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Thursday, September 21, 2017

The 2017 Amorim Cap Classique Challenge awards ceremony at The Twelve Apostles

This is the 16th year this prestigious Cap Classique Challenge has been held. Run by the Mèthode Cap Classique Association and sponsored by Amorim Cork it lauds the best MCCs in the land.

You know it is Spring when this competition presents its awards. Held again at The Twelve Apostles Hotel on a beautiful day, we were able to stand on the terrace

The hotel has a very large Functions marquee

Simonsig team Francois Malan, Francois Jacques Malan and Hannes Meyer with Paul Gerber of Le Lude

Canapés before the event. These were beef Carpaccio and creamed goats cheese with beetroot

And sweet cones of cream cheese topped with cranberries

The event room filling up

Emile Joubert, MC for the day

The menu

PRO Emile Joubert gets the awards underway. 97 entries were received this year. There are four annual awards: the Blanc de Blancs category; Rose; Brute Cap Classique and the Museum Class.

Joaquim Sá, MD of Amorim South Africa, told us that this competition is the second longest running for a single category; Pinotage is the longest. The country today has 220 Cap Classique producers responsible for 300 labels; some are the strongest in the country. In the last year 4.4 million bottles of MCC have been sold locally which is an impressive 24.5% growth. 16 years ago, when the competition began, sales were 700,000 a year. And exports are continuing in the main overseas markets, with the UK, US and African countries leading the appetite for South African bubbly. But we must be aware that cheap Italian Prosecco and Spanish Cava are making inroads, with sales in 2016 at R320 million rand and we are importing the same amount as our exports. Therefore we must continue improving the presence of strong brands. The consumers say that MCC is the jewel in SA's crown. Amorim Cork’s sales are up 27% for MCC corks this year from January to September. There are exciting developments over the last year and a wide range of new approaches. Amorim Cork has a commitment to elegance, class, quality, style and innovation. Worldwide demand is growing for this perfectly natural product.

Christine Rudman

Peter Clarke of Domaine de Dieux

Serving staff in conversation, service is just about to begin

Time for the first course of a delicate tender sous vide chicken breast, confit thigh, a sliver of crisped chicken skin, a cooked egg yolk sauce, a truffle salad, a rich chicken liver paté and a little chicken consommé. Complex but good

This was served with the Simonsig Brut Rosé, always one of our favourite MCC Rosés

Heidi Duminy CWM, judging panel convener, said the overall standard was agreed by all judges to be excellent, with vintage distinction playing a key role. She said she was in bubble heaven. “The panel was particularly impressed by 2011 wines that are presenting gorgeous refinement with 2015 also standing out for its character. Across the styles, time on lees was the common thread that set the ordinary apart from the outstanding. The top scoring wines displayed purity of fruit and deft use of varieties, outstanding balance, complexity, freshness and harmony. The Brut Category accounted for 45 of the wines entered and was the best performing class overall, although," said Duminy, "there were some really exquisite outliers in the Blanc de Blancs line-up. The judges found that time, especially spent on the lees and experience make all the difference, it elevates the top achievers very quickly"

“There is tangible evidence of a better understanding of the intricacies of fruit quality, more strategic intent in blending of cuvées, the role of varieties, careful use of oak and restraint of dosage. They saw experimentation and differentiation and are concerned at the use of sulphur and masking the fruit with too much dosage. Richness from lees and not oak makes all the difference

Duminy’s fellow judges were Higgo Jacobs, sommelier and consultant, educator and journalist Cathy Marston and winemakers Elunda Basson and Johan Malan from JC le Roux/Pongrácz and Simonsig respectively. A panel with wide experience and technical knowledge. Judging was done to the 100 point system for the first time, which they liked very much as it gave them more room for manoeuvre. The scores of producer-judges were not taken into account for their own wines

Time to present the awards

This year’s Blanc de Blancs award went to Simonsig’s Cuvée Royale Blanc de Blancs 2012, a 100% Chardonnay wine with lees contact of 60 months. It was collected by Francois Malan and Hannes Meyer

In the category for Brut Cap Classique, the category with most entries, Domaine de Dieux won the award for their Domaine des Dieux Claudia Brut MCC 2011. The award was collected by one of the owners, Sharon Parnell

In the Museum Class for wines eight years or older, Graham Beck took the top honours for its Brut Zero 2005. Pieter 'Bubbles' Ferreira collected the award

Simonsig also got the award for their excellent Pinot Noir Rosé 2015, a wine exclusively made for the Woolworths retail chain. We liked that Allan Mullins was also asked to the podium to collect the award with Hannes Meyer of Simonsig

Pieter Ferreira was also the recipient of this years Frans Malan Legacy Trophy, awarded to someone who has contributed greatly to Mèthode Cap Classique wines

And Pieter surely has

This prestigious award was presented to Peter by Francois Malan

Francois Jacques Malan. Nice green eyes

Time for the next course, some raw marinated tuna with a dashi custard, a soy jelly, some pork crackling and an avocado cream, with slices of radish. It was controversial. Lynne loved it, others did not. Perhaps you have to be a sashimi fan, which she is.

With this course we had the Simonsig Cuvee Royale

And then it was time for the Best Producer overall award which went, predictably after all their other awards on the day, to Simonsig. Here Joaquim Sá, MD of Amorim South Africa presents Hannes Meyer with the traditional trophy of a sword for Sabrage

With dessert we had the Graham Beck Brut Zero 2005

Jacques Jordaan, Simonsig's very happy Marketing Manager

Danie Keulder, Nitida winemaker

Graham beck winemaker Pierre de Klerk

Rebecca Constable of Woolworths wines with journalist Greg Landman

Ettiene Gouws of Amorim Cork

The winners with their trophies

Simonsig's trophies

Hannes Meyer trying out that sword for sabraging a bottle of Simonsig MCC

Peter and Anne Ferreira so pleased with their awards

Dessert had an apple theme and lots of different textures and very sweet tastes on the plate. The apple was lovely and tart, the jelly was good, the donuts were sadly hard and unyielding

And just when we thought it was all over, some friandise to go with coffee, coconut fudge, baby meringue kisses and some macarons. With a last glass of MCC

MCC lovers this is especially for you! The Cap Classique Association in conjunction with Amorim will be hosting an exclusive tasting of the award winning MCC wines at the Taj Hotel on the 28 September at 18:30

Stand a chance to WIN 2 double tickets to the event by liking the picture on their Facebook page and commenting with your favourite South African MCC.

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Sunday, September 17, 2017

Supper at Zenzero, Camps Bay

We were invited to review this beach front restaurant in Camps Bay last week. The website says, "Robust with the full flavours of Italy" which pays " ... homage to Italy ... encapsulates ‘La dolce Vita’. And it is undoubtedly popular with its impressive full frontage with great views of Camps Bay beach and the sea. We passed it twice more that week and the double fronted terrace was filled with people enjoying the view with some drinks, and soaking up those views

Inside is much bigger than one expects from the front, where people do tend to congregate. The evening was a little chilly and we were grateful to be granted a table inside near the gas fireplace. It does remind both of us of our school libraries, with walls on both sides crammed with floor to ceiling shelves of books. We also wondered how many get pilfered by guests!

Our waiter, Cloudias, was friendly, efficient and very helpful indeed, as were all the staff. They looked a happy bunch

The decor is modern with comfortable chairs and a small bar at the rear

A view of the room from the other side showing the fireplace and some of the terrace

The menu, which you can view online at http://www.zenzerorestaurant.co.za/the_menu is quite extensive. We decided to concentrate on the Italian theme and order some of the classic dishes we found on the menu. The food was not as Italian as we were promised. Apparently the present chef is British

The antipasti page has some interesting items and they did recommend the razor clams which are SQ. We know they are not local, so we decided to give them a miss, thinking they might be frozen

We had been offered a bottle of wine from the Kove collection (the house wine) with our dinner. They average R200 a bottle but, instead, we asked if we could each have two glasses of the wines by the glass (most are R50 a glass), which comes to the same value. The Kove Collection has several restaurants and these wines would suit them all. We were very impressed with the wines we drank. They have gone to some very reputable farms and got them to make wines just for the Kove Collection. There are whites from Waterford, Diemersdal and Thelema and reds from Thelema and Diemersfontein. Not always the wine you might have expected. The Sauvignon Blanc is from Waterford rather than from Diemersdal - who are noted for their nine different versions. And the red from Diemersfontein is not a Pinotage but a Merlot. The wine list is very good

We both chose the same white wine with our starter, the white blend from Thelema, which is a blend of Chardonnay, Viognier and Roussane. We both guessed one of the blend wines correctly and when the Restaurant Manager Shorai Charwadzu learned that we were wine and food writers and knew the wines of all these farms, he very kindly brought us the bottle so we could see what the blend was. He also let us taste the red blend before we ordered our wine. Most impressive service. He is charming and urbane, knows his staff and his job and works hard to make customers content and happy

John chose the gnocchi. Sadly, heavy and in a very uncomplicated tomato passata, chopped spinach and some torn mozzarella. Tasted rather more commercial than handmade. R105

Lynne ordered the Calamari Fritti - they come two ways, the crisp deep fried tentacles and the polpetti (baby squid) are in a very light coating of tempura batter, seasoned with salt and pepper and served with lemon. They were good, good enough to return for more. However the portion is very small. R90

We ordered the two most Italian main courses we could find on the menu and, sadly, they both disappointed. Lynne had the Veal Picante. What arrived were two batted escalopes of pink and tender meat bizarrely in very crisp Panko breadcrumbs, mixed with lots of rosemary leaves. The Picante sauce (can be stock, white wine, sherry or brandy, with capers and lemon to make it piquant) which should surround the veal, was more like a tartar sauce and came in a small dish 'for dipping". It was nothing like any Veal Picante we have ever eaten. R195. The side of new potatoes in butter and herbs was good. R35. Yes, the menu says olive oil, it tasted like butter. Lynne had a glass of the Red blend from Thelema R55. Deep and sappig, with good berry fruit

John chose the Saltimbocca (it means 'jumps in the mouth' and it didn't) which was chicken rather than the usual veal - the Americans like using chicken in this dish. R165. The very red prosciutto ham completely encased the chicken, there were no sage leaves under it and this had been deep fried or left under the heat lamp for too long. It was like glass, it was so crisp outside and the chicken was dry inside. It came with the merest suspicion of "a sage brown butter " and so needed a sauce. Served on new potatoes

He said he should have had the lamb shanks, the steak or even the hamburger, but we were there to try out the Italian dishes. John had a glass of the Diemersdal Chardonnay R50

For dessert, John ordered the White chocolate Cheese cake which came with sour cherries (he loves cherries and does not usually like white chocolate) and vanilla ice cream. R80. The cheese cake was not heavily flavoured with chocolate, but was a good example and the sour cherries were a very good enhancement

Lynne tried to stick to the theme by trying the Crème Fraiche Panna Cotta with strawberries marinated in balsamic vinegar and some crumbs. R75. It was OK, not as wobbly as it could have been

An interesting evening. We think they need to dive into some Italian cookbooks. We felt relaxed because the service was so good and the ambience is also pleasant. But perhaps the trendy crowd they are attracting, of younger locals and international tourists, wants this style of food? Or do they come to be seen and to admire the view?

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Wednesday, September 13, 2017

This Week’s MENU. Glen Carlou at 30, Ormonde at The Taj, Blaauwklippen Blending, Indonesia Open Day, Loempia, Blaauwklippen Cabriolet

Two of Nitida’s Yellow-billed ducks (Anas undulata) enjoying a spring day on the pond

So many things to do, so little time…. but we continue to have fun enjoying the experiences we tell you about. One that promises to be most enjoyable this week is the Darling Flower Show which starts this Thursday, the 14th and runs till Sunday 17th. We’ll be there on Friday 15thand would love to see you there. We hear that the flowers this year are especially spectacular and look forward to seeing them for ourselves

We have been producing MENU for many years, in which we have written about many interesting things. You can find them all in the Blog Archive in the right hand column of our blog page and in the Previous MENUs page on our website. Entering a word in the “Search this Blog” window on the blog site should bring up everything we have ever written which relates

Glen Carlou celebrates 30 years of wine making with the release of their new wines

We were invited to celebrate this 30th anniversary over lunch, which was paired with the new wines. Glen Carlou is on the Simondium Road in the Paarl vineyards, at the foothills of the renowned Simonsberg Mountain. It is the road you travel down to get to Franschhoek. Owned for many years by the Hess family, the farm has recently been sold to the Pactolus Consortium, whose chairman is Wayne Pitout, a leading figure in the mobile data industry. We were told, "Today begins a new season at Glen Carlou"

Showcasing Ormonde wines at The Taj Hotel in September

Ormonde wines from Darling are being showcased at The Taj Hotel in Cape Town for the month of September. This is a taste teaser for the chef’s pairing dinners with the wine estate’s wines throughout the month. They were presenting their Barrel selection range. Ormonde and The Taj hosted an early evening launch last Thursday evening in the foyer of the hotel and we were invited. The present owner of Ormonde is Theo Basson. Ormonde's talented Cellar master is Hennie Huskisson, producing many 4 star Platter wines. The farm is large, 3500 hectares with 380 planted with grapes. They also produce the Alexanderfontein wines. They say "the Darling hills are on contours of an ancient granite intrusion. These molten rocks, forced from the earth to 300m above sea level, guard the Atlantic Ocean while banks of fog roll to the foot of the hills, blessing the vineyard with coolness and moisture". And they produce grapes of such quality that there are many wine farms in other areas that buy these superb grapes for their wines

"The Perfect Blend has been Chosen" at the Blaauwklippen Blending Competition

This fun annual competition, open to all South African wine clubs, announced the winners at a lunch held on the farm last Friday. We met the four teams in the final, three from the Western Province and one from Gauteng, aptly named the Outlanders. We had a great lunch and we tasted the winning wine, which Blaauwklippen thinks is good enough to warrant putting on their Cabriolet label this year

Indonesian Embassy Open day

We love Indonesian food. We have a friend in Holland who has Indonesian heritage. He has taken the trouble to makes a proper Rijsttafel for us several times so, when we saw an invitation from the Indonesian Ambassador on Facebook to come to their open day on Saturday, we made plans to be there

What is on the Menu this week? Loempia or Indonesian Spring Rolls

Over the years we have given you several recipes for some popular and easy to make at home Indonesian food. From Sate to Babi Ketjap, Mee Goreng, Beef Rendang, Nasi Goreng and the Gado Gado salad. This week it is Loempia, their version of substantial spring rolls, deep fried. You can now buy these wrappers, kept in the freezers of Asian shops and some good supermarkets. They are about 10 or 11 cm square. You can use leftover pork, lamb or beef or fresh prawns. You can freeze Loempia before you fry them, until you are ready to cook them

6 to 8 Spring Roll wrappers - 2 tablespoons peanut oil- 1 medium onion, thinly sliced - 1 garlic clove, chopped - a thumb of fresh ginger, grated - 1 teaspoon sambal oelek (hot chilli sauce) - 1 teaspoon trassi oedang (shrimp paste, very stinky) - 225 gm cooked chicken, sliced into thin strips - 2 cups white cabbage, thinly sliced - 2 cups fresh bean sprouts - 1 large carrot, roughly grated - 1 tablespoon ketjap manis (sweet Indonesian Soy) - 1 beaten egg - Oil for frying the spring rolls in a wok

Heat your wok and add the peanut oil. Add onion, garlic, ginger, and soften, do not brown. Then add the Sambal Oelek and Trassi and cook for a further 2 minutes. Put in the vegetables, meat and ketjap manis. Stir fry until they are beginning to soften. Take off the heat, put into a strainer over the bowl to collect any juices and cool completely

Wrapping the Loempia

Spread out a spring roll sheet with one corner at the top. Spoon about 2 to 3 Tablespoons of filling to 3 cm above the middle of the sheet. Fold in the top over the filling. Fold in both sides and roll up into a tight roll. Spread some beaten egg over the bottom corner to help it stick. Heat some oil in the wok to 170⁰C - about 4 to 5 ml should be enough - and deep fry the loempia, one at a time, turning them to get all sides crisp and golden brown, for about 5 minutes. Serve with peanut sauce or just Ketjap Manis and Sambal Oelek

MENU’s Wine of the week Blaauwklippen Cabriolet 2016

This year's Blending Competition winner, a blend of 8% Zinfandel, 15% Cabernet Franc, 30% Merlot, 7% Petit Verdot & 40% Shiraz. With incense and vanilla wood, it has berries and whiffs of geraniums from the Zinfandel. On the palate there are soft, chewy, chalky tannins; it is full of ripe fruit, with hints of violet from the Petit Verdot and a zing from the Zinfandel. The wine is sold in 750 ml & Magnum bottles from selected retail outlets, the farm’s Tasting Room and online via www.blaauwklippen.com at R112 per bottle and R230 for the 1.5 litre bottle. Very good value for parties and large dinners

13th September 2017

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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. This electronic journal has been sent to you because you have personally subscribed to it or because someone you know has asked us to send it to you or forwarded it to you themselves. Addresses given to us will not be divulged to any person or organisation. We collect them only for our own promotional purposes. If you wish to be added to our mailing list, please click here to send us a message and if you wish to be removed from our mailing list, please click here to send us a message.