A Visit to Niel Joubert Wine Estate in Paarl

Charles Withington has had a respectable career in wine. He owns the Darling Wine Shop and has become a friend. During his tenure as General Manager at nearby Backsberg, he got to know the Jouberts very well and has looked after their export marketing since the mid 90s. Recently, he suggested that we should all go and have a tasting and lunch with them. We met him there last Wednesday and a wonderful day was had by all

The farm is on the Simondium Road in Klapmuts, near Paarl and, on going through these imposing gates, you drive far up the road into the wooded countryside

until you come to these gates guarded by the two handsome Belgian Shepherd dogs who greet you effusively

The manor house, where they have their offices

The vines are behind and all around this leafy farm and creep up the Simonsberg

Lovely garden designs. It must be pretty when the creeper is in full colour

Into the tasting room to meet daughter Mari. Should you wish to visit they are open by appointment. http://www.nieljoubert.co.za/ It's a family farm, bought in 1898, and is now run by third and fourth generation Jouberts

Mari Joubert is in charge of PR and Marketing

Winemaker Ernst Leicht came in and told us about his wines

We tasted these wines in the cellar and photographed them at the same time. We began with the 2009 Christine-Marié MCC which is made from 100% unwooded chardonnay. It has lovely vanilla, perfume and aged lees on the nose and melon, limes and cooked pear on the palate, with good mousse and good length

We went on to taste the 2015 Chenin blanc, full of tropical fruits but crisp, dry and refreshing

Then the Pinotage Rosé Blanc de Noir, with pretty, floral fruity notes

The 2013, just bottled, Pinotage which smells of expensive wood, but has only been dusted. It tastes of red plums, with good tannins and licorice, banana, chocolate and coffee at the end. Something most Pinotage lovers will like, especially at the price, which is R52 from the farm

The 2013 Cabernet is excellent, with pretty cassis berries and leaves and vanilla on the nose. Its full of soft, sweet clean fruit, richness, elegance, some green tannins with licorice on the end. It is a good food wine and a snip at R63. It is punching well above its station and we think will also lay down well for future drinking

Their 2012 Shiraz, which is their biggest seller here and overseas, has incense wood and Chanel perfume, it is spicy, woody, herbaceous, with clove, cinnamon and pepper notes and some capsicum in with the fruit. Lots of wood on the end

This 2008 Christine Marié Chardonnay shows how well South African whites can age, which is why we bought a case. It spent 18 months in new French barrels. It is an elegant, classic Chardonnay, not over-wooded, but full of fresh golden fruit

Charles Withington

Viticulturalist Daan Joubert with winemaker Niel Joubert jr

Niel Joubert has accumulated a collection of classic American cars, mainly convertibles, from the 50s and 60s

Most of them are General Motors brands, but he also has a Packard

We then left the tasting room and headed for lunch at Daan Joubert's home across the road. It is very old and has been sympathetically and beautifully restored by the family. Daan is a stickler for detail and doing things the right way, says his wife, Eleanor

The family's elderly golden retriever

Lunch was set up for us in the dining room and we started with cups of a lovely seafood soup accompanied by the 2014 Herr Leicht, a great match. This is an unusual blend of 69% Sauvignon Blanc, 22% Nouvelle and 14% Chenin Blanc. It is made for the Namibian market

The main course was served with the 2006 Christine Marié Shiraz which is very refined, spicy on the nose and yet full on fruit and nicely matured on the palate. It was served with a corn, radish, cucumber, rocket and chevre salad and...

... beautifully cooked oxtail on the bone with onions. We were converted immediately. It is not a dish we have enjoyed before, but all the sinew and fat had been cooked away, leaving only the meat on the bone in its rich juices. It was also served with rice. The shiraz was the perfect match

We had lots of good conversation over lunch and then it was time for dessert. A wonderful soft cake filled with sweet cream and walnuts and 'iced' with fresh cream

Served here by Daan's wife, Eleanor

We enjoyed this with homemade limoncello. It was, deceptively, served in a Herr Leicht bottle

A beautiful handle on a piece of antique furniture

The vineyards have very interesting drainage ditches every four rows

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

Boplaas launches the new vintages of Portuguese styled table wine and older Cape Vintage Reserve Ports at Dear Me

We were invited to taste four Boplaas wines made with Port varieties and four of their ports last Thursday. The tasting was held in Tjing Tjing on the ground floor and then we went upstairs to the Dear Me restaurant to lunch, paired with more of the wines and Port

Higgo Jacobs with Margaux Nel, PRO Emile Joubert and pouring bubbly is Carel Nel

Carel Nel greeting journalists Graham Howe and Jeanri-Tine van Zyl

Tasting tables laid out and ready to start

The line up for tasting. The most interesting wine was the Touriga Naçional Unfiltered 2003 still full of rich red berries and vanilla oak; it had a long sour cherry finish. The Woolworths Boplaas Connection 2013, made from Touriga and Cabernet Sauvignon, had sweet and sour cherries and blackberries with good depth and might be a good food wine. The 2013 Ring of Rocks Tinta Barocca /Touriga Franseca is only available in restaurants and from the farm. It tastes of cherries with their stones. It's elegant with chalky tannins and needs time. The flagship 2012 Gamka (Lion in Khoisan), 72% Touriga 28% Shiraz, has an intriguing nose of violets and incense. It, too, has dry tannins, sour sweet cherries and is built to last

Then we moved on to the Ports: Boplaas Tinta Barocca Vintage Port 1986, bottled way back then with a screw cap, has bruléed fruit cake and whiffs of smoke and vanilla. It's very sweet, with layers and layers of Christmas cake fruit, sugar and alcohol with a long finish. Can go years more. It was elegant, had some herbaceous notes, and was fresh and full of cherries. The 1999 Vintage Reserve Port, made from Touriga and Tinta Barocca, is dark brown and showing its age a bit, but still has Christmas fruit. The 2003 Cape Vintage Port Touriga and Tinta was most peoples’ favourite in the tasting. Sweet plums and raisins, with ginger and vanilla. A lovely soft port with good lasting flavours and lots of warm alcohol. The Boplaas Cape Winemakers Guild 2006 Cape Vintage Reserve, a blend of Touriga, Tinta and Souzao, has a shy dusty nose but on the palate is delicious. Sweet black cherries and blackberries warm off the brambles. Warm, with good chalky tannins and well integrated. We think this will last for years. Lynne scored this 18. If you have any, lucky you. The Cape Tawny Bin 1880 was a revelation. Pale amber glistening in the glass, it had balsam, herbs, wood and Oxford orange marmalade on the nose. It was lighter in weight than expected, but those refreshing orange notes with spices made the flavours almost Moroccan. Exceptional

The tasting begins

Carel leads us through the tasting

and Margaux adds information on the wines

Serious tasting and Michael Fridjhon on his laptop making notes

We moved up to the restaurant, which used to be completely white. We think the blue makes the room look bigger and more interesting

Some Boplaas brandy for later

The wines with lunch

The menu with the wine pairings

The starter of pickled hake with pineapple on squid ink toast. If you enjoy pickled fish, it went well with the 2014 Cape Portuguese white blend of Verdelho/Chardonnay/Sauvignon Blanc. It's full of citrus and pineapple flavours, so the pineapple was a good addition. The bread was strange. Slightly fishy, but very soggy

Next course was ribbons of char-grilled courgettes with toasted pine nuts and lightly whipped goats' cheese, topped with fresh mint, basil and chives. We liked it. Something to serve vegetarian friends. We might add a dressing. Good with the Bobbejaanberg crisp, green and aromatic Sauvignon Blanc, which is grown in the Outeniqua ward of Upper Langkloof. It was awarded a double gold at Michelangelo and the Vitis Vinifera awards

The main course was a four meats tasting plate: We liked the sticky soy pork belly, and the fynbos smoked pulled quail bun very much. The tartare was not cut correctly, but it was made with good meat. The lamb and buchu stew could have been a big serving. Matching them with the four different Boplaas wines was fun and each had its own perfect match

Then three elements on the first dessert to pair with the unctuously sweet Boplaas CWG Ouma Cloete Straw wine and the Boplaas Cape Tawny Reserve port: Caciotta panna cotta (unsweetened cheese) with honey glazed grapes and a wine (not brandy) snap; pecan tart (delicious, we all wanted more) and molasses ice cream, which went so well with the wines

The Nel family lines up after a very good tasting and lunch. L to R. Daughter Rozanne, Mother Jeanne, father Carel Nel and daughter Margaux 

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

This Week's MENU - Aegean Odyssey Part 2, Santorini & Naxos, Perdeberg cellar launch, Old Mutual trophy tasting

A classic Greek Island church on Ios

In this week’s MENU:

 Aegean Odyssey. Part Two: Day 6: Piraeus to Santorini

 Aegean Odyssey. Part Two: Day 7: Santorini. Art Space wines, scary driving and Oia

 Aegean Odyssey. Part Two: Day 8: Santorini. The Caldera and the Volcano

 Aegean Odyssey. Part Two: Day 9: Santorini and Naxos

 Perdeberg Winery launches its new Barrel Cellar

 Old Mutual Trophy Public Tasting at the CTICC

 Stuffed Cabbage rolls in a lemon Sauce - Lahanodolmades

 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.

Continuing the Aegean Odyssey      This week, we tell you about the first days of the Greek part of our Odyssey: our three day stay in Santorini and our first day in Naxos, a much less frenetically tourist island, which we loved. Lynne had so wanted John to see a typical seaside Greek town and Naxos is it. Read On:

MENU's Aegean Odyssey. Day 6: Piraeus to Santorini

MENU's Aegean Odyssey. Day 7: Santorini. Art Space wines, scary driving and Oia

MENU's Aegean Odyssey. Day 8: Santorini. The Caldera and the Volcano

MENU's Aegean Odyssey. Day 9: Santorini and Naxos

Perdeberg Winery launches its new Barrel Cellar      We returned to work this week and were invited 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, which we are always grateful for, as tasting wine all day and then driving home means John cannot enjoy the day as much as he would like. Read On

Old Mutual Trophy Public Tasting at the CTICC      Because we were away when these awards were announced and we had to miss the awards lunch, this was an event not to miss, as we could taste the Trophy wines and some of the other medal winners. It was held last Friday at the CTICC and was a very special tasting of some lovely wines especially, for us, the Museum class wines.. Read on

This week's recipe is, as promised, a classic Greek recipe: Stuffed Cabbage rolls in a lemon Sauce - Lahanodolmades. We ate this at a small taverna on our first night in Diakofto in the Peloponnese and they were delicious.

1 whole 2 kg cabbage (if your cabbage is not large enough, just use the outer leaves from two - 1kg beef or lamb mince - 2 medium-sized onions, finely chopped - whites of 2 eggs - 1 T chopped parsley - 1 T chopped dill - 90 ml rice - 1/3 of a cup olive oil - salt and freshly ground black pepper

Lemon sauce: 2 T butter - 1/2 T flour - juice of 1 large lemon - 3/4 of a cup milk - the yolks of the two eggs, beaten - salt and freshly ground black pepper

Carefully take all the leaves off the cabbage, discarding the outer leaves. Wash them well. Blanch them quickly, in batches, in a large pot of boiling water. This will soften them and make them more pliable and easier to roll. Remove from the water and drain them. spoon and place on a clean working surface. Allow to cool then remove the thick inner vein on the leaves and set these aside for use later.

For the stuffing, mix the mince, onions, parsley, dill, rice and egg whites together very well, preferably kneading with your hands and then season, Fry a small piece of the mince to see if the flavour is to your liking and adjust the seasoning.

Place one leaf on a flat board (if it is too big, cut it in smaller pieces), add a dessert spoonful of the filling on the bottom centre of the leaf, fold the bottom of the leaf upwards, bring in the two sides and carefully roll up but not too tightly. Try not to overfill the rolls, as the rice will expand during cooking. continue until you have used up all the filling. Layer the bottom of a large pot with the removed thick inner vein of the leaves and any cabbage leaves that were too small for rolling. Lay the stuffed cabbage rolls on top, fold side down, in nicely packed layers. Season with salt and pepper and pour in the olive oil. Place an inverted plate on top to hold them down when cooking and pour in enough water to just cover them. Put the lid on and bring slowly to a simmer. Turn the heat down and simmer over medium heat for about 1 hour, until the cabbage is tender. Drain the remaining water, keep it and arrange the cabbage in a serving dish; keep warm until the sauce is ready and you are about to serve.

Make the lemon sauce. Make a roux by melting the butter over medium heat, then add the flour and whisk to form a paste, cook for a minute or two. Add the lemon juice and then slowly add the milk, a little at a time whilst whisking to make the sauce. Then pour in 3/4 of a cup of the drained liquid and whisk, until the sauce thickens a little bit. Then, off the heat, stir in the two egg yolks which will thicken the sauce even more. Taste, adjust the seasoning and add more lemon if you like. Pour the sauce over the stuffed cabbage rolls and season well with freshly ground pepper.

COMING EVENTS:

Tuesday 23rd June at 17h45 for 18h00 (until approximately 19:30) Bouchard Finlayson‘s Tutored Wine Tastings series will make a stop at home, on the Bouchard Finlayson wine farm, R320 Hemel-en-Aarde Road in the Hemel-en-Aarde valley. The informal, relaxed tasting for a maximum of 20 guests will take place in Bouchard Finlayson’s Barrel Cellar and will be hosted by renowned winemaker and South Africa’s ‘Pinot Pioneer’, Peter Finlayson, who looks forward to taking guests on an inspiring wine journey of old and new vintages. Guests will be able to taste 12 Bouchard Finlayson wines in total, paired with a selection of delectable canapés. The first flight will consist of three vintages from a small production of Reserve Sauvignon Blanc, followed by six vintages of Tête de Cuvée Pinot Noir and the revered Cape Winemakers Guild Pinot Noir, while the last flight will showcase three vintages from Bouchard Finlayson’s flagship Missionvale Chardonnay. Cost: R250 per person (includes wine and canapés). Bookings are essential: contact Bouchard Finlayson on 028 312 3515 or info@bouchardfinlayson.co.za

Wednesday, 24th June at 18h00 An intimate evening with Franck Dangereux and Le Creuset at the Foodbarn in Noordhoek. Franck Dangereux demonstrates delicious dishes in the latest Le Creuset cookware range, followed by a 3 course sit down dinner with a special selection of wines from Miles Mossop Wines. Franck will share some of his chef secrets with us and Le Creuset will spoil each guest with an exclusive Le Creuset goodie bag.  Cost: R495 per person

Saturday, 27th June at 18h30 for 19h00  Le Franschhoek Hotel & Spa invites you to enjoy a gourmet meal paired with a wide range of carefully selected wines from Quando Vineyards & Winery. R295 per person for Dinner only or R1995 per couple includes the dinner, room and breakfast. ENQUIRE TO BOOK

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

18th 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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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