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Monday, April 03, 2017

TvM Wines trade tasting at Auslese

Tracy van Maaren continues to expand her list with excellent wines, which makes this trade tasting exciting each year. Chef Proprietor of Aubergine and Auslese, Harald Bresselschmidt, arranges food pairings for some of these wines and they are interesting matches which make one think about how you would serve these wines. This was held on Wednesday last week

Auslese is in Hope Street in the Gardens area of Cape Town. It's a function venue and can be hired for all sorts of events

We began with Silverthorn's three MCCs, The Genie, The Green Man and Jewel Box, made by John Loubser. John is the MD of Steenberg in Constantia. Silverthorn is his own brand and making. The 2013 Jewel Box Brut shows the lovely raspberry fruit flavours of the Pinot Noir component first then the leanness of the rich Chardonnay, a gem of a sparkle

It was paired with these opulent oysters in a spring onion vinaigrette with pumpernickel crumb

Oh so tender chicken breast poached in rosé, with lemon verbena and raspberries was the pairing to go with the non -vintage MCC Rosé Genie. This has a wonderful mouth feel and is clean and crisp and full of raspberries.

All three Silverthorn wines have elegance and quality.

Someone we haven't seen for a long time, innovate winemaker Anthony de Jager, winemaker of Fairview since 1996. Many people will not know that it was Anthony made the first Viognier in South Africa which is still a benchmark for others, the first single Mourvedre, Grenache and Malbec under 1990's. Here he is in conversation with journalist Mel Minnaar

Anel Grobler who writes the blog Spit or Swallow with her friend Frans

The three Fairview wines for tasting., including their new MCC with its crisp prickle on the palate; the Nurok a blend of skin fermented Chenin; naturally fermented Viognier, Roussanne and Grenache Blanc with dusty roses on the nose, a lovely mouth feel, crisp but full of honey and peaches; and the Stok by Paaltjie Grenache

We liked the Fairview 2013 Extrano (the label reminds us of Cinzano!) with its silky fruity smooth and spicy mouthful and then a dose of heat, licorice and dark cherries. It shouts "Age me please!" Taming Tempranillo with some Grenache and Carignan was a good idea

It was paired with braised duck leg in a coffee extraction with blueberries. I must have got a giant duck as my pairing tasted just like beef. (It 's beef, it's beef - sorry, UK people will know this advertising slogan)

Delicious crocodile tail on haricot vert paired with the Nurok (Label designed for dyslexics like Lynne)

The sublime Eagles Nest Viognier, restrained warm linen and honey on the nose has had no malolactic fermentation. The initial full sweet honey peaches changes to lemon lime citrus , developing into a great food wine. The pairing was a savoury cheese tartlet with crisp wafer thin pastry topped with a peach gel and some peach. Yes!

Tender juicy cubes of ostrich with the Eagles Nest Shiraz. Incense wood and violets on the nose then full red and black fruit melange with warmth and subtle spicing. Another that time will reward. We also liked the Sauvignon Blanc, a typical green Constantia number with asparagus and green pepper on the nose, with passion fruit flavours: clean, crisp, refreshing

The B Vintners poured their very floral but dry Muscat de Alexandrie, and their Pinot Noir

The B Vintners Strandwolf Chardonnay 2016 a classic rendition was beautifully paired with a moon fish Tartare. a new fish for us, it's a tropical fish

The Richard Kershaw stand was extremely popular with the sommeliers, restaurateurs and hoteliers. Richard is producing extremely good wine

A great pairing with his 2014 Shiraz was this cold glazed lamb rib eye. The wine is spicy, sophisticated, fun , with wood, licorice, and warmth. The 2012 was more gentle but enticing with an almost cola note

The pairing for the excellent long and crisp Clonal Selection Chardonnay 2015 was tender octopus with a seafood flavoured paella

Wow did Cathy Marshall impress with her two Pinot Noirs. The 2016 Sandstone is perfumed, juicy sweet fruit, layered perfection. We think chef Harald must have agreed as he produced the best pairing of the evening. So tender, cured duck breast with a plum compote

She had a busy time of it. And surprised us all by showing her new 2016 Riesling. Lean, clean and no terpene, quite marvellous. It refreshed the palate, showed the underlying fruit with honey and nuts but remained crisp and dry. This is how SA should be making Riesling

The Clay soil 2015 Pinot Noir has elegance and beautiful fruit which is gives up slowly. Full of raspberries and other berries, no faults and very French in style. Paired with rolls of springbok Carpaccio stuffed with herbs and dressed with a pomegranate gel, another great pairing. Best wine of the evening for Lynne

A happy smiling Catherine Marshall

Bruwer Raats impressed again with two excellent wines. The Eden High Density 2014 Chenin Blanc is his usual classic full on Chenin. Paired with Rabbit and pineapple to enhance those Chenin flavours. His other wine was the Raats Family Cabernet Franc 2014 Savoury, full of black fruit, herbal, full and elegant with a punch, a benchmark Cabernet Franc. We did not taste the pairing

Chef Edgar Osojnik of Buitenverwachting discussing the wine with Eamon MacLoughlin

Chef Edgar with his stepson, Diego Noble

A new gin Bloedlemoen (Blood orange). It contains different citrus and lots of other aromatics and botanicals. Good but we felt it could have done with a bit more juniper, but then we are rather traditional when it comes to gin

Cathy Marshall with Manuel Cabello, the Sommelier at Ellerman House

Mariette Kershaw with Kara Fox of Wine Pair

Cathy with Caroline Bagley of Savoy Cabbage

Hugh Whiley and Felicity O'Connor

Elaine and Jaap-Henk Koelewijn of Tokara with Sean Skibbe of South Hill

Braised pork loin and Bresaola was paired with the Bryan MacRobert dry and crisp Steen, the old South African name for Chenin Blanc

His Pinotage was paired with a Pinotage and fennel saucisson on a blue cheese mouse on pumpernickel bread. Chanel perfume and cooked plums, still with serious tannin, typical of a young Pinotage

A great showcase of wines, thank you Tracy

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Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Recipe of the week - Aubergine & Butternut Curry

Lynne made this for Vegetarian friends of ours recently. You may not need all the oil; aubergines do absorb a lot but it does make the dish lush and silky. Frying them first starts them cooking and prevents them becoming slimy. Lynne used coconut oil, you could use Ghee. You can adjust the chilli to your own taste. We used a Durban masala

2 medium aubergines - 1 T salt – 5 to 6 T oil – 1 large onion, finely chopped - 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced - 1 T grated fresh ginger - 2 t curry masala - 1 cup of butternut, cut into 2.5 cm cubes - 1 red chilli, deseeded and sliced – 700 g fresh tomatoes, finely chopped or 700g tomato passata – 200 ml water - 1 t sugar – salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cut the aubergine into cubes of about 3 cm. Cover them with the salt and put into a colander and allow to drain for 20 minutes. Wash off the salt and dry with kitchen paper. Fry the onion in a little of the oil till transparent then add the garlic till soft and then add the ginger with the curry masala. Fry briefly then add the aubergine and the rest of the oil and fry until it is beginning to take on some colour. Stir in the butternut, chilli and then add the tomatoes and sugar and the water. Simmer until the aubergine and butternut are getting soft and unctuous but not falling apart. Season to taste; if the tomatoes are acidic, you may need to add a little more sugar. Just before serving with Basmati rice, sprinkle with garam masala

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MENU's Wine of the week - Villiera Bush Vine Blanc Fumé

It was grown in an old, single Bush Vine vineyard on Villiera, planted with the Weather Station clone. On the nose it’s dusty and grassy with green pepper and granadilla notes. The smoky wood is there on the palate with nice rounded citrus flavours of grapefruit and fig with a long, lingering warmth. It is great with food, very palate cleansing and refreshing. It has been partially skin fermented in an egg shaped tank, had no malolactic fermentation and was racked into 50% new /50% 2nd fill oak barrels for three months. We can't wait to see this with a little age on it. http://www.villiera.com/

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This Week's MENU. A tourist in your own city, Chenin Blanc and Pinotage at the Wine Concepts, Breakfast at Giulio's Café, Villiera Bush Vine Blanc Fumé, Aubergine & Butternut Curry

Flying off into the sunset

(A bit like our car, which is giving way to a new chariot)

Tourism and the wonderful people who come and visit our city are frequent topics in conversation, but how often do any of us who are Capetonians look at ourselves from a tourist’s viewpoint. Last week, we decided to take the MyCiti bus to Hout Bay with our friends who are visiting from the Netherlands. We also attended a very well organised tasting of South Africa’s signature wines, Chenin blanc and Pinotage and had a lovely breakfast....

Being a tourist in your own city

We decided to take the bus to Hout Bay and behave like tourists this week. We love the MyCiti bus, it has transformed getting round Cape Town and the routes are growing daily. We topped up our cards (you need to buy them beforehand and they are available at various venues in your neighbourhood. Check out the website. We met our friends at a Sea Point bus stop at 10h55. Sadly, the timetable information Lynne was given on the phone by Enquiries was wrong and we missed the first bus by five minutes, but there was another along in 20 minutes. You can check the timetables online too, but we don't find them very user friendly. You can deposit money onto the MyCiti card and use it if you need cash. You can't board the bus without it. They don't take cash

Chenin Blanc and Pinotage shone at the Wine Concepts Celebration

Friday saw us at Wine Concepts’ Chenin Blanc and Pinotage Celebration at the Vineyard Hotel. A chance to taste new and older vintages of both of these South African varietals, to network and to meet and taste the wine of a few (to us) new producers. Chenin Blanc continues on its climb to the top of the local grape varieties. It can do so much, show a huge variety of different styles, it ages superbly and suits our climate, varied as that may be at the moment. The same could be said of Pinotage, although it receives less exposure, less lauding and, sadly, the amount planted seems to be in decline. Pinotage shows its stellar face when it has some age. Lynne concentrated on tasting the Chenins, John cherry picked both varietals. It was impossible to taste them all; there were 88 wines on show

Breakfast at Giulio's Café

Another good Saturday morning breakfast, another new restaurant for us; this time in town on the corner of Loop and Riebeek Street. This is familiar territory for Lynne who worked in PR at Safmarine when they moved into their new building on the opposite corner. It is where the Italian restaurant Massimo’s used to be. Breakfast is served all day and they have good lunch options too. There is a Mangia salad bar, sandwiches and great pastries. And they are licensed. Opening hours Mon - Fri: 7am - 4pm; Saturday 8am - 12.30pm Public Holidays 8am - 12.30pm

Wine of the week

Many years ago, back in the 1990's, Villiera used to make a Blanc Fumé - a wooded Sauvignon Blanc. It was a wine Lynne loved, often bought by the case and, at a Villiera function last year, she spoke to Jeff Grier about it. "Oh, glad you liked it!" he said, "we are about to relaunch it." She was delighted a few days ago when a courier arrived with a sample bottle. It was grown in an old, single Bush Vine vineyard on Villiera, planted with the Weather Station clone. On the nose it’s dusty and grassy with green pepper and granadilla notes. The smoky wood is there on the palate with nice rounded citrus flavours of grapefruit and fig with a long, lingering warmth. It is great with food, very palate cleansing and refreshing. It has been partially skin fermented in an egg shaped tank, had no malolactic fermentation and was racked into 50% new /50% 2nd fill oak barrels for three months. We can't wait to see this with a little age on it. http://www.villiera.com/

Recipe of the week - Aubergine & Butternut Curry

Lynne made this for vegetarian friends of ours recently. You may not need all the oil, aubergines do absorb a lot but it does make the dish lush and silky. Frying them first starts them cooking and prevents them becoming slimy. Lynne used coconut oil, you could use Ghee. You can adjust the chilli to your own taste. We used a Durban masala

Cut the aubergine into cubes of about 3 cm. Cover them with the salt and put into a colander and allow to drain for 20 minutes. Wash off the salt and dry with kitchen paper. Fry the onion in a little of the oil till transparent then add the garlic till soft and then add the ginger with the curry masala. Fry briefly then add the aubergine and the rest of the oil and fry until it is beginning to take on some colour. Stir in the butternut, chilli and then add the tomatoes and sugar and the water. Simmer until the aubergine and butternut are getting soft and unctuous but not falling apart. Season to taste; if the tomatoes are acidic; you may need to add a little more sugar. Just before serving with Basmati rice, sprinkle with garam masala

28th March 2017

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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, please click here to send us a message.

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Breakfast at Giulio's

Another good Saturday morning breakfast, another new restaurant for us; this time in town on the corner of Loop and Riebeek Street. This is familiar territory for Lynne who worked in PR for Safmarine when they moved into their new building on the opposite corner. It is where the Italian restaurant Massimo’s used to be. Breakfast is served all day and they have good lunch options too. There is a Mangia salad bar, sandwiches and great pastries. And they are licensed. Opening hours Mon - Fri: 7am - 4pm; Saturdays and Public Holidays 8am - 12.30pm

The entrance. We were so impressed with Giulio himself; what a polite, friendly and gentle young man. He is making a great success of this Cafe. You can read about him on his web site. https://www.giulios.co.za Service was prompt and efficient

We loved the simple and light decor. The chairs are a little small, but manageable

A table had been reserved for us in the corner

Important to start breakfast with a coffee!

Good crema on the Americanos

The menu

For our vegetarian friends, Shakshuka. From North Africa and the Middle East, it's a nice and spicy tomato and red pepper compote seasoned with onions, garlic, chilli, cumin, paprika topped with two poached eggs

Lynne had intended to have something healthy and then she saw her favourite breakfast on the menu. When she did her round the world trip in 1992 she found this all over the world and if faced with a plate of congee (tasteless rice gruel) or poi (taro porridge with a texture of wallpaper paste), she chose instead pancakes, maple syrup and crisp bacon. This turned out to be a superb choice. The pancakes at Guilio’s were a revelation; they are light as air, fluffy and full of flavour. Why has she never had them this good before?

John had the good Frittata di Giulio, an omelette filled with spinach, mozzarella, tomatoes, caramelised onion (no mushrooms) topped with parmesan and a side of a tomato basil Neapolitan sauce

A table full of delicious food

They bake all their own cakes and pastries and there is an impressive selection to tempt you

Loraine chose a Florentine with her espresso, which comes, correctly, with a glass of water, something often missing in South Africa

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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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