Saturday, February 02, 2019

Durbanville Wine Safari launch

Trevor Gray of Golden Cape tours invited us to join him on a Full Moon Special event, to be held right on top of the Bloemendal Hill in Durbanville, where they have use of a special viewing deck. He works in conjunction with Cape Town Wine Safaris
We would see the sun set over the city and then experience the full moon rising over the Hottentots Holland Mountain
And it was on the night of the Wolf Moon. We were keen to go
We were transported from the V&A Waterfront in a Safari Vehicle which took a good non-motorway route and avoided most of the home going traffic in the early evening
We arrived at Bloemendal at 6.30, in the early evening light, to board a larger Safari vehicle which can climb the steep hill
Some people attending drove up in their 4x4s, which are essential. It is NOT open to the public
First we had a glass of chilled Durbanville Hills tank-fermented Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc, very refreshing and very welcome. Trevor and Cape Wine Safaris are going to run a route between 8 of the Durbanville wineries, You book, get on board and jump on and off as you please and they will deliver you back to town in the late afternoon
Trevor tells us some history of the Durbanville Wine Valley and the grapes. If you want to do this tour during the day, contact Trevor on Facebook @goldencapetours or Armand at Cape Wine Safaris
Exciting news is that the lease on the Bloemendal hillside restaurant has lapsed and it is being redeveloped by Bloemendal
It has one of the best positions in Cape Town but, sadly, the food provided by the lessees was not good
We last ate there in 2003 and have heard that there has been no improvement
We travelled far to the very top of the hill, where you see the radio masts
The Merlot grapes still have uneven ripeness but harvest is fast approaching and they will be picking as soon as they are ripe
Lynne sat in front with Armand, owner of Cape Wine Safaris
As we reached the view point at the top of the hill, we saw that the sun was about to set
Its rays were illuminating the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the far distance
And, after sunset, you could see the clouds rolling in across the bay
A view of Durbanville and the surrounding wine farms
We all stood on the deck and watched the sunset
The radio masts are right behind the deck and the planes landing at Cape Town Airport do fly right over this spot
when the wind is in the right direction
Trevor opened some good Durbanville wines and we chatted. First the Nitida 2017 Sauvignon Blanc, such a great expression of Durbanville Sauvignon terroir. The Bloemendal Suider Terras Sauvignon Blanc comes from the vineyard to the left of the viewing platform and these grapes are coveted by many local winemakers. It makes an elegant wine full of fig leaves and pyrazines, with minerality, good crisp fruit and salt on the end
The Durbanville Hills Merlot has good fruit and is so charming and friendly, with no bitter tannins and absolutely no mint. He also opened the Diemersdal Pinotage, a classic old style pinotage that will last 10 years and the De Grendel Shiraz, spicy with pepper, dry tannins and rich red berries
The sun setting over the sea and the incoming bad weather
A view through the tree tops
The view from Bloemendal hill towards Melkbos and the Atlantic Ocean at sunset
and across to Table Mountain and Table Bay
Lynne chooses a wine... The Bloemendal Suider Terras
The table set with snacks to accompany our wine tasting
Trevor Gray
and the moon, through the heavy layer of humidity
And so to bed
Posted by MENU at 2:10 am 0 comments

MENU’s Wine of the Week. Ataraxia Chardonnay 2017


It has golden fruit on the nose with white peach, golden oak, some citrus and is very, very elegant. It has a lovely texture, clean citrus and more white peach on the palate, with white Bing cherry; long flavours with the perfume of peach remaining. Superb and priced at R265 from the farm
We cannot tell you how difficult it was to choose a wine of the week this week. We were at the Pinot Noir Celebration in Hemel and Aarde this weekend and tasted many, many superb wines. But this one lingers on the taste memory. We had it at Ataraxia with winemaker  Kevin Grant and it so impressed us. Kevin also has a 2017 Pinot Noir that is as good. You can read about it and the other wines in our many articles published this week about the Pinot Noir Celebration. Superb
Posted by MENU at 1:58 am 0 comments

On the MENU this Week. Buratta Mozarella and griddled apricot salad


This salad was inspired by two things: we bought recently: beautiful fresh apricots with a blush on them and fresh Burrata mozzarella. If you don’t know Burrata, it is a soft mozzarella into which they put cream as they fold it up into a nice neat ball. When you tear it apart, the cream becomes part of your dish with the cheese. This mozzarella bears absolutely no relation to that commercial rendition sold in supermarkets which is used on pizzas. It is not easy to find, good delis and cheese shops have it. We buy ours from Puglia in Table View and Lynne did buy one at the Oranjezicht market recently for R45


Lynne watched Jamie Oliver do a salad where he griddled the apricots and that set her off. We had bought two and she wanted to use them in salads. She bought some Serrano ham in Checkers and they cut it nice and thin. It is so easy and so delicious, but you'll need to be quick as the apricot season is nearly at an end. It is simple to make; just two preparations and then it’s just a matter of assembling the ingredients
1 small red onion, thinly sliced - 2 Tblsps good raspberry vinegar - 8 ripe Apricots – a drizzle of cooking oil - 1 cup of washed and drained rocket leaves – a few gem lettuce leaves - 1 fresh Burrata mozzarella – 75 g thinly sliced Serrano or Parma ham –- 2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, off the stalk – 1 tspn crushed pink peppercorns – 2 Tblsps good extra virgin olive oil – sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Put the red onion in the raspberry vinegar to pickle slightly. Slice the apricots in half, remove the stone and sear the cut sides and then the skin on a hot oiled griddle pan, just until marked. Set aside to cool. On a pretty serving dish, arrange the rocket and the lettuce leaves. Put on the cooled apricots and then tuck in the ham. Remove the onion from the vinegar and keep the vinegar aside as dressing. Scatter the onion, the crushed pink peppercorns and the fresh thyme leaves over the salad. Then, over the salad, tear the Burrata into smaller pieces, and distribute it evenly. Dress the salad with the vinegar and the good olive oil and season well
Posted by MENU at 1:50 am 0 comments

Thursday, January 31, 2019

Survivor Wild Yeast Shiraz launch at Carne on Kloof

Last week, we were invited to the launch of the new Wild Yeast Syrah in the Survivor range from Overhex winery in Worcester. It is always appreciated when a wine launch is held in a good restaurant and this time it was at Giorgio Nava's Carne in Upper Kloof Street. We knew we were in for a good event
The restaurant is in a 19th Century house with a small covered stoep. We were warmly welcomed ...
... with a glass of Survivor Sauvignon Blanc
The range also includes Chenin Blanc, a Wild yeast Chardonnay, Pinotage and Cabernet Sauvignon
Giorgio also has his other restaurants, 95 Keerom Street, Carne in Keerom and Carne at Parks in Wynberg, which we wrote about last year. Here he chats to Michael Fridjhon who had come down from Johannesburg for this and a weekend function
We spotted this interesting line-up of wines on the bar and discovered that these were the wines we would taste. Ben Snyman, the winemaker responsible for the Survivor range, said that he wanted to introduce us to the wines that had influenced his style of wine making and the results
Winnie Bowman CWM and journalist Mel Minnaar
We take our seats and the wines are poured. Vicky de Beer is the Food Editor of Rooi Rose magazine
With a screen of Survivor Pinotage, Chef watches the room. We were served really lovely tempura vegetables as canapés
Caroline van Schalkwyk, who manages the marketing for Overhex, welcomed us and talked about the history of Survivor, The cow stops here; it jumped off a truck and landed in the lush vineyards. It lives there still and so began the brand. (No, the cow wasn't branded). Harvest has begun in the Overhex valley
Ben Snyman is passionate about his wine. This was to be an inspirational tasting, 4 Survivors and 4 foreign wines that have inspired him on his travels through wine. He says it is all about terroir. Overhex sources the wines from all over the Cape; Bot River, West Coast, Robertson valley and other places. Five winemakers bring their experience of old and new world wine to their wine making. These are the wine areas that have influenced Ben and the Survivor wines are how he expressed those influences
The menu for the day
We began the tasting with Domaine du Tariquet 2016 Sauvignon Blanc from Gascony in France. It was so interesting to see the name of the grape on the bottle, which is not usual in France. The French concentrate on terroir. The wine is made and fermented in stainless steel tanks. Clean on the nose with hints of pyrazines, nice integrated fruit, very French. Crisp and textured with limes, loquat, lemon; nice and warm as is the area it is farmed in, very long flavours. Paired with the Survivor Sauvignon Blanc, which has a similar nose, gentle warm country wine on the nose, on the palate a slight metallic ping, yellow fruit, more Chenin flavours than Sauvignon, very drinkable.
After studying, Ben went to work at Chalk Hill winery in California for 5 months, where he learned to make Chardonnay. Newton 2015 Unfiltered Chardonnay from the Napa Valley was next. It was wild yeast fermented. Herbal miffy nose, complex with lemon, pineapple and stewed apple. A smooth entry with marzipan and wood, lemons, limes, chalk, a bit overworked. The Survivor Wild Yeast 2017 Chardonnay was better, with perfume and cooked apple on a pleasant nose. Silky, and the citrus lemon, lime and grapefruit flavours linger for a long time
The glasses on the tasting sheet. The Pauillac producer was unnamed. It’s a Private Selection 2010, a Bordeaux blend. Ben learnt that barrel selection, as they do in Bordeaux, adds value to your wine, as you can select different characteristics shown in different barrels, like different fruit characteristics, burnt sugar, nuts, vanilla wood, forest floor, to add to the blend. Their red wine maker Willie Malan went to France and brought back the experience they need to make the Survivor Cabernet Sauvignon 
The next flight began with a left bank Pauillac Private Selection 2010, a Bordeaux blend. Very much as expected, deep dark savoury fruit, with a dive-in nose, Marmite, cassis: berries and leaves, incense wood. Mouth puckering tannins of youth, chalky with cassis, blackberries, dark roast, mushrooms and forest floor. Needs a lot of time
The 2017 Survivor Cabernet Sauvignon has vanilla oak richness and fullness, more cherry than cassis on the nose. Dry chalky tannins that stick to the teeth, cassis, balsam, long flavours, shy fruit and, at the end, sunshine on the palate tells you it is South African. Ben and Willie also went to Australia to learn about the wines there. Australia makes twice as much Shiraz as we do, and SA e wanted more big jammy Shiraz
So, next we tasted a benchmark Shiraz from Penfolds, 2014 Bin 128 Coonawarra. This is a wine Lynne cut her teeth on in London in the 1980's when it was so popular. On the nose a little bloody, with sesame putty, white pepper, initially shy fruit, then rhubarb and mulberry peeked through. Soft, sweet liquorice and warm fruit, very familiar and friendly, warm mulberries and raspberries, followed by good umami. She scored the nose 13 and the palate 17.5! The Survivor Shiraz is from Botrivier grapes, barrel fermented on wild yeast. A pretty but light nose of red berries. Chalky tannins, Morello cherry on the palate with a long, memorable end
Time for lunch and we could drink any of the Survivor wines we had tasted. We began with restaurant-made perfect ravioli, filled with finely minced slow baked lamb shoulder. This superb dish was dressed with crisp fried sage leaves, shaved parmesan and a really delicious lamb jus and sage butter. It went SO well with the Shiraz; whoever did the pairing is a genius
Then came a family style platter for the table with a selection of perfectly grilled Carne meats. Tri-tip, Spider steak, Flank steak, Pork chops and some grilled vegetables and porcini mushrooms. But who grills the dreaded Brussels sprouts? 50% of the audience love them
A formaggi plate of 4 local cheeses for each of us came with a cherry or grape preserve and an orange marmalade
NOT a survivor
Broadcaster Guy MacDonald of Magic Music Radio enjoying the day
Comparing footwear, or is it manicures?
Guy with Winnie Bowman. It was a great launch
And on our way home, we saw the MSC Cruise Liner Musica anchored just off the coast. She was unable to get into port as the South Easter wind was howling and her high sides make entry to the harbour dangerous
Clifton beach is sheltered by Lions Head, so it looked calm
and we went down to the Sea Point beachfront for a closer view of her
Posted by MENU at 6:41 am 0 comments
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