Saronsberg wines at La Colombe

You may think we are jaded with all of the many meals we have at good restaurants. But who cannot fail to be excited by an invitation to a restaurant that has featured as one of the top 100 restaurants in the world for the last few years. This was to celebrate Saronsberg's annual release of their six new season wines, which takes place at this time of the year. This year, they decided to treat members of the wine trade and some members of the media to lunch at La Colombe with the wines, paired with several courses. It was a wonderful showcase for their lovely wines. Saronsberg was rated the Red Wine Producer of the Year by the South African Wine Index Awards 2015 and 2016

Nick van Huyssteen, owner of Saronsberg, with Manuel Cabello, sommelier at Ellerman House, and PRO Nicolette Waterford

Journalists Lucille Botha of Landbouweekblad, Fiona MacDonald, Christian Eedes of WineMag.co.za and Graham Howe

Saronsberg Viognier 2015 was without doubt the most popular wine served at the event. People kept calling for more. It goes beautifully with food. It is winemaker Dewaldt Heyns’ passion; he worked a vintage in Condrieu and loves this grape and the elegant style, full of white peaches and lemons with hints of smoke. It was the winner of the International Wine Challenge (IWC) South African Viognier Trophy 2016

Saronsberg MCC Brut 100% Chardonnay with the slightly tropical 2016 Sauvignon Blanc. It is grassy, full of melon and pineapple, clean and crisp, with a flinty end

Winemaker Dewaldt Heyns pouring his MCC for Greg Landman of Country Life

Mark Norrish of Ultra Liquors with journalist Maryna Strachan

Alan Mullins and Rebecca Constable, both of Woolworths wine department

The canapé was served in a beautiful garden. Yes, there is food in there. Look closely, there are four. It was a pastry bark filled with dots of rich and smooth chicken liver pate, tiny cep mushrooms, beef tartare below, pickled onion, sherry gel and a herb emulsion (green). The pickled onion was there only as a note of necessary acidity to fire off the rest of the dish. Superb with the Chardonnay MCC Brut

Two old(er) gals together. Lynne with Chris von Ulmenstein

Master chef Scot Kirton in his kitchen. Eat Out San Pellegrino Chef of the Year, and he took La Colombe to 76th place in the Top 100 Restaurants in the World - 2016

Lynne gets a hug from talented La Colombe sommelier Joseph Dhafana. Read about Josephs incredible journey to wine here

We thought you might like to know that La Colombe has a Winter Special. Valid for LUNCH ONLY (Monday to Thursday) from 4 July 2016 to 31 August 2016 at R350 per person - 3 course menu http://www.lacolombe.co.za/

Dewaldt Heyns tells us about the wines they released and his philosophy of making the best he can from the two different sites they have on Saronsberg, cool mountain vineyards and river valley rocks

A refill of the 100% Chardonnay Brut MCC. This is kept for 3 years on the lees and while sales for the first vintage were slow, they now sell out every years despite upping the quantity. It has a lovely prickle on the palate and the bottle age pays dividends

We began with some sourdough rolls accompanied by one of the best 'butters' we have ever had. They churn their own virgin butter and then mix it with baked bone marrow. To this chef adds some pickled fish to add some necessary acidity. It is topped with some capers, micro herbs and a herb emulsion and an anchovy puree. The fish acted more like anchovy might and was there as an umami flavour with no hint of a fishy smell. A success

Chef serving the canned fish starter that has become a trademark of La Colombe

This time it was filled with fresh seared yellowfin tuna, avocado, shiitake mushrooms in a ponzu dressing. A good blend of freshness, textures and good flavours to complement the good tuna

A huge West Coast oyster flavoured with Kalamansi (a small, tart citrus fruit widely grown in the East, also known as Calamondin), apple and soy. It was a good match for the Sauvignon Blanc that accompanied it

The next course was voted the best of many good courses by most of the people we spoke to; we agree. Some perfectly cooked portions of quail - breast fillet, drumstick, etc, well glazed, crisp on the outside and succulent. Served with a huge scallop seared in miso, a creamy parsnip and corn puree, parsnip crisps, braaied corn kernels, and bok choi . In a hay 'nest' was a caramelised teriyaki sauce to add in small drops to the dish. Served and perfectly matched with the Saronsberg Viognier

So soft steamed Chinese Bao (buns) folded over slices of pork belly, dressed with kimchi, herbs and sesame. Another good course to return for

Then a basalt bomb arrived and when the top was removed, the air was full of smoke. We must admit to feeling a little cheated by this course. The description reads Lamb tongue and sweetbreads. The tongue might have been from a lark it was so small, and tongue is a favourite. Smoked garlic and Jerusalem artichoke accompanied the one small deep fried piece of sweetbread and the dish had quite a sharp sauce. Served with the blockbuster Full Circle red which has flavours of liquorice, dark wood and black fruit

Then to a palate cleanser of Granny Smith apple popsicles smoking on dry ice. Some declined, as they said it would spoil their palates. We disagree, they were refreshing and a good pause.

Saronsberg Seismic Rooi - two previous Saronsberg Bordeaux Blends now combined into one. It will age but is made in the young style. The Seismic name is a nod to the Tulbagh earthquake

Three lunching girls having fun: Nicolette Waterford, Marthelize Brink of Radio Sonder Grense and Malu Lambert

Sommelier Joseph serving the Seismic Rooi

Tender Wagyu beef fillet, rich oxtail, a sweet langoustine tail tasting of the sea, served with peas, broad beans, Romanesco broccoli, spinach puree and mustard with a beurre blanc sauce

Was the next course a dessert or cheese? Some of both, titled 'Three ages of Boerenkaas' (farmers cheese). A cheese ribbon, a puree and an ice cream with onion, rhubarb, walnut and cumin

Wines served with lunch: The spicy and fruity Shiraz, the savoury Mourvedre and the Grenache (our wine of the week) were all great matches for the main courses and for the cheese dessert

Petit Fours: mini muffins stuffed with a blueberry, chocolate and coffee truffles and fudge with popping candy. These were served with good coffee. It was an excellent meal. Thank you Saronsberg for showcasing your wines in this way, it is really appreciated. Good wine should be paired with good food

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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This Week's MENU. Tulbagh. Saronsberg, Rijks, Readers, Church St, Tulbagh Hotel, Waverley Hills, Whim Wham, Rijks Shiraz

Aloes at the ends of rows of vines at Saronsberg

In this week’s MENU: 

 A stay at Saronsberg    

 Visit to Saronsberg Winery

 Saronsberg Farm Tour with winemaker Dewaldt Heyns

 A visit to Rijks

 Dinner at Readers

 A Walking Tour of Historic Tulbagh

 Dinner at The Tulbagh Hotel, followed by breakfast

 Lunch at Waverley Hills

 On the Menu this week: WHIM WHAM – an 18th Century English trifle

 On MENU's Wine list this week: Pierre Wahl's Rijks Reserve Shiraz 2011

 Coming events

A Luta continua. The realities of life     Just a quick update, still no car and still no house phone. And now we have no internet either, which is why MENU is so late. Telkom tells us "They have allocated us an engineer " since we last phoned a week ago. No! How kind. It seems there is a cable fault and they don't know where it is, so it may be a few more weeks. They have escalated the call to an emergency - only for the third time; it has been down since the 27th July. They seem to view emergencies as normal and still do nothing. Last week, we had no water for two days (burst main), and also no street lights. At least Cape Town City Council is responsive and fixed those within a day or two. But it definitely feels as if the planets are in retrograde. Oh, and John has had a streaming cold. Not complaining, just absorbing what life throws at us. And no, we don't wish for a power cut. Please.

To tranquil Tulbagh     We had been invited to visit several places in or near Tulbagh and some of the invitations were more than a year old; we just struggle to cram the many places and invitations we receive into our agenda. We had a reasonably clear week, so we accepted as many as we could. Car problems set us back and the original five days planned turned into three, but we had an amazing time with lovely sunny days and chilly late winter nights. Our hired car was great. What follows are various chapters of our lovely three days with the hospitable people of Tulbagh. Besides tasting great wines, it was also rather an eating marathon. Tulbagh is a small historic town nestled up a quiet and beautiful valley one and a half hours drive from Cape Town. You do need to plan a visit, you will love it

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A stay at Saronsberg      They have several commodious self catering cottages on the farm which they let out all year round and they kindly offered us accommodation there for the two nights we were in Tulbagh. We arrived on Monday morning, settled in and then made for the tasting room.

Visit to Saronsberg Winery     Dewaldt Heyns, the cellarmaster, had the same dreadful cold John was not enjoying, so he was pleased to sit with us in the sun for a while on the terrace and talk about the wines, while we tasted. He is a member of the Cape Winemakers Guild and has wine in this year’s auction

Saronsberg Farm Tour with winemaker Dewaldt Heyns      Dewaldt is a competent cook and, on Women's Day, he made us breakfast with lovely eggs and bacon, croissants and great Chilean black coffee in his house. This feast set us up for a tour of the farm in his twin cab bakkie (utility vehicle). It is a very beautiful, fruitful valley, not only with wine but fruit, some of which is in full blossom at the moment

A visit to Rijks     Pierre Wahl has been making wine at Rijks since 2002 and makes some impressive wines. He is also a member of the Cape Winemakers Guild and the farm has excellent terroir to produce good grapes that Pierre turns into exemplary wines. One nice marketing coup they have achieved is to have Rijks wine served in the restaurant at the famous Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam; great product placement. Owner Neville Dorrington bought the farm in 2000 and although advised to plant fruit, went for grapes instead, a fortuitous decision. We spent the afternoon with Pierre and tasted through the wines

Dinner at Readers     We met owner Carol Collins recently at an event at Den Anker and she asked us to come to supper at Readers, her restaurant in Tulbagh. It also is a serious cat lovers gift shop and, while you eat, various charming moggies visit your feet and the fireplace. They are not allowed on the tables. The restaurant is in the oldest house on Church Street (c.1849) the famous Cape street that was destroyed in the 1969 earthquake which has been beautifully and historically restored

A Walking Tour of Historic Tulbagh     On Tuesday, at last, we managed to book this historic tour. You meet at the church that gives Kerk Straat its name. Built for the population after the arrival of the Revd. Arnoldus Mauritius Meiring in 1743, it turned a sleepy hollow into a town. The minister had the presence of mind to sell off land in Church Street to wealthy people and soon a vibrant community was in occupation, attracting business and people to the town. In 1969, Tulbagh suffered a devastating earthquake (6.3 on the Richter scale) which destroyed many of the houses and seriously damaged others. Thanks to the Fagan brothers, architects and builders, much of this was restored and Church Street is now the jewel of the town. You can walk the length of the street with a guide and hear the history of the town

Dinner at The Tulbagh Hotel, followed by breakfast     We were invited to stay at the Tulbagh Hotel on Sunday night but our car challenge meant that we could only accept their invitation to have dinner on Tuesday night. This hotel is somewhere we have stayed in the past and we were really impressed with the improvements that the British owner, Alasdair McRobbie, who is a pilot with Virgin Atlantic, has made and they continue.  It is apparently the go to place for all the Tulbagh residents we met for a good dinner. We agree. They also invited us to come back for breakfast the following morning. Another good meal

Lunch at Waverley Hills     We last met Cellarmaster Johan Delport and Managing Director Kobus du Toit of Waverley Hills winery at the Green Wine Awards last year and we have had to keep postponing acceptance of their invitation to visit the farm. Finally, on a lovely early spring day we got there. The farm is just behind Wolseley on the road to Ceres. Brenn-O-Kem owns the farm. Run by the du Toit family, of which our host Kobus is a director, Brenn-O-Kem is in the old historic Waverley Blankets factory and the wine farm has grown from their expansion. Brenn-O-Kem  recycles wine production waste: skins, seeds and lees and runs this eco-friendly organically certified wine farm. It has a lovely site on the side of the mountain looking down over the valley and they have a really good restaurant, where we had an extremely good four course lunch following our cellar tour and barrel tasting

On the Menu this week: WHIM WHAM – an 18th Century English trifle

One of our favourites, and yes we did use this a few years ago. We thought you probably deserved a good dessert and this one is quick to assemble, not too heavy and quite delicious. Probably due to the alcohol content.

125g blanched almonds - 30g butter - 1 tablespoon sugar (vanilla sugar would be good) - 18 sponge fingers, broken in half - 90ml of fairly sweet sherry - Juice of 2 oranges, sweetened with 1 tablespoon of sugar - a glass of brandy - 250g whipped cream

Fry the almonds in the butter till toasted, throw the sugar over them, shake and turn onto a plate to cool. They will have a toffee coating. Put the sponge fingers into a large glass bowl about half an hour before you start dinner and pour on the sherry, brandy and orange juice. Leave to soak while you eat. Whip the cream till it just holds a peak and, just before you are about to serve it, pour it over the sponge fingers. Sprinkle over the almonds and enjoy

On MENU's Wine list this week: Pierre Wahl's Rijks Reserve Shiraz 2011

We were so impressed with this well-wooded wine. You smell notes of the 40% new oak, warm red berries and lots of spice. It tastes a little of salty liquorice at first. It is soft and silky on the palate with long black cherry and delicate spice flavours. Very, very elegant with a touch of dark toasted wood on the end. An ultimate food wine

14th August 2016

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On MENU's Wine list this week: Pierre Wahl's Rijks Reserve Shiraz 2011

We were so impressed with this well-wooded wine. You smell notes of the 40% new oak, warm red berries and lots of spice. It tastes a little of salty liquorice at first. It is soft and silky on the palate with long black cherry and delicate spice flavours. Very, very elegant with a touch of dark toasted wood on the end. An ultimate food wine

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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What's on the MENU this week: WHIM WHAM – an 18th Century English trifle

One of our favourites, and yes we did use this a few years ago. We thought you probably deserved a good dessert and this one is quick to assemble, not too heavy and quite delicious. Probably due to the alcohol content.

125g blanched almonds - 30g butter - 1 tablespoon sugar (vanilla sugar would be good) - 18 sponge fingers, broken in half - 90ml of fairly sweet sherry - Juice of 2 oranges, sweetened with 1 tablespoon of sugar - a glass of brandy - 250g whipped cream

Fry the almonds in the butter till toasted, throw the sugar over them, shake and turn onto a plate to cool. They will have a toffee coating. Put the sponge fingers into a large glass bowl about half an hour before you start dinner and pour on the sherry, brandy and orange juice. Leave to soak while you eat. Whip the cream till it just holds a peak and, just before you are about to serve it, pour it over the sponge fingers. Sprinkle over the almonds and enjoy

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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A visit to Tulbagh - The Tulbagh Hotel

We were invited to stay at the Tulbagh Hotel on Sunday night but our car challenge meant that we could only accept their invitation to have dinner on Tuesday night.  This hotel is somewhere we have stayed in the past and we were really impressed with the improvements that the British owner, Alasdair McRobbie, who is a pilot with Virgin Atlantic, has made and they continue.  It is apparently the go to place for all the Tulbagh residents we met for a good dinner. We agree. They also invited us to come back for breakfast the following morning. Another good meal

The outside of the hotel, early evening.

During good weather you can eat on the terrace

The restaurant still has some of that old fashioned country hotel bar feel and we assume that this will be updated in the future

Hotel guests and outside customers do come and use the bar. We had a nice table next to the fire, it was another chilly night

Lynne's starter was a familiar smoked salmon and cream cheese parcel - enough to feed three! with a tomato, avocado and raw onion salsa (sorry, raw onion is still a crime in our books) with some really good Banting crackers. Very crisp with a good nutty baked flavour

John opted for the springbok carpaccio with feta, olives and beetroot, topped with rocket and crisps

Lynne's main course was a good spicy lamb Rogan Josh, with steamed rice and a poppadom. This came with three sambals: a hot sweet chutney (Mrs Balls?) a cucumber raita and a rather strange atchar of unidentified vegetables that were very hard

We were told by our winemaker friends that the hotel is known for its great steaks, so John had the rump, which was coated in a good barbeque sauce. It came with chips and a Greek style salad and was very good meat, tender and delicious. We had no room for anything else so passed on dessert and coffee

We returned the next morning for breakfast and it was excellent. Lynne had the full country breakfast with local sausage, mushrooms and fried potatoes. The eggs were a little overdone, but lovely and fresh

John chose the triple egg omelette stuffed with cheese and bacon, it was light and fluffy, just the way he prefers it

We then did a quick tour or the hotel and were shown this newly renovated Protea room. It is very spacious and we loved the soft decor

Fitted with all the necessities of life, a desk, aircon, a flat screen cable TV, a mini bar and a kettle

It has a very modern clean lines bathroom with bath and walk in shower

In the hallway, a lending library

There is a courtyard extension of the restaurant at the back for good weather, near the swimming pool

The top floor also has this lovely sunny deck ...

... which runs the length of the hotel

A comfortable chaise longue next to the new staircase

The downstairs courtyard

The newly built staircase in the hallway

Across the road from the hotel is this annex in the historic  buildings that lead down to Church Street

It has its own courtyard

Tulbagh's main street.  It is still wide enough to turn an ox wagon.

The outside of The Tulbagh's annex

It is a very pretty town

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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Waverley Hills - Organic wines, beautiful gardens and good food

We last met Cellarmaster Johan Delport and Managing Director Kobus du Toit of Waverley Hills winery at the Green Wine Awards last year and we have had to keep postponing acceptance of their invitation to visit the farm. Finally, on a lovely early spring day we got there. The farm is just behind Wolseley on the road to Ceres. Brenn-O-Kem owns the farm. Run by the du Toit family, of which our host Kobus is a director, Brenn-O-Kem is in the old historic Waverley Blankets factory and the wine farm has grown from their expansion. Brenn-O-Kem  recycles wine production waste: skins, seeds and lees and runs this eco-friendly organically certified wine farm. It has a lovely site on the side of the mountain looking down over the valley and they have a really good restaurant, where we had an extremely good four course lunch following our cellar tour and barrel tasting

The very modern tasting and colourful room. All their wines are organically grown and made and are low in sulphur. They have a special range called No Sulphites Added for those with sulphur allergies

We went on a tour of the wine cellars with Johan and Kobus. This is the soaring barrel cellar

We were delighted to be offered some wines to taste from the barrels. First a good 2015 Semillon with fynbos herbs, pepper and buchu with the desired 'mutton fat' mouth, lovely kiwi fruit and maraschino on the end with good wooding. A silky 2013 SMV with cherries, spice and vanilla. Then a 2015 blend of Viognier, Semillon and Chardonnay (VSC) which is beautifully perfumed with peaches with a lovely rich mouthful from the Semillon and peaches from the Viognier with lemony acidity and good fruit sugars to balance this dry wine. The 2015 Chardonnay which is a component of the VSC has the same perfume and tastes of citrus with caramel on the end from the wood. A nice concentration of gentle flavours. We found all these wines to be open and generous rather than tight and restrained. The CW 2015 Reserve Shiraz was made to honour Kobus and Wynand's late father, Chris du Toit. The elegant nose shows herbs, good wood and had delicate fruit, more a northern style of Shiraz with nice soft tannins which give it aging ability

Time for a tour of the indigenous garden below the winery

It has water features, lots of trees and many birds and insects. And there is a children's play area

Lovely views of the mountains beyond. Bains Kloof Pass gave access through them from the Cape to Tulbagh and the hinterland in the 19th Century

Spring daisies lifting their faces to the sun

Red king protea (Protea cynaroides Madiba) named in honour of Nelson Mandela

The winery and restaurant from the gardens. Beneath the restaurant is a conference venue where weddings can be held. They have their own chapel too

The flowers were attracting the sunbirds. This is a southern double-collared sunbird or lesser double-collared sunbird (Cinnyris chalybeus)

This mountain, part of the Witzenberg Mountain Range is sometimes covered in snow in winter. It is at the entrance to the pass to Ceres

Kobus du Toit told us about Brenn-O-Kem. They produce many things from the by-products of the wine industry such as cream of tartar. From the grape pomace: grape seed oil, tannins and grape skin by-products; wine spirits for the distilling industry. They produce pharmaceuticals: Grape Seed Extract, a powerful antioxidant, Sceletium Extract, and a range of Nutraceuticals. Even a natural tempura ingredient for Japan and the cream of tartar is used in bath fizz balls and baking sodas. The pomace waste is used as fertiliser

We began lunch with a glass of their MCC Chardonnay Brut 2013 which spent 18 months on the lees. Yeasty, crisp and dry with cooked apples, a hint of fynbos and a good sparkle

Lunch began with herb crusted salmon trout on a bed of spinach puree, topped with a poached egg and sprinkled with our local wild rosemary flowers. This was accompanied by the 2016 Semillon which is tropical with pears and melon, like a summer fruit salad. Lynne panicked rather when she heard this was the first of four courses. it was quite a large serving

The next course was empanada like, fold over pies of chicken and mushroom served with a divine truffle cream

John had some soy chicken with tempura broccoli instead of the mushroom pie

The main course was good crisp pork belly with creamy mash, pomegranate sauce and aruls, beans and courgette spaghetti. We had this course with the 2012 SMV which was spicy and peppery with full on vanilla ice cream notes then lovely ripe red fruit with a chocolate end. It was a great match as the wine echoed the fruit flavours of the sauce

And then there was dessert. Malva pudding, light and fluffy with a rich rooibos ice cream. Luckily it was not redolent of rooibos, just a nice rich and creamy complement to the pudding. Served with Waverley Hills stonkingly good Red Muscadel 2013 Dark and fruity with caramel notes this would also go so well with Christmas pudding

The meal was cooked by chef Francois du Toit who was previously at the Royal Hotel in Riebeek. We loved meeting him and talking to him about his good food. We think he will go far. We suggest you make a trip to the restaurant to try out his excellent menu and the Waverley Hills wines that are paired with it

Brilliant spring daisies flowering early on the farm.

After a coffee we left for home and an adventurous trip over Bains Kloof Pass, where we saw only two other cars on the entire trip up. Thank you for the kind hospitality, Waverley Hills

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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