Cape Winemakers Guild tutored tasting at The Taj, Cape Town

Tasting great CWG Auction wines.

It began with possibly the best tasting of the year, to which we always feel privileged to be invited, the Cape Winemakers Guild guided tasting. Held this year at the Taj hotel, we speed tasted through 50 of the auction wines, with another 15 (hence all the auction wines) on a table afterwards. It is going to be a superb auction, and sadly with the current dramatic fall of the Rand, probably great for overseas buyers which will mean a lot of the wine going overseas.

The tasting is fast and furious. You have two glasses in front of you, one wine is poured, the winemaker takes the stand, talks briefly about the wine (usually only a minute or two) while you taste, spit and write your notes about the wine. While this happens the next wine is being poured. You have to keep on your toes to have an empty glass ready for the next wine. This goes on, usually quite amusingly, for about two and a half hours. There are individual spittoons, water and crackers on the table. This tasting is for the trade, the media and some potential buyers. There are public tastings of the wines before the auction, so you too can get an opportunity to taste the wines. www.capewinemakersguild.com/auction

It was held at The Reserve, the old Board of Executors banking hall that is now part of the Taj Hotel property

The 2015 Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild Auction, the Guild’s 31st, will take place at Spier, Stellenbosch on Saturday 3rd October from 09h00

Pre-registration for the 2015 Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild Auction is essential and all registrations must be received by the Cape Winemakers Guild no later than Friday 25th September 2015

John Loubser and Jeff Grier bottle tasting sparkling wines before the session begins to avoid bad bottles being poured

And in the front row ... are many of the media and trade

CWG Chair Andries Burger opened the tasting

Swirl, nose, taste, spit, write. Move on

The winemakers were seated down the side of the room allowing them easy access to the podium

Christine Andrews of De Trafford and Marine Point of Cape Point Vineyards were part of the team pouring the wines 

Jeff Grier opened with his Villiera 2008 Meteor MCC and then went on to present Peter Ferreira's Graham Beck 2010 Non Plus MCC as Pieter is currently on a promotional tour in the USA. Both are brilliant wines

We loved the Nitida Barrel 28 Sauvignon Blanc by Bernhard Veller. It shows all the best characteristics of the great noble grape, with a lovely full palate, crisp white fruits, even a hint of white fleshed cherries and some gentle hints of the new wood

Duncan Savage talks about his Cape Point 2014 Auction White. Seaweed iodine, soft, long loquat and lime fruit. Needs time but a cracker of a wine

Kevin Grant on form! Talking about his Ataraxia 2014 Under the Gavel Chardonnay, Lynne's favourite wine of the evening, perhaps predictably. Sophisticated and elegant, it is a golden wine, in colour, aroma and completely coats the palate with golden apple fruit with a zesty kick of lime. Food wine par excellence

Another wonderful Chardonnay was made by Andries Burger of Paul Cluver; The Wagon Trail 2014. Slightly smoky, rich depth on nose; limes, lemons, citrus, another Cluver gem, ready to drink now

Jeremy Walker presented his Akayla 2009 Bordeaux blend named for his Akayla at Cubs way back when. Incense, violets and cassis cherry rich and elegant with some chalky tannins to last

Gary Jordan presented his Bordeaux blend, Sophia 2012 with its intriguing nose, minerality, perfume and gently silky fruit, a classic wine

Etienne le Riche is a master of red wines and his 2011 Auction Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon did not disappoint. Intense cassis fruit, nutmeg, mint, cherries, strawberries and rhubarb with some spice

Andrea Mullineux presented her Trifecta 2013 Chenin Blanc and a layered Swartland The Gris Semillon 2004 made from 54 year old vines, but is here tasting one of the red wines on show

At the later evening tasting, David Nieuwoudt presented his Cederberg 2013 Teen Die Hoog Shiraz

The silent auction table at the public tasting in the CTICC. Lynne bid on a few wines but only got one, De Grendel’s excellent 2015 wooded Chenin Blanc, made by Charles Hopkins

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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Lynne's birthday lunch at La Colombe

An Alice in Wonderland moment ended Lynne's birthday lunch on Friday at La Colombe. And the second stumble. John had booked and we were so excited to go to try out their winter special which is R295 for 3 courses (till 30th September) We figured we would include a bottle of wine or a couple of glasses so budgeted on R400 pp. Their menu is normally beyond our budget and we have heard such great reports of the food and service. It was a lovely sunny day and they gave us a great table with a view of the back of Table Mountain and the valley below. Then we discovered that they don't do the special on Fridays. Ooops. Oh well, the Barclaycard came out and we had a splendid meal and a great experience, but it just cost about two and a half times the amount than we had budgeted for. Always check your facts!

Inside the airy and spacious restaurant

We cannot go anywhere nowadays without someone knowing us. Our waiter Daine and waitress Lucille came to say hello immediately we arrived, and we know the sommelier Joseph Dafana from his time at Dear Me

The witty starter is Tinned Tuna. A delicious mix of seared tuna, dusted with sesame, with some tuna ceviche, avocado, small slices of shiitake mushroom and really good ginger ponzu dressing, served with good bread and a flavoured butter, hand churned in the kitchen

 We ordered two glasses of Constantia Uitsig MCC to set the tone for the birthday.

Their current à la Carte menu

The food and wine pairing menu, which we chose

The wine pairing with the next course was the Dirty Julie Stellenbosch Verdelho from Publik

With this, John had the just-poached oyster, served on seaweed and apple with lemon and caviar. He said it tasted of the sea

Lynne alternative course (she can’t eat oysters) was a gentle creamy mushroom risotto topped with a creamy, sweet caramelised shallot, perfectly cooked iron rich spinach, a baby turnip, and pea shoots. The risotto had the correct 'bite'

A wine from an old friend came next, Arendsig's 2014 Blok A15 Chardonnay from Lourens van der Westhuizen of Bonnievale

Its rich crispness was lovely foil for the quail - both a pan seared breast and a confit leg, served with a quenelle of goats’ cheese fondant and then they add a celeriac and truffle espuma sauce to the bowl. Rich, earthy and satisfying

 Next, we were served a red wine bread roll with some spicy lardo (dripping) with anchovy sprinkled with dried flakes of bacon crumbs. This was to accompany the next dish

The lardo

Cederberg's Bukettraube 2014

Slippery seared foie with a meaty langoustine, roasted hazelnuts (inspired and it added great texture),and a jasmine tea broth. The broth was slightly sweet and citrusy, as was the wine. Underneath was a poached piece of bitter chicory, which went perfectly with the red wine roll and the lardo, so almost two dishes in one

A rest was needed and then came the magic. “A palate cleanser of Passion fruit and thyme”, said the menu. What appeared was what looked like white chocolate truffles. They were set on agate and quartz pebbles. We were instructed not to eat the pebbles but to put the whole spheres into our mouths where they broke immediately, spilling the beautifully refreshing passion fruit and lime sauce. A nice touch of molecular gastronomy, an enjoyable and surprising sensation. Yes the hint of thyme was there

Next wine pairing was the Driehoek 2012 Pinot Noir

Lynne is crazy about scallops - she simply doesn't get enough of them here, so loves to find it on a menu. Pairing it with pork is adventurous, but we would expect nothing more from a chef like Scott Kirton. One perfectly seared scallop, a small square of sticky Asian flavoured pork topped with kimchi (spicy fermented cabbage), pork scratchings, sweetcorn purée and a lemongrass and ginger velouté. And the Pinot Noir added so much to the dish. The only thing Lynne didn't like was the kimchi. Its sourness took away something from the dish and from the wine.

A close up of the dish

Chef Scott Kirton changes the menu often and uses lots of local ingredients when he finds them

Idiom's 2011 zesty Zinfandel from the Helderberg

And when you think you cannot do another course, they tempt you with Karoo lamb chop, a morsel of perfectly cooked meaty tongue with a herb crust, which even John relished, a soft pillow of rosemary gnocchi, a turnip, sprouting broccoli, a herb purée and a good lamb rib jus

And yes, we can just manage a light dessert. Especially when it comes with Shannon's Macushla 2012 Noble Late Harvest Pinot Noir from Elgin. Macushla means the beat of my heart, or darling in Gaelic and this is a darling of a sweet wine with 132 g/l residual sugar

Titled Rhubarb, Strawberry and Elderberry, it was a tiny rhubarb topped financier cake with a strawberry purée with cream and elderberry ice cream, the plate dusted with fruit powder

And, with coffee, some friandise: Pebbles of caramel toffee, fruit jellies and truffles, liquid inside

Another of the great staff who really looked after us, Lucille Lynham

And then came the Alice in wonderland moment. As we sat gazing down the valley through the vineyard which is soon to be, Lynne spotted the white rabbit hopping busily on his business

And when we drove out there was this very cute black bunny munching its way through the grass

Not at all frightened by us or the car, so obviously once a pet

And there was the white rabbit again, joining the black bunny. Soon, if what we hear about rabbits is true, the woods will be full of them

Our bill for the lunch. Can't wait for next winter's special

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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