean seafood

The tasting was guided by Dr Augusto Fabbro

Hats on, we all pose for the group shot

Some strange clouds appeared over the Boland. Lynne remembered that in Europe, if you see these over the mountains, they mean snow is on the way. And indeed two days later the weather changed remarkably and we had a huge cold snap, with a light dusting of snow on the highest mountains, silly weather for mid November, our late Spring

Dinner was planned in the ruins of the old farm which is being converted into a new tasting room and winery but because the weather looked rather changeable, we move to Vondeling where the tasting room had been converted into a elegant banqueting hall!

The menu was  extensive

Wonderful tender country lamb on the spit being carved. Cleverly, instead of doing mushy roast potatoes, the chef had done new baby potatoes. And he hadn’t added a thick over-flavoured coating gravy, just let the natural juices of the lamb herbs and garlic concentrate at the bottom of the spit

We had a vibey marimba band to bop along to

A buffet table full of salads, bread and cheese

We could try all of Ayama's wines

and drink them with supper

These wines sell very well overseas

The cheese platter. That black pepper cheese was breathtaking, literally!

Several varieties of tomato in the salads
Mozzarella was added to the salads later

Michela welcomes us and tells us about dinner

All the staff were invited, something you don’t often see

Marco Ventrello of KWV is a tenant on Ayama and enjoyed the evening with his lady

There was hand made pizza from Pizza Piaggio

The portable pizza oven comes on its own mini van

There were three flavours to chose from

Willie and Tanya de Waal watch theirs being made

The Fungi

The Coppa

The staff tables

Lots of happy faces

And we were entertained by a professional singer

Asparagus soup made by Michela

Giorgio bringing us wine

An added treat with dessert was his Grappa made from Merlot. Lynne poured hers on the Tiramisu. Delicious

How romantic is this, Vondelings chapel at twilight

Waiting for our bus to take us back to town after a superb day of fun and hard work and lots of eating and drinking,  Thank you to all at Ayama

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014

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A dramatic Sea Point sunset

In this week’s MENU:

 This week’s products: Nut oils

 An Italian experience Fantinel from Friuli

 Boland celebrates Chenin’s Terroir

 Elgin Sauvignon Blanc

 In Bocca al Lupo – Neil Grant’s new restaurant

 This week’s recipe: Roast Baby Beetroot with Goats cheese & Walnuts

 Tastings and Festivals

 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      Nut oils. We have Walnut, Hazelnut and Argon oil. They are imported and therefore a luxury but so worth it as they add so much to the dishes they are added to.  See them here

One part of our job that we love is the different places we get to visit, eat at and often stay. It must be a nightmare for PRO’s finding all these superb venues for functions, we just love exploring them. They don’t always work as venues, the Waterfront can be a little noisy and in your face, with tourists peering in but it is central, and if you pick your spot carefully, there are a lot of hidden corners. And places in the country can be so romantic and graceful, as we found this week.

An Italian experience      Unless we go abroad, we don’t often get the opportunity to taste single estate regional wines from Europe and it is always a very good learning experience when we do. On Monday we were invited to a tasting of wine from the Fruili area in North East Italy by the producer Fantinel. The tasting was held at Mondiall restaurant in the Waterfront. We were welcomed with a glass of chilled crisp Spumante Prosecco DOC extra Dry and then proceeded upstairs to taste their range of wines which they export to South Africa. The company was founded in 1969 by grandfather Mario Fantinel, who was in the hotel and restaurant business when he bought his first vineyards, continued by his sons Luciano, Gianfranco and Loris and is now run by the third generation Marco, Stefano and Mariaelena.

Lunch downstairs in the main restaurant was prepared for us by Chef/owner Peter Tempelhoff and was rather tempting and special. It certainly went with the wines served. Read on.....

Boland celebrates Chenin’s Terroir      Johan Joubert has left Kleine Zalze and “returned home” to Boland Kelders after 12 years of award winning winemaking elsewhere. He is now the Cellarmaster and was joined on Tuesday by CEO Paul Malan and Sales & Marketing Director Maraleze Knoetze to present eight different examples of different Chenin Blancs they are producing. These are from different soils on their 2,200 hectares from five different wards in Berg River, Swartland, Philadelphia, Wellington and the Paardeberg.

It was a fascinating tasting, especially now that site specific wines are the current subject of discussion in the industry and we gain momentum mapping our soils, climate and terroir. You can indeed taste the different terroirs in the wines. We got to see some of the different soil types and they are amazingly different from their farms all over the Boland. Don’t let these wines slip off your radar, we think they are about to do amazing things. And if you don’t know their wines you can go to their tasting room in Wellington. They are sold at very reasonable prices for very high quality. Read on.....

Elgin Sauvignon Blanc      We took part in another Elgin “Tweet up” this week. This time we tasted 15 Sauvignon Blancs. The room was hugely disadvantaged by bad internet connections so, sadly, we couldn’t get many of our tweets out. No chance sadly on the last four as connections just packed up, even 3G. It must have been the storm. We had lively debates on how Sauvignon Blanc should taste, especially from the ‘naughty table’, it’s nice to see what the young like. Sean Skibbe from South Hill did his best to herd a group of “cats”, but the wines we tasted were all interesting. We loved some of the classics like the Paul Cluver and the Iona stood out above the rest by head and shoulders. But some preferred the newer more tropical style. Is this what Elgin should be doing? Make what your soil gives you, don’t try to turn Sauvignon into something else is our comment. You can’t grow chenin, don’t use SB as a substitute. We think a new larger venue without pizza oven smells throughout might be a good move for the future though. These “tweet ups’ so work for us.

“In Bocca al Lupo”      Which means “Good Luck” to Neil Grant of Burrata fame for the future of his second great restaurant. Bocca (means mouth in Italian) is on the corner of Bree and Wale Streets in Cape Town and last night it was rocking. They have a lovely, simple menu with something to suit all tastes and we got to sample some of the pizzas with a glass (or two) of wine. People were clamouring to get in, a restaurant across the road with a similar theme was empty and we think it is going to be a great success. They make the perfect Margarita pizza. Just the right tomato sugo, good herb flavours and superb mozzarella on a thin pizza base. And there are lots of other flavours to try. Read on.....

This week’s Recipe      This is a lovely ‘cooked’ salad that works well as a starter or as an accompaniment to other salads and it is very good option for vegetarians. Walnut oil is not obligatory, you can substitute olive oil but it does add so much more depth and flavour. The honey is to counter the acidity of the wine vinegar. Go easy, the beets may be quite sweet.

Roast Baby Beetroot with Goats cheese & Walnuts

500 g baby beets – 1 garlic clove, - good sprig of fresh thyme – 1 T olive oil – 100 g soft creamy goats cheese (Chevin) – 2 to 3 T walnut or olive oil – 1 T red wine vinegar – juices from the roasted beets – 1 t honey – flake salt and freshly ground black pepper – 500g mixed baby leaves of peppery rocket and spinach – 25g walnuts

Leave 1 cm of stem on the beetroot. Wash the beets well to get rid of any soil, then dry. Place them with the garlic clove, and the thyme on some foil, drizzle with the olive oil and make into a well sealed parcel. Roast in a preheated 180°C oven for at least an hour. The beetroot is cooked when a knife will slip easily through one. Remove from the foil when still warm and peel off the skin and quarter the beets (you might want to wear gloves) and don’t let them get cold, they are impossible to peel. Keep the juices in the foil. Make a dressing with the walnut oil, vinegar, beet juices, a little honey and salt and pepper to taste, When ready to assemble, put the leaves on a plate, scatter over the beetroot, then the crumbled cheese, dress with the vinaigrette and scatter over the walnuts. Serves 4

It is Festival season, we may see you at one or all of these: Bosman Release Celebration on Lelienfontein estate on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th November. Bosman Wine Club members each receive two complimentary tickets. Tickets can be booked online through Webtickets. Additional tickets for family and friends can also be booked at R150pp. Ticket includes access to both days, a wine glass and a R50 voucher redeemable with your first purchase of six bottles of wine on the day. Tasting journey through the 250 year old cellar. Children under 12 enter free of charge. Food is sold at an additional cost of R50 per station. Live entertainment.

Wine Concepts will celebrate their thirteenth year of staging their “Finer Things in Life” Champagne Festival with the theme of Ebony & Ivory on Friday 21st November from 6 pm. They will be offering more than 40 cuvees for tasting from premium and boutique French Champagne Houses to tantalize your taste buds. Expect names like Taittinger, Piper Heidsieck, Drappier, Mumm, Ruinart, Montaudon, Jacquart, Philipponat and many more. For the price of one bottle of entry level Champagne, R380, you get to taste many of the best ‘marques’ in France. There will be a lucky draw, canapés and prizes for the best dressed. This year’s theme is Ebony and Ivory and dress will be smart (and formal if you wish). Tickets from R380.00 if purchased from Wine Concepts stores or online on www.webtickets.co.za Tickets will be on sale for R400 at the door on the evening.

Franschhoek’s “The Magic of Bubbles Cap Classique and Champagne festival will be held this year on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th November from 12 to 5 pm in the gardens of the Huguenot Monument. Their theme this year is Parasols and Panama Hats, very suitable for the usually hot weather. Tickets here There is a reduction if you pre-book using a MasterCard.

The Cape Town Festival of Beer Yes, we also like beer. John used to brew at home. and will one day have the time to do so again. Lynne is British, so it’s a given. And Cape Town is having its annual Beer Festival at Hamilton’s Rugby Club on Green Point Common from Friday, 28th November to Sunday 30th. Get your tickets now. This is very popular and gets very crowded, so go early.

Food and wine (and a few other) events for you to enjoy

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

13th November 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.

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