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Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Media preview of the Biltong and Pinotage festival at Perdeberg Winery

This year's festival will be held on the weekend of the 14th and 15th of April at Perdeberg Wine Cellar in Voor Paardeberg, easy to get to: down the N1 and turn off at the R44 towards Wellington, then left at Windmeul winery. Tickets are available in advance from www.plankton.mobi or www.computicket.com at R200 (and R230 on the gate depending on availability). You will get a wine glass to keep, and can taste 18 Pinotages that have been paired with 18 biltong flavours, which will be marked off the card as you taste them. The wine farms involved will also be bringing other wines and you can taste these as well at no charge. There will be live music, food trucks, craft beers, cheese platters and a play area for children. Sounds like a wonderful day. Dress code is purple and white. Saves having to wash out any Pinotage splashes!

First we had a briefing then a taste of some Perdeberg wines. Participating Wineries are: Badsberg Winery, Beyerskloof, Boland Cellar, Bonnievale Wines, Delheim Wines, Flagstone Winery , Grande Provence Heritage Wine Estate , Idiom Collection, Knorhoek Wines, Lanzerac Wines, Mellasat Vineyards, Overhex Wines International, Perdeberg Cellar , Rhebokskloof Wine Estate, Simonsvlei Winery, Stellenbosch Hills Wines, Van Loveren Vineyards, Wellington Wines

And then a taste of the five different biltongs from Afrifoods & Butcher. All set out on the table to see how we liked the pairings. We liked the smoked biltong very much, they have plain beef, beef with some fat, chilli, Kudu and droë wors. These will be paired with the 18 Pinotages. They are moist and flavourful

There is also droewors (dried sausage)

Pairing time in the tasting centre, eating lots of biltong

Perdeberg’s range of wines. Many are multiple award winners, especially their Barrel Fermented Dryland Chenin, one of our all time favourites and a 2017 Platter 5 star wine

Cobie van Oort of CVO Marketing, the organiser of the festival with Johan van Dyk, who is Perdeberg's marketing manager

Etienne Louw, Head of the Pinotage Association, with a bottle of his own Pinotage based Cape blend, "42"

Next we were ushered into the formal tasting room where they had some fun for us. We were given four wines: Vineyard Collection Shiraz, Pinotage, Malbec and the Rooted Merlot. We were asked to make a blend using the wines the only stipulation being that we must use 30 to 70% of the Pinotage

On the table were some of the ripe grapes and two Vleis (meat) croquettes made with biltong and potato and topped with peppadews, just in case we got peckish while working. Nice touch

The blending wines. The Malbec was our Wine of the Week on 7th March

We had a lot of fun. First you taste the component wines and then you start to blend using a small measure. We all made about four different blends. John and I tasted each other's and we didn’t make the same blend. When you have found one you really like, you make the blend in the large measure and pour it into one of the empty bottles they supplied, together with labels on which we entered our names. These were then corked and were ours to take home. (We put our two in the cellar to mature!) You also put a glass in the front of your station for the winemaker to taste. She was the judge. The winner was Elmarie Berry. Her winning blend had 30% Pinotage, 50% Merlot and 20% Malbec

Then it was time for some lunch

Each couple was served this tray of food called the Perdeberg Tapas Picnic. This will be available on the day of the festival and costs R300; it serves 2 generously. Sticky chicken wings, breaded pork belly topped with mayonnaise, Greek salads with lots of garlic, tiny chicken tacos, potato wedges (they needed a bit more cooking) and, for dessert, pannacotta topped with berry compote. A good deal

The handsome young man who runs the tasting room could easily be an understudy for Denzel Washington

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Friday, March 09, 2018

On the MENU this week. Moussaka

We haven't made a substantial dish for a while and, as we are getting ready to entertain, Lynne wanted to try out one of her old recipes. You should use minced lamb, but you can also use beef mince if the current price of lamb scares you to death. It is a rich dish so, usually, just accompanied by a classic Greek salad of tomato, olives, green peppers and feta. You can add sliced potatoes to make it go further, or just serve with crusty bread. If you add a little macaroni, it's called Pastitsio - from the Italian influence

Photo © Anne Zouroudi

Ingredients

150-175ml olive oil - 1 large onion, finely chopped - 3 garlic cloves, crushed - 900g lean minced lamb - 50ml white wine - 1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes - 1 x 5cm piece cinnamon stick - handful fresh oregano leaves, preferably wild Greek oregano, chopped or 1 t dried oregano - 3 large aubergines - salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the topping

75g butter - 75g plain flour - 600ml milk - 50g parmesan cheese, finely grated - 2 medium free-range eggs, beaten

Heat two teaspoons of the oil in a pan; add the onions and garlic and fry until just beginning to brown. Add the mince and fry over a high heat for 3-4 minutes. Add the wine, tomatoes, cinnamon and oregano and simmer gently for 30-40 minutes while you make everything else. Preheat your oven at 200ºC/400ºF/Gas 6

Slice the stalks off the aubergines and cut them lengthways into 5mm slices. Heat a frying pan until it is hot, add one tablespoon of the oil and a layer of aubergine slices. Fry quickly until tender and lightly coloured on each side. Lift out with tongs and put a layer of them in the base of a 2.5-2.75 litre shallow ovenproof dish and season lightly with a little salt and pepper. Remove the cinnamon stick from the mince sauce, season to taste with some salt and pepper and spoon a layer over the top of the aubergines. Repeat the layers, seasoning each as you go. Have a mince layer on top

For the topping, melt the butter in a non-stick pan, add the flour and cook over a medium heat for one minute to cook out the flour. Gradually beat in the milk; bring to the boil, stirring, and leave to simmer very gently for 10 minutes, giving it a stir every now and then. You can also make a quick roux in your microwave. Stir in the cheese and some salt and pepper to taste. Cool slightly and then beat in the eggs

Pour over the topping and bake for 25-30 minutes until the top is golden-brown and bubbling

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MENU’s Wine of the Week. Perdeberg 2015 Malbec

We used this wine in a blend we were asked to make this week at a function at Perdeberg cellar - more about that next week - and the wine really impressed us, again. We have bought it previously

On the nose it is quite sophisticated and integrated, with echoes of French Malbecs. On the palate this big wine is savoury at first with salty licorice then opening to robust dark fruit, shy supporting wood and good fresh fruit acids to help it last. It made a good blending wine especially with Pinotage, adding structure and depth. Great value at R98 per bottle ex cellar

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Tasting and lunch at Muratie with Amorim Cork and João Portugal Ramos wines from Portugal

We were very pleased to be invited to a tasting of some special Portuguese wines this week. The tasting was to be at Muratie Wine Farm and would be followed by lunch. We do not see many good Portuguese wines in South Africa, most often Port and entry-level Vinho Verde. Both of us are familiar with Portuguese wines from travelling and our studies and it was a really good opportunity to see what the modern Portuguese industry is producing

The Muratie Wine Cellar is in Simonsberg, Stellenbosch

These were the wines we were to taste

There were members of the wine industry, wine trade and some media at the tasting

Joaquim Sa of Amorim Cork hosted the tasting

He introduced João Portugal Ramos, who founded Duorum wines with winemaker José Soares Franco in 2007. They are two of Portugal’s most renowned oenologists. Sr. Ramos is widely considered "the King of the Alentejo”. He began as a wine consultant in the 1980s and today runs successful projects in the Alentejo, Vinho Verde, Beira, and Douro. With him was his son João, who is also a winemaker. He is doing a harvest with Guy Webber at Neethlingshof this year

The company's mission statement is "Our purpose is to be a reference for Portuguese wines at international level by conferring a particular identity to different wines in which consumers can rely on." Their web address is http://www.jportugalramos.com/default.aspx?idioma=en#

We had a PowerPoint presentation about Duorum wines and the different areas they are grown in

Here they are on the map

This is a detailed wine map of Portugal

We began with the 2016 DOC Vinho Verde. Grown on granite soil on very high vineyards from 85% Loureiro, 15% Alvarinho grapes. It has 13% alcohol. The wine has no gas or sugar added as many entry level Portuguese Vinhos Verde do. Typically, they have about 9% alcohol. It is made in tanks and they work with the lees. It is clean and fresh with crisp grape and citrus aromas, full on the tongue at first, then citrus dry with chalky minerality on the end. Sells for €4.

Next a 2016 Vinho Verde from 100% Alvarinho. Similar on the nose to the first wine, but with more maturity and ripeness. It is also fuller and shows more quality. Crisp acidity with apple Riesling notes, then citrus and flinty minerality. It has been partly fermented in 20% French oak, which shows on the wine with golden notes; the balance is fermented in tanks. A food wine

Wine #3 was Marquês de Borba Branco DOC Alentejo from Arinto, Antao Vaz and a touch of Viognier. Grown on Limestone and schist soils, it is perfumed with honey and peaches. Dry on the palate with light touches of honey; then it becomes deeper and longer. Unwooded. It is from a hot area where the harvest starts on about the 9th of August

Then the Marquês de Borba Red from Alentejo. 4 grape varieties: Alicante Bouschet, Aragonez, Trincadeira, Touriga Nacional and grown on limestone and schist (slate). Fermented in shallow marble lagares (kuipe), the grapes are pressed by feet; they will soon have roto presses. The blend is not prescriptive, it depends on the harvest. Almost a Merlot note on the nose, dry tannins and chalk at first, soft fruit and the port varietals show. Long and chewy with almonds, red and black cherries and some morello, ending in dark licorice, cassis, spice and pepper. Some is aged for 6 months in second fill oak barrels and then blended with the tank fermented wine. Sells for €6. Another easy drinking food wine

The 5th wine was the Marquês de Borba Reserva 2012. Sells for €40. Made from Aragonez, Alicante Bouschet, Trincadeira, Cabernet Sauvignon. DOC Alentejo on Schist soil. The wine is almost black and completely opaque. Only the natural wild yeast is used in its fermentation in the open largares, with malolactic fermentation taking place in second year barrels. It is then aged for 18 months in small French oak barrels. The Cabernet influence shows well on the nose; it's a cassis bomb with a dive-in nose, really attractive. Dry chalk on the palate first, then heady berries and warm alcohol. Toasty wood and chewy tannins with salty licorice on the end

Then came Tons de Duorum Red 2015, an entry level red grown on schist. DO Douro from three port varietals: Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca and Tinta Roriz. Sells for €4. The vineyards are very steep and they get 25 hectolitres per hectare. It is savoury, rather like a Mourvèdre with good toasty wood, dark black berries, with very dry and chalky tannins

Son João told us how the wines are made

Some pictures of their vineyards at Vila Santa in Alentejo

And the steep vineyards in the Douro where Duorum is grown. It means "From Two"

Some of the awards the wines have earned

Wine #7 was a 2007 Duorum DO from Touriga Franca, Touriga Nacional and Tinta Roriz on schist soil, with 12 months in French oak barrels. So nice to be able to taste an earlier wine. It has a blockbuster nose, which blows your hair back. Deep, dark and spicy with red and black berries; very attractive. On the palate, soft and silky tannins, then drying chalk. Built to last years. Blackberries on the palate and the oak is there, but just supporting with a nice peppery end. The chalky tannins on these wines do rather take over your palate after a while

Wine #8 was the 2015 Duorum LBV Port made from Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinto Cão, Souzão in the Douro. This needs decanting; it is still young. On the nose, merlot berries, cassis, violets and mulberries. Crisp and smooth, velvety, nice lively fruit acids; will become complex. This wine is well balanced with a long persistent finish

The final wine was 2011 Duorum LBV Port. Christmas pudding fruit with cinnamon and clove spices. Soft, sweet, powerful, with warm alcohol, length and depth. Silky on the palate. 104 g/l sugar. This will reward with more age

They told us that in Portugal they are only allowed to sell one third of the Port in the release year, so that they will have future stocks. It was a very good and very interesting tasting. We learnt a lot and we know it will assist us on our upcoming trip to Portugal and Spain. We will certainly know which wines to buy while we are there. Thank you family Ramos

Rijk Melck enjoying what is in his glass

The other winemakers present also enjoyed the tasting. De Wet Viljoen of Neethlingshof, Johan Malan from Simonsig, Anri Truter from Beyerskloof

Joaqim Sa of Amorim Cork with Danie and Peter de Wet of Dewetshof, with Marina Calow of WOSA and Jeanri-Tine van Zyl. Mrs Ramos is on the extreme right

The Ramos family with Joaqim Sa

Time for lunch and the starter was smoked salmon on bruschetta with a rocket salad and balsamic reduction

Kim Melck and her chef had organised the lunch

The main course was one of their legendary lamb shanks with grated carrot, butternut and green beans, mashed potato and a great red wine jus. Delicious

The dessert was a light lemon pannacotta topped with hanepoot grapes

Those cobwebs are a National Heritage item. Honestly.

The tasting room and adjoining rooms used to be wine kuipe (concrete wine vats)

Muratie has a lovely view of Table Mountain over their vineyards. This time, it was almost totally covered in a huge South Easter tablecloth. We will be back this Saturday for their Harvest Festival

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