Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Brookdale Estate launches their new Bistro

Last year, we were invited to Brookdale Wine Estate in Paarl to meet their young and talented winemaker Kiara Scott
and to taste the excellent award-winning wines she produces
We also met the chef Gary Coetzee and his wife Yvonne, the General Manager,
who told us that they were building him a larger restaurant next to the new wine cellar
and we would be invited to sample it when it opened, which it did at the beginning of February
This week we received the invitation. Transport was, thankfully, provided from the Waterfront
and we were collected from outside the Zeitz Mocca Silo complex
Brookdale is owned by the Rudd family. https://brookdale-estate.com/

Brookdale is a very beautiful farm, nestled in front of the Paarl mountains
and here, coming over the brow of a hill, you see the Manor House nestled among the vines
 It is a small luxury boutique hotel. https://brookdale-estate.com/manor-house/
which we described in our story last year

The Bistro, Brookdale's new restaurant, is built adjoining the wine cellar
Both are modern and have been built in lovely stone which reminded us of Cotswold stone

The reception is cool and elegant and has a small shop where you can buy the wine and some local produce

Warmly welcomed by winemaker Kiara Scott. She is in the middle of harvest
and had a very brief hiatus from the urgency of winemaking
She took us on a quick tour of the wine cellar and the beautifully arranged barrel cellar

Then the tank cellar with its wonderful aromas of grapes and fermentation, which you always get in harvest

The crusher sends the grapes into these short squat tanks for fermentation to start

and Kiara needed to get back to these crates of just-picked grapes which needed to begin their journey into wine
More were due to come in when the pickers had finished their lunch
It was lovely to see her and we are thankful that she had some time to tell us about their good harvest

She is very happy with the new cellar and the quality of fruit coming in for the harvest

She loves her new equipment in the cellar, especially the concrete eggs and huge clay amphorae

There is plenty of space for more!

Tamsin Snyman, an old friend of ours who was also in our group of guests, chatting to the tasting room manager

Gary Coetzee is the Executive Chef. The restaurant is decorated in cool blues and greys and feels spacious and airy

There is a large terrace, but it was extremely hot that day,
so we were very happy to be inside in the air-conditioned restaurant

and a new Stok by Paaltjie (Sur Échalas or "goblet" training of the vine) vineyard in front

Some of Brookdale's current selection of wines

Brookdale’s Mason Road Serendipity Rosé is very French in style,
a blend of Shiraz, Grenache, Cinsault, full of summer berries and good depth
Lovely with food and an excellent quaffing wine too... 

We could eat off the à la Carte menu and there were some great choices. The menu will change with the seasons
https://e3f8x3f7.rocketcdn.me/wp-content/uploads/Brookdale-Estate-Bistro-Sample-Menu.pdf

The complex Brookdale 2020 Old Vine Chenin Blanc was the perfect match for Lynne’s Prawn starter
Fruit driven, layered and rather French in style, it delights
In the 2022 Trophy Wine Show it was awarded a Gold Medal and the Rosa Kruger Trophy for Best Old Vine Wine

The open kitchen and its happy chefs, Exec Chef Gary is on the right

We were a small group hosted by Brookdale GM Yvonne Coetzee
Janie van der Spuy of Five Star PR had arranged the function

Warm and redolent Mosbolletjies which are made, not with yeast, but the must from the fermenting grapes in harvest
and soft herbed focaccia with flavoured butter and good local olives

The starter of duck liver pâté came with blackened bread and a herb butter

The duck liver pâté served in a slice topped with a fresh fig, crisp chicken skin, a raisin purée and a bruléed fig and port gel

Steamed tender prawns with a firm deep fried prawn 'lollipop', sliced avocado adorned with dukkah,
a spicy harissa aioli and some mixed baby greens and a slice of lime

A vegan course:
Char grilled baby gem lettuce, picked red onion, avocado, croutons, capers, wakame seaweed and a cashew dressing

Springbok tartare, a mieliepap crisp, Dijon milk emulsion, pea shoots and salsa verde

Oxtail tortellini with its own jus, parmesan cheese and topped with crisp onions

Brookdale’s Mason Road Syrah is full and fruity with lovely spice notes, very good with rich meat and poultry dishes

Time for main courses
Very popular was the Beef Rib-eye with potato pavé,
an onion soubise, mushrooms, broccolini, beans and a rich Mason Road Syrah jus

Duck leg confit, with correctly crisp skin duck breast, sweet potato purée, pak choy, fine beans and a ginger gastrique
Perfection, says Lynne

Cauliflower risotto, pickled shimeji mushrooms, toasted almonds, aubergine biltong, pea shoots and herb oil
 Another delight for the vegans

Watching the chefs on the pass, plating up

The restaurant, which overflows onto the terrace, is busy, so do book

There is a small but good selection of desserts
This is the Coffee Hazelnut tart, Stroh rum gelato, grapefruit compote & aniseed meringue

The vegan coconut panna cotta, with mango gel, passion fruit sorbet, sweet toasted and fresh cut mango

The excellent Ruby port and Valrhona chocolate fondant, perfectly oozy in the middle, and so dark and chocolaty
served with crisp poached plum and a vine leaf gelato, raspberries and bruléed orange slices

And as an accompaniment to the coffees, some friandise -
tiny meringues and white chocolate squares filled with nuts and raisins


An excellent meal, with great attention to detail, and good cooking
Thank you for introducing us to the Bistro. We hope to return

Thanks and appreciation to our fellow guests from the "Thorn among the Roses" photographer
for permitting photographs to be taken of their food

All the stories we have published can be seen in the Blog Archive near the top of the column on the right

If you do not wish to receive e-mails from us, please email menucape@gmail.com with the word 'UNSUBSCRIBE' in your email

Posted by MENU at 1:56 pm 0 comments

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

2023 Harvest Lunch at Jordan

Each harvest, Gary and Kathy Jordan invite members of the media and the wine trade to visit them,
and hear about this year's harvest 
We were so pleased to hear from both Cathy and Gary about the past year and taste some of the results

Welcomed by Kathy Jordan and marketing manager Thea van der Merwe

with a glass of their lovely elegant, crisp and clean 2017 Blanc de Blancs Cap Classique

Gary Jordan chatting to Andre Morgenthal, who runs the Old Vine Project
Jordan has some vineyards that will join the project within the next year

Also there were Christian Eedes, editor of Winemag.co.za, Wine negociant John Collins and Susan Scholtz

Louis-Delien and Deon Pienaar, owners of The Cattle Baron in Durbanville

Gary begins his harvest report
Vinpro reports that this is the fourth smallest in the last few years because of load shedding and environmental problems
Peter Ferreira at Graham Beck reports that some vineyards and growers are 30 to 40% down
It was not a cold winter in 2022 and there was less rainfall, so all reserves are low
There were two phases of budding this vintage, so two harvests of some vineyards may be necessary
Early flowering with bad winds lowered the crop and made it difficult to spray
Unseasonable rain in December brought in fungal disease and powdery mildew

Heat peaks and dry sunburn were also an issue. Assyrtiko is not irrigated
From April 1 2022 we had 443 ml of rain; the average is 720 ml
In Santorini, where Assyrtiko grows, they average only 249 ml, so it is suited to our climate
The Jordans are clearing hillside vineyards to grow more Assyrtiko
with Chardonnay and Cabernet in cooler areas on the farm
From September 1st till now we have had heat waves

A bunch of ripe Assyrtiko grapes for us to taste. You can definitely taste the characteristics that appear in the wine
Some Assyrtiko is grown on trellis, some as bush vine and they will be beginning the traditional Santorini basket training,
now that the vines are well established

And then a taste of the Assyrtiko, a grape indigenous to parts of Greece with very dry conditions

It seems to be ideally suited to our warming climate
On the nose, crisp fruit with fig notes, lovely minerality, clean dry fruit with great acidity,
complexity and warmth on the palate with gooseberries, fig and greengage plum flavour
So refreshing and such a good wine with food, especially if it is Mediterranean in style

Kathy told us about their harvest at their Mousehall winery in East Sussex in England and reported on their new gin
Their daughter Christie is the distiller and, they have made their Oast House into the distillery
They have the maiden vintage of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in barrel on Mousehall
It will be bottled when they go back
Twelve people helped them with the picking, nine were South Africans, some were friends!
Since Brexit, it is very hard to get labour to pick grapes in the UK
They used third fill barrels sent from Stellenbosch
The gin is aging in barrels as is a Brandy from the previous vintage

The well-designed packaging for the Mousehall Gin is all recyclable

Even the bottle has been made from recycled glass
They have a 400 litre copper Pot still at Mousehall for their artisanal gin
It contains 13 different botanicals and aromatics like juniper, angelica, orris root, coriander, rooibos, lavender,
citrus distillation character and aromatics like cardamom
It is 40% proof, as required by British law. South African Gin has to be 43%

We then went into the cellar to taste the grapes, the unfermented juice and then some tank samples, which were busy fermenting
It is a very good learning experience
As you taste, you can see the progression of what the grapes’ development, if they are properly handled
And these certainly are

This year’s international crew of interns helping with the harvest

Winemaker Sjaak Nelson supervising the harvest

Gary Jordan and GM Jacques Steyn CWM

The Sauvignon Blanc juice was pure Northern climate elderflower perfume and flavour with fabulous fruit sweetness and perfume
When yeast is added, the ferment will mix and refine the juice into wine
The yeasty base wine for the Blanc de Blancs is floral, crisp and dry with lots of fruit notes
The cylinder of juice where the solids have sunk to the bottom is from an amphora

The tank Chenin Blanc has 160 grams per litre of sugar before fermentation;
the flavour is full of fig leaves and fruit, pétillant on the palate with sweet nectarine and peach
A tasting like this is so valuable, as it shows the journey the grapes are taking to become wine
Finding the aromas and tastes and making sure we spit out the fermenting juice into the buckets;
it can set off fermentation in one’s own system

We tasted the barrel fermented Outlier Sauvignon Blanc which is clean and dry; complex with richness from the lees and autolysis
It is such a good food wine; we often order it when we are eating out
The 2022 Inspector Peringuey Chenin Blanc was summer fruit in a glass with guava and naartjie on the nose,
sweet golden fruit with a lovely dry finish on the palate, well balanced with good acidity and some chalky tannins


Sjaak told us about the fermenting samples

A portion of yeast ready to go into a tank to begin the fermentation of the grape juice

Ripe and sweet Chenin Blanc grapes ready for picking. Tannic skin and green pips all add to the complexity of the wine

Down the steep stairs into another area of fermentation tanks, amphorae and concrete eggs,
all adding complexity to wine making these days

And we were shown the clay amphora from Italy, which has Sauvignon Blanc in it,
which will become The Outlier for the third year
You can feel the fermentation vibration when you touch the sides
They told us the best thing ever is the Shiraz they ferment in the amphora, which is then blended with the Syrah in barrel

This clever glass fermentation airlock allows the carbon dioxide generated by the fermentation to escape
but does not allow air to get into the wine

Sjaak talks about their future use of amphorae and concrete eggs

And there are two new concrete eggs for Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc
Fermentation is slower in them than in barrels and the wine has a different mouth feel
Chardonnay does not work well in amphorae at Jordan, says Gary

Then it was time to head outside to the tasting facility, where lunch was waiting
with a plethora of Jordan wines to taste and enjoy

The menu

The wines we could taste and enjoy with lunch

An innovative beetroot, carrot, butternut and feta salad sprinkled with pumpkin and sunflower seeds

A version of Waldorf salad, apples, celery, celeriac, walnuts and grapes

Chicken kebabs, venison pies and olives with the red salad

A very good cheese board; we really enjoyed the cheeses,
especially the soft gorgonzola with the grapes and good bread on the table

Mousehall Gin. We each had a small taste of this innovation from Jordan
Warm, with floral notes and layers of flavour and aromas. Very enjoyable

Some of the excellent wines we tasted with the IWSC Trophy for Best White Wine producer in 2022

The weather has been very warm and so harvest was progressing at speed

Thank you all at Jordan for another informative and very enjoyable day

All the stories we have published can be seen in the Blog Archive near the top of the column on the right

If you do not wish to receive e-mails from us, please email menucape@gmail.com with the word 'UNSUBSCRIBE' in your email

Posted by MENU at 5:28 pm 0 comments
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