Thursday, March 19, 2020

A Harvest Experience at Klein Constantia and lunch with the Constantia winemakers

This may well be our last post for a while. South Africa has shut down because of Covid-9 virus and all our upcoming events are postponed or cancelled. In addition to all the embargoes which have been decreed, a Dutch tourist who spent three weeks touring the wine country in a large group tested positive for the virus on his return home. He had been in close contact with many people who work on wine estates and all those estates are now quarantined. This has further compromised our activities

We were invited by the Constantia Wine Route to choose a wine farm and winemaker with whom we could spend two hours for a brief harvest experience on the farm. This was followed by a harvest lunch with all the winemakers and some other media people at Nova Zonnestraal, the newest kid on the country's oldest winemaking block. An offer like this was hard to refuse

 We chose Klein Constantia, a farm with which we have had a long history, but had not visited for a long time. Arriving at 10 am, we were met by winemaker Matthew Day and had a superb hour with him in the cellar and then an hour with Viticulturist Craig Harris in the vineyards. It was a superb experience
New vines near the entrance as you drive in and, behind them, the hillside vineyards
Past the Kramat (shrine) of Shaykh Abdurahman Matebe Shah in the estate's grounds
The last of the Malaccan Sultans, he was taken prisoner and exiled to South Africa, where he died
The entrance to the Tasting room and the Bistro
The tasting room area with views of the production cellar through the windows
Current vintages
A magnum of Cuvée Anabel Rosé. It is is named after the owner’s daughter; she designed the packaging
A view through to the Bistro
Winemaker Matthew Day showing us an aerial view of the farm and its vineyards
Matt joined Klein Constantia in 2008 and has been the winemaker since 2009
He has invested in some rather exciting equipment which we had not seen before
This is a new design of destemmer which is very gentle to the grapes
He showed us how all these pieces of equipment link to the process of sending grapes into the tanks
It’s a rather large and impressive cellar, fully active at the moment with Harvest still taking place
One of their Bucher grape presses waiting for the arrival of freshly picked grapes
We then did some tasting from the tanks, in which all the wines are fermenting
First a taste of the Anabel Rosé. It’s a secret blend, very sweet and aromatic at this stage, before the sugars are fermented out
They have to replicate the same pink colour every year too; it's cloudy with lees at the moment,
fizzy with fermentation and great fun
Then some different tanks of Sauvignon Blanc from different vineyard blocks. The 341, which is the top vineyard on the farm, has nothing added to it. Very aromatic, dry already; it reminded us of Sancerre. Matt's favourite block is 152, which is fully organic. You could taste the potential, a classic Constantia Sauvignon Blanc. Other tanks we tasted were block 271 and 261, from the blocks at the top left of the farm, and 372, a single vineyard which has the best grapes this year. A bottle of this, from a previous vintage, would follow us to lunch
We were also fortunate enough to taste the 2020 Riesling, so impressive already. And the second vintage of the Chenin Blanc, showing all the expected characteristics. The just picked Chardonnay, from very small young vineyards, is a classic with beautiful fruit. We also tasted the 2019 with white peaches and complex fruit flavours, including marmalade. The Blanc de Blanc white blend has good fruit and we suspect that it will be a good food wine when ready
Pumping over a tank of Shiraz to extract colour from the skins
A happy winemaker enjoying a good harvest
Unlabelled magnums of Vin de Constance
Could be a superb end to a banquet
Into the barrel cellar to taste some samples there. There are some foudres as well as the normal barrels
all new French oak barrels
Why is Matt bringing us coffee in that glass? Well, it isn't coffee, it is Vin de Constance, fermenting in the tank 
He showed us the raisin grapes they use
No botrytis on these raisins, they don't want it
A small box shows what they have picked so far
Picking goes very slowly as the grapes stay on the vine
and dehydrate to the concentration required to make Vin de Constance
We left Matt in the cellar and joined viticulturist Craig Harris in his Land Rover, to examine the vineyards
Wallowing farm pigs, enjoying a nap
Driving up the hill. And up, and up, and up...
Sauvignon Blanc, just about to be picked
We tasted some of these grapes and they were intense 
just enough sugar with good minerality and fruit acids to produce the classic Klein Constantia Sauvignon Blanc
These might need a day or two more of sunshine, but look so healthy
The leaves have been removed to allow air circulation and contact with the sun
Almost at the top of the farm, you can see False Bay on a clear day
Good sea breezes, from both Hout Bay over the mountains to the right and from False Bay in front, cool the vineyards
Craig Harris, viticulturist
The Muscat grapes turning to raisins on the vine
We were allowed to pick some too; we managed just a few
It is a hard task, each berry having to be judged as ready and then picked, one by one
Now you know why the wine has to be so expensive
One of the very focused and patient expert pickers
Waving goodbye to the pickers
Carlo Prins, a farmer in his milieu
Former owner Dougie Jooste's beautifully restored early 50s Jeep Truck
A far cry from a modern car interior
Then we were off to Nova Zonnestraal to join winemakers from all the Constantia farms for lunch
and the media members who had been visiting the farms
No more hugs and kisses, just lots of elbow bumps and clinking glasses. We are all paying attention 
A very welcome glass of Steenberg MCC poured by Roger Burton, winemaker at Nova Zonnestraal 
The Nova Zonnestraal Cellar is actually a tunnel under the M3 Simon vd Stel Freeway
It was built in the 1960s for access when the farm was divided in two by the freeway
This is where a long table was set for lunch
Jared Ruttenberg organised the whole event. Behind him is Justin van Wyk, winemaker at Constantia Glen
Nova Zonnestraal's Constantia Royale Sauvignon Blanc was on offer
A group photo of the Constantia winemakers
Back row: Jean Nel (Klein Constantia), Justin van Wyk (Constantia Glen, Elunda Basson (Steenberg), Danna de Jongh (Constantia Uitsig), Gregory Brink Louw (Silvermist), Megan van der Merwe (Beau Constantia)
Front: Roger Burton (Nova Zonnestraal), Duran Cornhill (Eagle's Nest), Boela Gerber (Groot Constantia)
Brad Paton of Buitenverwachting arrived later
Constantia wines to taste and drink with lunch
We take our seats
Platter of cheese, meat and chicken liver pate, with many accompaniments were served for lunch
with French bread, tomatoes, artichoke and roasted nuts
Salami, grapes, nuts, watermelon konfyt and fresh figs
Broadcaster Guy McDonald and Winnie Bowman CWM had spent the morning at Groot Constantia with cellarmaster Boela Gerber
On Guard, looking at the beautiful view
As a special treat there was a taste of Vin de Constance when we returned to Klein Constantia after lunch
We first tasted the 2016. Pure honey on the nose with some floral notes
Toffee caramel on the palate with sharp limes and lemons, long flavours very satisfying
Cellar door price is R1095 per 500ml bottle
The 2015 has honey, beeswax and vanilla on the nose, more complex than the 2016
Soft and sweet with milk toffee, crisp citrus, mango and lime on the end
Danica Prout-Jones, who works in the tasting room, and assistant wine maker Jean Nel
The Jeep Truck on display near the tasting room
Thank you Matt, Craig, Jean and all at KC for a great morning at Klein Constantia
Posted by MENU at 3:05 pm 0 comments

Tuesday, March 17, 2020

Anniversary lunch at Yu, Heerengracht

A message from a friend whom Lynne has known since they were six, wishing us a Happy 17th Wedding Anniversary made us realise we had both completely forgotten about it. Embarrassing, but we did have a giggle and had to rush off to find our marriage certificate to check the date. And we always celebrate with a meal at an interesting restaurant. Lynne had read good things about Yu which is in the Heerengracht and is part of the Onyx hotel. It serves Asian food and much of it is Dim Sum, which we love, so we decided to try it for lunch
Our waiter Ndazi was most helpful and service was quick. He seemed to be the only one working, so perhaps he is the restaurant manager. It is quite open and modern in the restaurant and there is a corridor which links to the hotel and the toilets, which are quite far (past the lifts, with no signage near the restaurant and through several heavy doors). Given the times, it was sad to see no soap in the Mens’ (John reported and told a member of the cleaning staff) and an empty paper towel dispenser in the Womens’ toilets
The kitchen is open and raised
The simple paper lanterns really make a great atmosphere over the bar, where there is seating to enjoy drinks
We asked if they allowed us to bring our own wine from our cellar and was told that corkage for white wine was R60, which we are happy to pay. We are great fans of Newton Johnson Chardonnay and this Southend 2017 went perfectly with the food we ordered; so enjoyable too. Their wine list is not bad, but limited, which we expect in a restaurant like this; it is not fine dining
Love the busy hands octopus mural behind the kitchen
The menu. Prices for Dim Sum are a bit higher than we are used to, but their market is hotel guests and they are just across the road from the Convention Centre, as well as local businesses like Media 24, so probably right for the area. The most expensive thing is the price of the sushi, but we did see people order it
Prices of the Classic sushi are a bit lower but we were not tempted
The drinks menu. We prefer to do these at home, but a nice place to enjoy if you are travelling

Our first choice was one of the Nibbles, Hoisin Tempura Calamari, which was superb;
we will be back for more and it was a very generous serving for a snack. R102
Lots of sweet Hoisin, but we found that dipping into some soy nicely tempered the sweetness
We love dumplings and these were the "pot sticker" seafood dumplings. R88. For some reason you get four, but you get three of most of the other dumplings, which means that we chop one in half. BUT it tasted more like pork than seafood and we were told it is filled with a mixture of the fish of the day (which was very savoury and meaty) and chopped calamari. Not seafood in the way we understand it and not very nice. The dumplings were steamed and not pot stickers at all, no fry marks on them. We did tell the waiter that we we were not happy and queried their contents, but we had eaten two so did not insist  that they were replaced
The Bao Buns we chose are filled with pulled Beef short rib with garlic, chilli and oyster sauce
They were as light as air and delicious
They come with lots of shredded cucumber which, luckily, could be easily removed. Lynne dislikes cucumber. R88 for 2
So, missing the seafood, we ordered the good looking steamed prawn and butternut dumplings. R68. Another disaster sadly, filled with bland unseasoned butternut and not a sign of a prawn anywhere. Very disappointing. We buy 800g of prawn meat for about R80 to R120 in the supermarket and it feeds us several meals, so it is sad to see that they are scrimping. Would not order these again. They came with two dipping sauces: a sriracha chilli and what looked like a plum sauce. Only three, so we had one and half each. Some of the dim sum items have strange ingredients, non traditional like cream cheese (?) definitely not an Asian ingredient. Perhaps we are too traditional and not modern enough
As an Anniversary treat, we ordered Peking Duck, not expecting a serving for one. Five small pancakes meant just 2 for one of us and 3 for the other, thinly sliced duck - probably one breast, fat rendered out and quite crisp skin, served with spring onions, lots of cucumber strips - and carrot which is a new one for us. Hoisin sauce and a citrus sauce. What we had was good, but not quite what we were expecting at R220. We  thought of chef Alex at the late and very lamented Dynasty in Sea Point who used to carve the whole duck at the table
As usual, we did not order dessert
But the restaurant surprised us with a lovely Anniversary plate of a Chocolate Fondant with Pistachio ice cream
Thank you, an unexpected treat
Our bill with service added. Thank you all yous at YU! (local vernacular)

But the restaurant surprised us with a lovely Anniversary plate of a Chocolate Fondant with Pistachio ice cream, Thank you, an unexpected treat.
Our bill with service added. Thank you all yous at YU! (local vernacular)

Posted by MENU at 12:02 pm 0 comments
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