Durbanville Delights in the heat

We started on Tuesday with a wine tour to four Durbanville farms for our friends from Greece and Johannesburg. We began at De Grendel, always rewarding with its great wines and that superb view of the City, Table Bay and Table Mountain. Then to Durbanville Hills for some Sauvignon Blanc and onward to lunch at Meerendal which, sadly, was a bit disappointing. We ended with a great tasting at Nitida, before heading home for an late afternoon nap and/or dip in a pool as the heat had sapped us all

That magnificent view from De Grendel

We could have tasted on the terrace but, in the heat, the inside venues are more attractive options

For our tasting, we chose to sit in the cool inside tasting lounge, which has the view, and where Douglas gives excellent information. Lynne loved the Op die Berg Chardonnay and the Shiraz so much that she bought both of them for our cellar. The Koetshuis Sauvignon blanc is a masterpiece. They have a very good Viognier, fresh and letting the grape talk, without the heavy barrel influence shown by too many South African Viogniers. We understand that the late Sir David Graaff was influenced by the great Viogniers from Condrieu, and it shows

You can also sit on the verandah and then go downstairs to the restaurant for lunch

In the very modern Durbanville Hills tasting room, also with great air conditioning. They had a special on 2014 Sauvignon Blanc so we picked up a box of 12. In addition to the "standard" sauvignon, we really enjoyed the premium Renosterveld and Biesjeskraal sauvignons. We also liked the Renosterveld Chardonnay, Shiraz and Pinotage

Meerendal Manor house, which is now a hotel

Unfortunately, Lynne had booked the wrong restaurant. The service at the Crown (a franchised restaurant on the estate) was pretty poor. Our young waitress, who was very sweet, had no training whatsoever. We asked for olive oil and she didn't know what it was. It was very hot inside and the single fan was struggling to cope. Air conditioning is far better. We ordered glasses of Meerendal Chardonnay 2008 and Shiraz 2012. The Chardonnay was horribly oxidised and was replaced with the younger, much fresher unwooded version. There was only one other occupied table, but the food took a while and was not at all exciting. Large burgers, but the calamari portions were very mean and overcooked. Lynne had meant to book Carlucci's Bistro, also on the farm, to sit on their terrace, but the only restaurant mentioned on their website is the Crown. Carlucci’s is listed as the deli, which is misleading. We were too hot at the end of lunch to do a tasting

The bill for our lunch, not bad value if the food and service had been better

Bernhard Veller, owner of Nitida. We had a great tasting with Bernhard and his team in their cool tasting room. We enjoyed all the wines but the Coronata Integration white blend, Sauvignon blanc, Semillon and the Calligraphy red blend were all exceptional

Winemaker Danie Keulder (ex Groot Constantia) is very informative about wine and a lot of fun too. We know he is doing very exciting things in the cellar. He is just about to start his second harvest with Nitida. We should have gone to their Cassia restaurant for lunch

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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Constantia for the heights

Time for another wine tour, this time to Constantia. High Constantia has great wines and also great bird watching facilities on its deck and in the garden. Our friend Terry is a Twitcher, so it was the obvious place to start

In the small cellar, you can see them readying for harvest

Out on the porch is the perfect place to taste wine and watch the local bird life

We started our tasting with High Constantia's two excellent Sauvignon Blancs, presented by Sannalie

The Silverhurst 2013 and the High Constantia 2014, both fresh and lively

The trees are always full of birds, These are Common wax bills

The pond attracts many birds and the trees are full of feeders

We really liked the High Constantia Merlot 2007. Owner David van Niekerk does not release his wines immediately, so they go on sale ready for drinking. Great if you don't have a cellar but want to drink mature wines

An acrobat squirrel getting his morning drink!

Owner David van Niekerk

Then we were off to Steenberg for a long lunch at Bistro 1682 and an extensive tasting in their tasting room
We appreciated their Disabled Parking sign

This was our first opportunity to taste Executive Chef, Kerry Kilpin's food and it was a very good experience. We will return; we liked her fresh and appealing food very much. And, when it's cooler, we would love to sit outside next to the water features

Steenberg GM John Loubser, very kindly, brought us cold glasses from the tanks of unfermented Robertson chardonnay juice and juice which had been fermenting for a day

The menu. We had nice cold glasses of the Graham Beck Chenin Blanc for John and their Klein Steenberg Sauvignon Blanc for Lynne, both excellent matches for our lunch. Terry, our driver, had a soft drink

Line fish of the day was herb crusted angel fish served with coriander yoghurt, a chickpea and olive ragout, curry oil and tomatoes

Lynne had the crisp and well spiced Calamari as a main course. It was a delight. It is served on avocado and comes with Harissa mayo and is topped with a sweet, crisp sesame tuile

John enjoyed the open steak sandwich, medium rare, with a Chimichurri hollandaise, sundried tomato pesto, crispy onion rings and excellent crispy chips – too good not to succumb to temptation, but he did avoid the bun

After lunch we ventured into the tasting room, where we found GM John Loubser and his colleague Abram Mahlangu

and enjoyed a comprehensive tasting, ably assisted by Jennifer Holmes

We first met Jennifer when she worked at Cape Point Vineyards

The tasting counter is 'crowned' by a mural of white and red glass grapes

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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Fish and ships for Sunday lunch

If you haven't yet been to Kalky's on the harbour-side in Kalk Bay, you must visit. It's simple, humble, the tables can be a bit sticky, but Oh, that fresh fish. It has very cheeky, funny staff and it is where most of real SA goes for a seafood treat. We try to take all our visitors there for a visit and they all love it. We finished off the afternoon sipping wine in the lovely gardens of Eagles Nest in Constantia

Kalk Bay is a real fishing harbour, with boats coming and going at all hours of the day and night

Fresh fish are landed and sold on the dock and cleaned and filleted for you. They have assistance in clearing up from the local cormorants

"Oi, old matey, where's my share?"

Just landed were (from the top) a skate, yellowtail, harders (mullet), mackerel and squid

Each 'fleet' has its own coloured paint livery

Rod and line fishing on the dockside is always popular

It can get quite crowded

You will find Kalky's on the right hand side at the end of the dock

Seating inside. You queue to make your choices and pay. The order is numbered and delivered quite quickly to your table

The choices and the very reasonable prices. Crayfish only in season and when available. they also do combos and a huge family platter with Hake, Snoek, Calamari, chips, rolls and a large 2 litre coke for R160, which is what most families come for

Who's got order 146! is bellowed. Lynne's combo of calamari and hake with chips cost R78. This came with sauce tartare and a slice of lemon. You ask for wine glasses and can bring your own wine, but they do have wine and beer for sale as well. There is no corkage charge. Cutlery is plastic and there are condiments on the table: salt, pepper, vinegar and tomato sauce. You can take your own wine glasses and proper cutlery; they wouldn’t mind

The boys had hake and chips at R50 a head

We took a favourite wine, David Finlayson's Honey Shale Hill Chardonnay from Edgebaston in Stellenbosch

Silent scavengers skulk overhead, awaiting opportunity, which often knocks

Our favourite waitress always makes our guests feel special

And there is that special smile, and a lot of amusing banter. She has been doing this for years

Our bill

Dockside entrepreneurs selling sweeties and other local delights like dried sour figs and candy floss

Then we were off to avoid the late afternoon heat in the shade under the trees at Eagle's Nest in Constantia, for a tasting of their wines. It costs R50 per person and we tasted four wines. Brilliant Shiraz and great Sauvignon, but the Viognier has too much wood influence

Lots of families enjoying picnics under the tall pines

The tasting room. It closes at 4.30. Time for a nice drive home on the coast road past Llandudno, Camps Bay and Clifton

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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This week's MENU - Paternoster, Oep ve Koep, Bertus Basson at Vondeling, SA Sommelier competition

Three banded plover, Paternoster

In this week’s MENU: 

 Relaxing by the sea at Paternoster

 Oep ve Koep

 Lunch at Vondeling with Chef Bertus Basson

 Best Sommelier of SA Finals

 This week's recipe: Pulled Pork

To get the whole story with photographs, please click on the paragraph title, which will lead you there. At the end of each story, click on RETURN TO MENU to come back to MENU.

Hey ho, It's a long, hot summer and we still have months to go. We have had a lovely rest over Christmas and New Year with a good break away and are now revving up for another busy year. We hope you are all settling back into work and looking forward to a good 2016. We are glad to be back

Relaxing by the sea at Paternoster      We are normally very energetic and like holidays where we do lots of different things. But this year we were dog tired and knew we had to stop and do nothing for a while. Lynne found a lovely place in Paternoster, our very first AirBnB booking, and it was a huge success. We had our annual wine club Christmas party on Sunday the 13th and left for the West Coast the next day for our week by the sea. It's a lovely drive up, but the countryside is looking very sere and dry with the drought.  ....>

Oep ve Koep     This restaurant in Paternoster has earned many kudos and we decided, before we went to Paternoster on our summer holiday, that we would treat ourselves to lunch there. It was not cheap, but it was an exciting and very different experience, as the young chef Kobus van der Merwe, the 2014 winner of the Nederburg Rising Star Award, is a true forager and innovative cook. He combs the local tidal rocks along the uninhabited coastline and grows unusual local herbs and plants in his kitchen garden at the restaurant and the menu changes with the seasons or his mood or what he finds

You do need to book and they require a deposit or your credit card details when you do as, surprisingly, they have had many group 'no shows' and this for a small restaurant can be very expensive and a huge time and food waste. He prepares everything fresh so don't expect it to be a quick lunch. Dinner is only for groups of 8 or more people, which made us feel rather excluded and lunch is in the garden when possible. Restaurant open Wednesdays to Sundays  ....>

Lunch at Vondeling with Chef Bertus Basson     When we booked our summer break at Paternoster we had already been invited to this lunch, so we scheduled the end of our holiday so that we could do the lunch on the way back to Cape Town. Bertus Basson has done a series of lunches this year at Vondeling and tells us more are planned for 2016. Get your bookings in now, they are extremely good and very, very popular

Our friends Loraine and Ronnie who joined us for our last night in Paternoster also booked and asked for vegetarian food and they also had a lovely lunch. We know and love Vondeling’s wines and they matched perfectly with the food   ....>

Best Sommelier of SA Finals      We are continually impressed by the progress our local sommeliers are making and it was good to see that ten of them, many of whom we interact with regularly, had reached the semi finals of the Inaugural Best Sommelier of South Africa competition this week. We were invited to attend and watch the final three contestants compete for the title at The Taj hotel on Monday this week. And what an arduous competition it turned out to be. It was won by Gareth Ferreira, a South African currently working at a wine-focused private club in London (67 Pall Mall) as Assistant Head Sommelier under the tutelage of Master Sommelier Ronan Sayburn. Gareth has therefore qualified to compete at the Best Sommelier of the World competition which will take place in Mendoza, Argentina, in April this year. Here, he will face more than 55 other candidates in a bid to win the title ‘Best Sommelier of the World’. Currently held by Paolo Basso from Switzerland, the Best Sommelier of the World is only awarded every three years.

To quote SASA (South African Sommeliers Association " Acknowledging and rewarding the best professional working in the South African hospitality industry, it was open to all SASA members with relevant work experience and tenure in South Africa."

We both qualified as potential sommeliers when we graduated with our Cape Wine Academy Diploma in 1996, but we never intended to practice, instead we opened our wine and food shop and spent the next 9 years tending to our customers’ wine needs at home.  ....>

Recipe     If you have a slow cooker, this week's recipe is for you. If you don't, you can put this in a very low oven and cook until you can shred the pork but you will need to check that the liquid has not evaporated and replace it with water if it does. The Chipotle chilli is not essential but it adds that final smoky hit to the pork. It is quick and easy to assemble when you have all the right ingredients to hand and cooks itself. Great for a late supper on a hot day.

This week's recipe is Pulled Pork

2 kg piece of pork shoulder, cut in two pieces - 1 large onion, finely chopped - 2 large cloves of garlic, sliced -1 cup barbeque sauce - 1 cup tomato passata - 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar - 1/2 cup chicken stock - 1/4 cup light brown sugar - 1 t English mustard powder - 1 T Worcestershire sauce - 1 t chilli powder - 2 t fresh thyme - 2 bay leaves - 1 t dried oregano - 1 Chipotle chilli in Adobo sauce, chopped.

Pour all the sauce into the slow cooker pot, add the herbs and spices, onion, garlic and chilli. Stir well. Then put in the pork and make sure it is well covered with everything in the sauce. Put on the lid and set to High and leave for 5 to 6 hours or until you can shred the meat easily using two forks. Do check that it is not drying out at any time.

Remove the roast from the slow cooker, and shred the meat using two forks. Return the shredded pork to the slow cooker, and stir the meat into the juices. Serve on rolls or instead of shredding cut into chunks and serve with salad and baked potatoes.

14th January 2016

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