Thursday evening saw us at Hillcrest wine estate
in Durbanville for the launch of the new vintages of their Saartjie wines. They
are named after GM, winemaker and viticulturist Arno Smith’s cute Jack Russell
terrier and she has made it onto the labels. They have built a lovely new deck
and they also have a Beer garden
They had laid a table with six
different varieties of their excellent olives (we know they are excellent, we
have bought 3 litre buckets of them for several years), homemade farm bread,
olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Just a snack before supper they said. There
were also slices of Pizza bianco
We were served the 2018
Hillcrest Rosé, made from Cabernet Sauvignon
It is a summer wine; light, fresh
and fruity
The four wines being released
were the 2018 Semillon, the 2017 Malbec, 2017 Cabernet Franc
and the 2017
Petit Verdot, all of which we would taste at dinner, paired with different
courses
Some of those plumptious
olives. We particularly liked the lemon olives
- a version we had not tasted before
- a version we had not tasted before
And there were some large canapés
served. This was herb cream cheese topped with
a roasted tomato on a drop scone base. There was also a smoked salmon version
A word about the menu and the
pairings from Restaurant Manager Elise Bothma
Winemaker Arno Smit welcomed us
and told us some of the Saartjie story. She came as a puppy from Villiersdorp 5
years ago and they are inseparable. Saartjie comes with him into the vineyards,
but she only tastes the grapes in the Semillon vines (they have 1000). She
is very popular with visitors to the restaurant and tasting room and people
bring their dogs to have play dates with Saartjie. She's a character, very
friendly and approachable
Saartjie with her
'grandparents'. Arno says that when most people hear Saartjie’s name, they
always make the joke or assume her name comes from Saartjie Baartman, the most
famous Khoikhoi woman who lived in the early Nineteenth Century. But Saartjie is an
old family name. A Great aunt of his - a fierce old lady - who also cautiously
observed and assessed from a distance, and then, when she needed to intervene or to
stand her ground, she would make herself known and silence all the wrong-, say-
or doers. Just like Saartjie does
Time to taste the wines
The menu was large, we hoped that the portions would not defeat us
Durbanville is known for its generosity.
We sat at a long table in the
restaurant
We began with the Semillon. It
is made in one old French barrel, so quantities are limited. It is herbal, spicy,
dusty with green melon on the nose, Full and rounded on the palate, crisp
apples and limes, naartjies, with wood way in the background, supporting. R145
on the farm. We loved it. It would be amazing with crayfish or other seafood
Paired with the Semillon was
seared tuna with pink grapefruit segments, green beans and a light wasabi
mayonnaise. A good match
Huge activity in the kitchen
plating up servings of the second course...
The next course was a rosemary
and coriander crusted fillet of beef, served with shimeji mushrooms, a bone
marrow custard and topped with crisp onion rings. This was paired with the 2017
Malbec; savoury on the nose, with hints of cumin, umami, sour cherries and
something indefinable. On the palate pure salty liquorice, lots of cassis
berries and leaves, mulberries on chalky tannins, grippy and lean, with long
flavours, ending in more liquorice wood. Should age well
At this point we had a power cut, known in South
Africa as 'Load shedding"; a result of dismal management by politically selected "cadres" who were responsible for a general lack
of maintenance at Eskom, our electricity generator. When Eskom runs out of coal or the machinery breaks down,
they cut off certain areas for up to 2½ hours. So we continued to eat in the
dark, the table lit only with a few tea lights and the little torch from John's camera bag. Sadly, in the process, we did
not get a picture of the next course, which was slices of Duck Breast,
accompanied by a confit duck leg, fondant potato, pea purée and a good cherry
jus. An excellent course, if a bit chewy on the duck, but a great match for the
Petit Verdot. The nose is sweet, cooked berry fruit, some violets and herbs. A
heavyweight, heady wine, salty, complex and silky on the palate, with dark Tay
berries, great black cherry flavours, liquorice on the long end. Another one to
keep for a while
A night time view from the
restaurant, across to Melkbos, where the lights were still burning. Thank you
Eskom
These are the chefs who fed us
so well. We were challenged by the amount of food, but it was all very good
Dessert was a rather sweet
Berry sorbet, a decadent and rich chocolate fudge brownie with pecan nuts, a
pistachio crumb, fresh strawberries and a vanilla bean crème. This was accompanied
by coffee and a taste of the new 2016 Quarry, a merlot. Sweet berries on the
nose, lots of cherryade notes too. Rich with tight chalky tannins, tension,
this is very new and needs time to come forward; the fruit acid is still high
Thank you Hillcrest for a great
evening and for coping so well with the power cut
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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2018
