Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show Public tasting at the CTICC

Our journey to the Aegean meant we had to miss the Old Mutual Trophy Awards lunch at the Mount Nelson this year, so we were very happy to be able to attend the Cape Town public tasting at the CTICC last Friday. The event was well attended and the venue is large enough to accommodate a good crowd without becoming uncomfortably full. An indication of the steady upward growth in the quality of South African wines is the number of excellent wines which earned silver medals and which we thought deserved gold. Golds were hard won this year

Nitida's winemaker Danie Keulder, showing the Nitida Coronata Integration 2013, which was awarded a silver medal

The Boustred brothers, Rob and Chris, from Remhoogte, showed their Honey Bunch Reserve Chenin blanc 2014

We always enjoy finding a new discovery. Lauren Ritchie was showing the Rare Earth Vineyards SAV 2013 from the Garden Route, made by Anton Smal, which won a Gold medal

Spier Cellarmaster Johan Jordaan was showing three wines, his Trophy winning Single Vineyard Windy Peak Sauvignon bland 2014, made for Woolworths, and Single Vineyard The Hutton Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 and the 21 Gables Sauvignon blanc, which was awarded a Silver medal

Trizanne Barnard showed her Trizanne Reserve Sauvignon blanc Semillon 2013 and Elim Sauvignon blanc 2014, both of which were awarded Silver medals

Trizanne was a judge for the show, but did not judge in these categories

Olifantsberg Silhouette 2013, from Breedekloof near Worcester, won the Trophy for the Best Shiraz-Based Red Blend, here shown to OMTWS judge Francois Rautenbach, Singita Premier Wine Direct Manager, by winemaker Elizma Visser

La Motte Cellarmaster Edmund Terblanche pouring his Pierneef Collection Syrah Viognier 2013, a Gold Medal winner, for keen wine lovers

Antonij Rupert Wines' winemaker Dawie Botha took time off from showing his wines to take his wife Anma, Deborah Isaacs and Leigh-Ann Derbyshire round the hall

Rustenberg won Trophies for the Five Soldiers Chardonnay 2012 and Peter Barlow 2009 red blend, here being poured by winemaker Murray Barlow

Keen interest by the punters in Durbanville Hills wines, keeping cellarmaster Martin Moore busy

The show was well attended and the tasting tables were kept busy right to the end

Mark Norrish of Ultra Liquors was awarded a Trophy for the 2013 Secret Cellar Merlot Malbec Cabernet sauvignon #702

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

The launch of Perdeberg Winery’s new barrel cellar

We returned to work this week in time to take up our invitation to Perdeberg for the launch of their new Barrel cellar, with lunch. We have always loved their wines, especially their Chenin Blancs and we sold cases of them when we had our shop, Main Ingredient, so we knew we were in for a good day. They had organised a bus to take us out to the farm from town, for which we are always grateful, as tasting wine all day and then driving home means John cannot enjoy the day as much as he would like

The new Barrel cellar

Filled with lots of barrels of wine maturing and a table set for the lunch

We assembled in the tasting room waiting for others to arrive, enjoying some coffee and, for some of us, a glass of the Dry Land Chenin Blanc

Then we climbed back into the bus and drove to Eenzaamheid farm (it means solitude) which is one of the oldest farms in South Africa. Founded in 1692 and given by Adam Tas to his sister Sarah. It is currently owned by Christo Briers-Louw, whose family has owned the land since 1775. This is where the Dry Land Bush vine Chenin is grown

Happy travellers and lots of interesting discussions on the bus

It is a classic Cape Dutch farmhouse

We were welcomed by Gerhard van der Watt CEO of Perdeberg and PRO Karey Evett

and with a good glass of Perdeberg's 2009 Brut Reserve MCC, made from Chenin Blanc

Served with some large fresh oysters and some smoked salmon canapés

Christo Briers-Louw and his wife Marietjie with Gerhard van der Watt. He told us some of the history of the farm. Their Chenin vines were planted in 1977 and are the oldest in the Dry Land and the MCC they have 150 hectares of vines, 60 of which are Chenin Blanc. They also have a 15 hectare nature reserve for the Geometric tortoise

Viticulturist Heinie Nel told us about the growing conditions in the area. The old vines grow on deep soils with good stored moisture. It is a hot area getting up into the high 40s during the growing season but every afternoon they have cooling constant South Westerly winds which bring the temperature down to 30 degrees allowing slower ripening, more concentration and higher quality., the vine are not stressed and the grapes can be left for later harvesting. the quality of the grapes is the pruning of the bush vines t give a lower crop is also very important, as a cover crop which reduces the need for unnecessary chemicals

On the terrace listening to Heinie. Perdeberg converted from a Co-op in 2012 to a Company, marketing lead rather than just a production outlet. They have 3,000 hectares and are aiming for premium brands internationally. They are obsessed with quality. They have quite a wide supply base in the Paarl area and 38% from the Swartland. There is a gap in the overseas market and there is also a growing excitement overseas about our Chenins. Perdeberg is beginning to win prestigious local and overseas awards including a Decanter Gold and the International Trophy for Chenin

Then it was time for a tasting of some of the wines: The Waka Waka white blend; SAAM 2014 blend of Chenin and Muscat de Alexandrie; Perdeberg Chenin 2015; SAAM 2014 Chenin and the Perdeberg Vineyards 2014 Chenin. Lynne has written on her notes for this last wine BUY! and we did and took a case home

It was pleasant enough weather for the tasting to be held outdoors

We were joined by celebrity chef Jenny Morris, who has become an ambassador for Perdeberg

Cellarmaster Albertus Louw talked us through the tasting

Afterwards, we had some canapés." Smoked oysters on cream cheese mousse, and mushroom paté on small polenta cakes

Smoked salmon and smoked chicken with cucumber

The spread

Some of their past awards and trophies

A collection of writers, all taking notes

Two of the wines we tasted. Pairs of bottles were positioned along the table

Jenny Morris

Michael Fridjhon

Jenny Morris and her husband David examining the bottles

We then returned to Perdeberg for lunch and a glass of bubbly was waiting our return

Cool and crisp

It's Perdeberg's Pinot Noir Rosé, which won them a double gold at Michelangelo and an Old Mutual Trophy Silver

The welcoming committee, Brand manager Fergill Fortuin and CEO Gerhard van der Watt

who told us about the new cellar

Michael Fridjhon does sabrage on the MCC Pinot Noir Rosé

No glass in the bottle

We went into the cellar for lunch

Chef James Shipton of Salt and Pepper Catering telling us what is on the menu and how he made the food and wine pairings

The Menu, which lists the wines paired with each course. The most popular wines of the day were the Dry Land Collection Barrel Fermented Chenin. This is winning award after award. People also really like the SAAM Middelberg 2013 Single Vineyard Chenin. SAAM is a joint venture with Charles Back

The Trio of Fish

Karoo Rack of Lamb with very sickly candied sweet potatoes and fine green beans.

CEO Gerhard van der Watt tells about the wines we are to taste

Dessert was Crème Brulée, a mini lemon tart and Budino di Cioccolato - a deep dark chocolate ganache

Fergill Fortuin reminds us that Perdeberg also produced good red wines, especially their Shiraz. We hope to taste some of these soon

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

150610 This Week's MENU - Aegean Odyssey Part 1, Turkey. Muratie Karoo Lamb and Venison Experience

A hooded crow takes a bath at Topkapı Palace, Istanbul

In this week’s MENU:

 Aegean Odyssey. Part One: Istanbul

 Muratie Karoo Lamb and Venison Experience

 Coming events

 Learn about wine and cooking

We write about our experiences in MENU, not only to entertain you, but to encourage you to visit the places and events that we do. We know you will enjoy them and we try to make each write up as graphic as we can, so you get a good picture of what is on offer at each place, restaurant, wine farm, festival we visit. To get the whole story with photographs, 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.

Our Odyssey in Turkey and Greece     We are back from our Odyssey, slightly fitter (we did a LOT of walking) and well rested and tanned. We had a wonderful holiday, although Lynne says that John didn't relax as much as he should have, as he took so many photographs which he had to edit each day or you would not have seen anything for weeks. He says that photography is what he wants most to do, so it is his relaxation!

This week, we have attached the five days of our Turkish exploration in Istanbul. We stayed in a small self-catering apartment in the old Armenian section of Istanbul. We saw as many historic monuments and places as we could get to, explored parts of the city on foot, perhaps more than we wanted to. It has a very good network of transport, but all the maps are worthless as they don't connect the different transport systems on one map. The trip on the Bosporus was superb and is a must if you are in the city. It is a very beautiful city at a distance, the history is all around one, but we did find it rather dirty and untidy and not a little financially depressed, which we expected to see in Greece, but didn’t.

The food was not as good or a varied as Lynne had experienced in the past in other places in Turkey, but was consistent and not too expensive, except in the high end restaurants, where it was stratospheric. We had one fine dining experience at Asitane, which serves Ottoman Palace cuisine "fit for a Sultan" from the 15th Century, which we absolutely loved and where we did manage to taste some fine Turkish wines. It scores 4½ stars in all the travel sites, so if you go to Istanbul you must try to visit. Read on by clicking these blog titles:

MENU's Aegean Odyssey. Day 1 Cape Town to Istanbul

MENU's Aegean Odyssey. Day 2 Istanbul: Grand Bazaar, Bosporus, Blue Mosque, Cisterns

MENU's Aegean Odyssey. Day 3 Istanbul: Asitane, a restaurant with classic Ottoman cuisine

MENU's Aegean Odyssey. Day 4 Istanbul: Spice Market, Topkapi, Hagia Sophia, Dinner at Kumkapi

MENU's Aegean Odyssey. Day 5 Istanbul & Athens: Taksim, Galata, Piraeus

Karoo Lamb and Venison Experience at Muratie Estate in Stellenbosch     We managed to squeeze in an event at Muratie on Saturday after our return and so want you to see the photos of this amazing day learning how to butcher, prepare and cook a whole sheep and a haunch of Venison. We then had a delicious lunch of the resulting dishes.

This day costs R500 a person and, if you are interested in doing this, contact Muratie, they are planning another of these excellent hands-on demonstrations, preparation and cooking experience, which is followed by lunch with Muratie wine and all the food prepared. We were also able to take home some of the other meats prepared by us but not needed for lunch. Read On, but be aware that some of the photographs may upset sensitive viewers, especially vegetarians.

This week's Recipe     No recipe this week but, next week, we promise to publish the recipe for a dish we ate on our travels.

COMING EVENTS:

Thursday, 11th June   Taste the Helderberg 2015. Limited tickets for Taste the Helderberg 2015 are available at the cost of R80 per person. The ticket includes an elegantly branded wine glass and access to tasting some of the best wines in the country. Numerous restaurants will tempt the taste buds with mouth-watering portions of their signature delights which will be on sale throughout the evening. Tickets will also be available at the door. For more information visit www.wineroute.co.za or call 021 886 4310

Thursday, 11th June, 18h15 for 18h30 French & SA Chenin tasting at Caroline’s. Sebastian Beaumont from Beaumont Wines, the home of the Hope Marguerite Chenin, will present this week’s tasting. Taste the legendary Chenins of Huet and Moulin Touchais. Standing proud in this company are four local wines which will be selected by Sebastian. COST:  R300 p/p.  Please email carowine@mweb.co.za for a booking form or call Lyzette on 021 419 8984 to make a booking. 

Friday, 12th June, 18h00 to 21h00 Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show Public Tasting - Cape Town at CTICC – Exhibition Hall 1B, Convention Square, 1 Lower Long Street, Cape Town. Secure underground parking available in CTICC Parkade. Ticket sales via Computicket.com or call 0861 915 8000. Tickets cost R175 each and limited tickets will be available at the door. Ticket includes tasting glass and  unlimited tastings. No entry allowed for under 18s, babies or prams. Enquiries:  011 482 5936. www.trophywineshow.co.za; www.outsorceress.co.za. Wines can be ordered at show prices at the Makro desk at the show or online. Light meals are for sale at the tastings.

Click here for details of more exciting events

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

In addition to his 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

Nicolette van Niekerk runs baking courses at La Petite Patisserie in Montague Gardens

George Jardine will be running a series of winter cooking courses and other activities at Jordan. Details here

10th June 2015

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.

If you like the photographs you see in our publications, please look at our Adamastor Photo website for our rate card and samples from our portfolio

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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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