RisCura White Hot Wine Awards

The awards are given for the best white Bordeaux blend in South Africa. This is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. The ceremony was held at Tjing Tjing Torii in town and we were able to taste all of the winners. They are all, without exception, great wines. The top wine, the Mulderbosch Faithful Hound made by Adam Mason, is multi-layered, elegant and a clear winner. The prices vary a lot, but most are still available and all are ready for drinking now. They are scored out of 100, which is a method of scoring used overseas and here, but which we ourselves don't use, preferring the one we were trained to use, which is out of 20

Jacqueline Lahoud, Business Manager at Winemag.co.za

A word from the sponsor, Albrecht Gantz of Riscura

Editor of Winemag.co.za and Head judge Christian Eedes

Time to announce the awards

These are the winners

94 points out of 100         Mulderbosch Faithful Hound 2013                             R145

93 points                           Constantia Glen Two 2014                                        R210

 Nitida Coronata Integration 2014                              R165

92 points                           Oak Valley Mountain Reserve 2011

 Tokara Director’s Reserve 2014                                R240

 Vergelegen G.V.B. 2013

91 points                           Domaine de Chevalier Blanc 2011                            R1300

 Highlands Road Sine Cera 2013                                 R130

 Gabriëlskloof Magdalena 2013                                  R120

 Strandveld Adamastor 2012                                      R165

 Trizanne Signature Wines

 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon Reserve 2014                     R165

90 points                           Constantia Uitsig Constantia 2013                             R125

 Strandveld Adamastor 2013 Wine Cellar price            R165

As the overall winner, the Mulderbosch 2013 Faithful Hound made by Adam Mason won the new top of the range 225 litre Grand Reserve Chateau Tradition barrel from Tonnellerie Sylvain, presented here by Jean Daneel

We then were able to taste all the wines.  The first four

The next four

and the final four

Relaxing with the wines in the bar

Mulderbosch Marketing manager Sean Griffiths and winemaker Adam Mason

John with Jean Daneel

(Photograph courtesy of Danie Nel)

RETURN TO MENU

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

Subscribe to MENU

The most beautiful flowers in years at Postberg

We'd heard that the spring flowers up the West Coast were magnificent, possibly the best in many years, and we had the opportunity to take one day free last week, so we packed a picnic and off we went. If you get a chance to go on a sunny day (the flowers do not open if it is cloudy, so don't waste a trip), GO. It is absolutely superb. You do need to go right into the Postberg Nature Reserve to see them and you will be rewarded. Every spare inch of ground without bush is covered in flower carpets. We were told that there is free entrance to the park between the 9th and 14th of September. We also took the road to Darling, but that was rather disappointing. Perhaps those flowers will come out later in the season. Here are some of our photographs

A cheeky chappie welcomed us in

White and yellow daisies with orange in the background

close up

And in the distance, the blue sea

So dense they look like snow. This is on the way to Plankies Baai

A mole snake enjoying the warmth of the sun

Some of the daisies are so bright they fluoresce

A carpet of intense blue

As far as the eye can see

Sprinkles of colour in the snow white field

and either side of the road

Then a patch of purple vygies (mesembrianthemum)

It is like a watercolour

And in the distance some eland grazing on the daisies

an endless carpet of colour

The flowers go right up the hill

There was lots of game on show too

At Plankies Baai, different colours of vygies

The "tok tok" dung beetle (scarab), named for the sound his carapace makes as he hits it on the ground to find a mate. He was at least 3 cm long and shiny. We'd dropped a brown bread crumb and he feasted on it

The gulls wanted part of our picnic

And the mousebirds fluffed themselves out after a bath

That's what we do with our ham fat

A regal black backed gull surveys the scene

The flowers turn slowly during the day, always holding their faces towards the sun and as it starts to go down, they start to close from about 4 to 5 or if the clouds come over

Brilliant shocking pink sour figs

Little golden star flowers

One of our extraordinary plants that hugs the ground

A pick and mix of colours

Looking back down the hill towards where we have been, you just see fields of flowers

Wonderful colours

More and more as you climb higher and higher

until they turn into a distant haze

eland grazing the daisies

An industrious weaver bird with his long piece of grass

It may look untidy but he has lots to do, weaving each piece he brings into a hanging nest to impress a mate, still to be found. Pulling the grass

and weaving

Zebra in the background, Springbok in the front

The long view

As we left you could see the orange gazanias starting to close

The colours on the Langebaan lagoon

Flamingo fishing for shrimp

RETURN TO MENU

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

Subscribe to MENU

MENU recipe 15 July 2015 Spicy Moroccan cous cous

This week's recipe      We love Moroccan food with its different spice profiles and, this week, Lynne made some Moroccan chicken, covered in a Ras al Hanout spice mix and roasted in the oven. To go with this, she made some spicy cous cous. This recipe is for 2, but you can double it up for four or more people and it goes quite a long way. The recipe takes quite a lot of pre-preparation, but cooking it takes only a few minutes. And, as a meal, it can be served without the chicken to vegetarians, as it is quite substantial.

Spicy Moroccan Cous Cous

1 onion, finely chopped - 1 clove of garlic, chopped - 1 T olive or canola oil - 1 aubergine, in small cubes - 1 courgette, in small cubes - 1 red pepper or some jarred roasted red peppers (pepperoni) in small cubes - 1 cup of butternut , in small cubes - 1 T pine nuts or flaked almonds or a mixture of both - 2 t Ras al Hanout - 500 ml stock (vegetable or chicken) - 5 dates, stoned and chopped - half a tin of chick peas, drained - 1 cup of cous cous - salt and freshly ground black pepper - 3 spring onions, chopped - 1 T fresh coriander or mint, roughly chopped. Optional: preserved lemon and/or rose water

Do all the preparation of the vegetables and have them ready and waiting in small bowls. Salt the aubergine and leave it to sweat for about 15 minutes, then wash off the salt and dry it off. Dry roast the nuts in a small pan and set aside.

In a large table-ready casserole, fry the onions and the garlic for a few minutes until transparent, then add the aubergine and continue to fry until it and the onions are beginning to colour. Then add the courgette, red pepper and butternut and fry together for five minutes. Then add the Ras al Hanout spice and temper it in the pan with the vegetables. Pour on the stock and bring the pot to the boil. Add the dates and the chickpeas, and then the cous cous. Bring it back to the boil, let it simmer for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and cover and leave it until the cous cous has absorbed all the liquid and swelled. Fluff with a fork, taste and adjust the seasoning. As you serve it, sprinkle on the nuts, the coriander or mint and the spring onions. You can serve this with chopped preserved lemon and a small sprinkle of rose water.