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Thursday, August 09, 2018

Tasting the Absa Top 10 Pinotage Finalists at the Cullinan, Cape Town

We were invited to taste this year’s top 20 Pinotages this week. These are the competition finalists and the winning Top 10 will be announced at an awards lunch on the 15th of August in Stellenbosch The tasting was held at the Cullinan Hotel

The tasting would be blind, and our highest scores would be collated by the organisers. The person who selected the highest number of top 10 winners from the twenty wines will win a prize

20 glasses of Pinotage to taste. There were 161 entries tasted, 20 of which were finalists. The judges were Neil Ellis (Convenor) François Haasbroek, Nomonde Kubheka, François Rautenbach and Samarie Smith

Johan Schwartz, Pinotage Association Marketing Manager,
instructs us how to do the tasting and fill out the forms

All in a nice quiet room

Etienne Louw, Pinotage Association committee member, was also present

The tasting card

Samarie Smith told us that 2016 was a difficult year for wineries; of the 2017 entries some are too early to judge, they need to open. There is a huge variety of styles, and some wines caused serious debate amongst the judges. Some winemakers love oak, but some luscious fruit was attacked by oak. Dull palates on some wines, others were rich, ripe and opulent (certainly a style we prefer). Big is acceptable, overbearing is not. The ripeness varied from delicate to robust. Interesting and new; musk, rose petal and honeycomb were found on some, should they be there? Brett and volatile acidity should be looked at. Oxidation on some wines is a disadvantage, harsh oak tannins are bad. Complexity, good intensity, primary fruit, balance, herbs, structure; all these points were discussed amongst the judges. And we were told that the museum class was impressive and that one of them one is an ambassador for Pinotage. There were fewer issues of oxidative wines here. It is a profound, world class group

Glasses at the end of the tasting. We do not need to taste much wine for our assessments. Much of it goes into spittoons

Then when the tasting was finished and the results logged, the wines we had tasted were revealed. Not many surprises. The list of Finalists and Museum class Finalists can be seen on the Pinotage Association website

Simonsig Kaapse Vonkel Brut Rosé, made from Pinot noir, Pinotage and Pinot meuniere, was provided at the end to refresh our tired palates. It was very welcome and very much enjoyed

They had laid on a huge spread for us after the tasting. Duck salad

Koftas

Mini sliders

Pork buns

and many more, some in bains marie. Difficult to do it all justice

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Breakfast at Giulio's

Invited to taste the top 20 Pinotages at 10 in the morning, we felt that we should reward ourselves with a good breakfast beforehand. As we would be taking the bus and traversing lower Bree, Loop and Long Streets, we thought we would try out some of the newer cafés down there. Sadly many seem to have closed; this winter has had a punishing effect on new establishments in the Cape. We were delighted to see that Giulio's, on the corner of Loop and Riebeek, is still open and welcoming, so in we went

The beverage menu

We were shown to a good two seater table in the corner and studied the menu. We had just over an hour to enjoy our repast

So nice to see it so busy in the morning. There was a business breakfast, a 45th birthday and people working on their computers while they had some breakfast

A modern take on Michelangelo's The Finger of God on the ceiling!

A juicy table 17

Green tea comes in a pot. Missing a slice of lemon

Good black coffee, milk and sugar were already on the table

The customers at the next table didn’t mind John taking a photo of their breakfast. Shakshuka and a poached egg on avo and tomato salad on a ciabatta slice

Hey Its You! A nice warm welcome from Giulio himself as he brings us breakfast

La Bianca Eggs Florentine with spinach and generous smoked salmon, two perfect poached eggs, good Hollandaise on a crisp croissant. A perfect lining for a tum that is soon going to taste 20 Pinotages

Frittata di Giulio; An omelette filled with spinach, mozzarella cheese, balsamic roasted baby tomatoes, caramelised onions and topped with chopped chives, rocket and grated parmesan cheese (It usually comes with mushrooms as well). It is accompanied by a very fresh tomato and basil Neapolitana sauce

The window seats are great if you are working on your computer. Love the hanging plants

Service was great. Our very reasonable bill. Check out his website https://www.giulios.co.za They do lunches, very good pizza (on special now). Dinners, on Thursdays and Fridays only, are very popular at the moment as he has a winter special. 2 courses and a glass of wine for R220

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Thursday, August 02, 2018

This Week’s MENU. Caroline's Red Wine Review 2018; Muratie Flavours of Winter Festival; A nostalgic visit to La Cuccina; Classic Caesar Salad; Newton Johnson Elgin Pinot Noir

A once in a Century event, Blood Moon. Lunar eclipse, Sea Point, Cape Town 22h27 27th July 2018. From our deck

We hear, quite frequently, that South Africa’s best wines are our whites – and we certainly make some stunners. But we have tasted some stunning red wines this week, first at Caroline’s Red Wine Review, then at Muratie and finally at a private tasting. One of the wines from the latter has always been a favourite and it is our Wine of the Week. We are so pleased that a few bottles of it still rest in our cellar. And then, tomorrow, we will be tasting top Pinotages as a prelude to the 2018 ABSA Top 10 Awards; a varietal which is not everyone’s favourite, but is going through a revolution in style and may change a few ideas. More about that, and a few other things next week…

Caroline's Red Wine Review 2018 at the Table Bay Hotel

To be able to choose your favourite top red wines and put them on show for customers, wine buffs, trade and media to taste must be so satisfying. Caroline Rillema does this once a year and the tasting was held last Thursday at the Table Bay Hotel. We love these tastings because you know that the calibre of the wines is going to be high. The prices are too, but at least these wines are deservedly making money. Prices ranged from R167 to the lofty R1724 a bottle. Some are older vintages, some are new releases….

2018 Muratie Flavours of Winter Festival

We were invited to last Saturday's Muratie's Flavours of Winter Wine Festival in Stellenbosch. It was a good chilly, wintry day on which to go to the farm and enjoy some Ports and other wines made from Port varietals. The sun did break through and we even got to taste some older vintages which Rijk Melck brought out of his vinoteque. And we enjoyed a well made hamburger from the kitchen for lunch

In the beginning. A nostalgic visit to La Cuccina

We thought we had to deliver things to Kenilworth and, at the last minute, discovered that Hout Bay was where we needed to be. We phoned our good friends there and said, "we are going to be there at lunch time, can you join us for a quick bite" and they suggested La Cuccina. We hadn't been here since 2002. That visit made history for us and this one brought back floods of memories

What’s on the MENU this week. The Classic Caesar Salad

If, like us, you have been watching Rick Stein on TV as he tastes and loves Mexican food, you will have seen the episode where he visited the hotel in Tijuana where Caesar Salad is supposed to have been invented by Italian American chef, Cesare Cardini. It looked so simple, so Lynne decided to investigate…

MENU’S Wine of the Week. Newton Johnson Elgin Pinot Noir 2011

After a week of tasting exceptional reds, this one charmed us. Yes, we are Pinot Noir fans. We tasted it at our wine club this week, where the theme was West Coast vs East Coast. It is a wine that we love and have bought often and have cellared. The Newton Johnson Pinots Noir win awards and regularly score 5, 4.5 and 4 stars in every Platter Wine Guide. They are deservedly popular

2nd August 2018

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Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656 4169

Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005

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

What’s on the MENU this week . The Classic Caesar Salad

It looked so simple, so Lynne decided to investigate and this is our take on the recipe. Very easy to make; we had it with baby Cos lettuce (AKA Romaine lettuce) this week and it delivers on all levels

1 teaspoon of anchovies in oil – 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard – 1 raw egg yolk – 1 teaspoon of Worcester sauce – 1 teaspoons of grated garlic – 4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil – juice of half a lime – 4 Tablespoons of finely grated Parmesan cheese – 1 Cos lettuce, washed, dried and the whole leaves separated

Blend the anchovies with the mustard, egg yolk and Worcester sauce, breaking up the anchovy into a paste as you stir, then add the garlic, stir well and then begin to dribble in the olive oil slowly, so it begins to emulsify. Add the lime juice. When you have a good thick emulsion, add the cheese. Then all you need to do is coat the leaves with the sauce and arrange them on a pretty serving plate. Serve with olive oil drizzled on day old lightly toasted ciabatta slices

No, you don’t chop or tear the lettuce. Yes, you must use Parmesan, nothing else will do, and yes, only lime juice. You don’t need salt, the cheese provides enough. No chicken, no mayonnaise, no bacon, no hard boiled eggs, no croutons, those are all later additions. You can eat this with your fingers if you like. If you want to try the real sensation of how it began, make this. We promise that you will love it

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Lunch at la Cuccina, Hout Bay

In the beginning. A nostalgic visit to La Cuccina

We thought we had to deliver things to Kenilworth and, at the last minute, discovered that Hout Bay was where we needed to be. We phoned our good friends there and said, "we are going to be there at lunch time, can you join us for a quick bite" and they suggested La Cuccina. We hadn't been here since 2002. And that visit made history for us and this one brought back floods of memories

We haven't deliberately avoided the restaurant, it’s just that, as food and wine media, we get invited to a lot of other places. In 2002, we were planning to open a food and wine shop in Sea Point. We had chosen the name - Main Ingredient - found the perfect location, taken a lease and ordered stock. But how to let people know we were going to start this new venture when we had a minimal advertising and PR budget? La Cuccina had not been open long and was the flavour of the month in Cape Town, so we decided to try it out. They didn’t have this lovely outside terrace way back when

Inside, it does not seem to have changed a bit, and the restaurant still has a self service buffet where you pay for your food by weight. We sat next to a window this time, as we did before, and then went to see what was on offer for lunch.

The salad table and the self service bar are at the back of the restaurant

There were magazine racks then, along the wall, with all the popular magazines. John had been in advertising, marketing and sales; he has a diploma in marketing. Lynne began her career in advertising, went into publishing, from Woman’s Own, New Society, Heinemann, Sage and had been in Sales and Marketing and finally PR. We had qualified in wine, meeting and getting together when we both did the Cape Wine Academy diploma while holding down Corporate jobs. We began to strategise about how to stretch our almost non-existent promotions budget, everything we had was being spent on stock. And then the penny dropped. Why not send out a press release to all the publications that covered food and wine? It wouldn’t cost anything except labour and time. And the names and email addresses were there, in the magazine racks against the wall. So, while we ate our lunch, we copied down all the names and email addresses of the editors, food editors and wine writers. (yes, they were there, way back in 2002!) And they were sent our press release. Just one page; very important to keep it short and concise, with all the facts. We got huge coverage and amazing attention

This man is sitting at the table we occupied all those years ago

Main Ingredient, our shop in Sea Point, paired fine wines, ports and sherries with unusual ingredients. South Africa was getting all the new television cooking programmes, featuring Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and others and home cooks were beginning to become adventurous. But the TV cooks were using ingredients that no one had ever heard of here, let alone know where to find them. But Lynne, who had returned in 1993 from the food capital, London, after 27 years there, and loved to cook with those ingredients, had already sourced them for her cooking and knew where to find them. So it was a no-brainer to combine unusual food ingredients for cooks with fine wines for people who loved to eat and drink

La Cuccina has a lovely selection of cakes and other things to take home or to eat there

The salad bar was a little depleted when we got there, but there were salads using Asian ingredients with which we are now familiar, a Moroccan salad with sumac and other spices and herbs which we stocked in Main Ingredient and were difficult to find in 2002

You can order slices of these lovely looking quiches

Or choose from the panoply of cooked foods. Lynne chose the chicken and mushroom pie, delicious

Main Ingredient never sold anything cooked or prepared, only ingredients to take home and cook with. And we provided Lynne’s recipes, so you could try the ingredients out. We left prepared food to the restaurants - we were not trained in that area, fearful of waste and didn't want a kitchen in the shop

Baked yellowtail with lemon, John’s choice

Healthy muffins

John’s choice of fish, with Asian rice and lentils and a Moroccan salad

We shared a bottle of the house white, Glenview Sauvignon Blanc at R100 a bottle

The wines we sold in Main Ingredient were from good producers, some very reasonable, some very commercial, some exceptional and some rather expensive. But the only criteria we had for stocking the wine was that it had to be really good. Our first question to wine buying customers was "What are you eating with this wine?" It helped to us to sell them some ingredients to go with their supper! And it worked well the other way around. If they were making Paella or a Moroccan Tagine, we had the best wine pairing for them

And after lunch we admired the cakes

Carrot cake, without the usual icing

We each had a slice of the Chocolate and Almond flourless cake, covered in a good chocolate Ganache, with three black coffees and one green tea

The current drinks menu, you should go and try it for yourselves; we recommend a visit

The green tea to end the meal

We were so successful that Main Ingredient won the Eat Out Outstanding Outlet award four years running. We closed in 2010 because the recession was seriously eating into our customers’ pockets and because the supermarkets had seen the merit in our ideas and ingredients and were stocking them in bulk at prices we could not match. And selling wine at a meagre profit before VAT does not do much to cover the expenses. We were too old and wise to try and stick it out and get ourselves into financial problems. We paid all our bills, closed the shop and traded on-line until the Post Office collapsed; we also traded in markets for 5 years, but they evolved into places to meet friends and to eat and drink on site, and the European tradition of markets being places to buy good ingredients was not there. Our certificates hang on the wall of our wine cellar with some other souvenirs

MENU continued, having evolved out of the weekly newsletter that we had been sending our customers. Those were happy times. We thought you might like to hear our story or to reminisce with us. Many of our loyal readers were customers at Main Ingredient and many have become friends. We now have many overseas readers, nearly 52 % of the total. All of us enjoy wine, food and life

The very reasonable bill

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About us

MENU, our weekly email newsletter, started as an advertising medium for Main Ingredient, our specialist retail grocery business. We opened our Sea Point shop in December 2002 because realised that there was a place in South Africa for a grocer catering to people with sophisticated tastes and needs. We moved the shop on line in 2010, but discontinued it in 2015, having decided that it is time to “retire” and concentrate on our writing, photography and tour guiding. MENU has a wide circulation and is read nationally and internationally.

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