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Monday, September 04, 2017

Winemag Sauvignon Blanc Semillon Blend & Wooded Sauvignon Blanc Report 2017

Held at Nitida, this annual award deserves attention; and a sponsor. South African wine drinkers, you are missing a trick! Do we need to bang heads together to get you to pay attention? It is just not cool to ignore blends and only drink single varietals. Many of the famous, most lauded wines of the world are blends - Bordeaux's red and whites particularly. You do not know what you are missing. Yes, some of the bulk producers are filling tanks with bulk wine and selling it cheap as weekend wine, but at the top end of the scale, you find examples like these superb wines. Go on, get with the In Crowd and buy a bottle of one of the wines below and see how it changes your life. Only in South Africa do people ignore the best wines being made for them. The rest of the world snaps them up. To quote wine writer Jancis Robinson, "... Semillon alone is rarely responsible for great white Bordeaux. ... it is in conjunction with Sauvignon Blanc that it displays it's dazzling best”

Wooded Sauvignon Blanc is beginning to make a return from several farms. Do try it; the smoky wood lengthens its life and character. It is also known in French as Blanc Fumé (white smoked). We love it, but only if the wood is supporting, not overwhelming

34 producers submitted 38 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon blends this year and 15 producers sent in 18 wooded Sauvignons Blanc - a growing number. These wines were judged to be so outstanding that 23 blends and 11 of the wooded Sauvignon Blanc were rated 90 or higher on the 100-point quality scale. This shows such quality and finesse

The full list of wines is at the end of this story

We began with a glass of Nitida's The Matriarch MCC 2015

Jacqueline Lahoud of Winemag with the certificates which were about to be presented. Only those wines scoring 93 points or higher were given these

A small gathering, mainly of wine makers

Jean Daneel, Cape Point Vineyards' marketing manager Anetha Connan, Eagle's Nest winemaker Stuart Botha, Tokara GM Carl Lambour, Peter Allan Finlayson of Gabriëlskloof

Jos van Wyk, Marianne winemaker, Gosia Zielinska, sommelier at Pot Luck Club and Thierry Haberer, French consultant winemaker at Marianne

Christian Eedes, Editor of Winemag.co.za

Certificates to Rikus Neethling, Bizoe Henrietta 2016

Peter Allan Finlayson of Gabriëlskloof

Highlands Road, winemaker Patricia Simkiss with Michael White

Natasha Williams of Nederburg

Cape Point Vineyards' marketing manager Anetha Connan

Jos van Wyk, Marianne

Nitida. As producer of the best wine overall, Nitida won a new 225-litre Sylvain Blanc barrel worth over R12 800, from Tonnellerie Sylvain, which was presented by Jean Daneel

Gabriëlskloof The Landscape Series Magdalena 2016. Old-vine Semillon from Franschhoek and Sauvignon Blanc from Gabriëlskloof. Very rich, with vanilla toasted oak wood. Needs time, but has it all

Highland Road Sine Cera 2015 from Elgin. Refined Semillon nose, nice and weighty Semillon, with some lovely layers of fruit, mutton fat and fruit acids to ensure long life

Nederburg Private Bin D252 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2016 with a temporary label. We could not find any of the Bin numbered wines on the website, so can give no details. It is shy on the nose to begin with, then opens up; in the lighter style but with good acidity and minerality. The 2011 will be in this year's Nederburg Auction

Nitida Coronata Integration 2016 51% Sauvignon Blanc 49% Semillon. This was the top scoring wine. Rich with some good pyrazines on the nose and a little sea air. Perfumed on the palate, rich, full, layered, harmonious, lighting one up, lovely fruit, full of liveliness and such a good mouth feel from the Semillon. Yes, we really do like this wine

Bizoe Henrietta 2016 is made by negotiant Rikus Neethling in Somerset West, buying in the Semillon from Franschhoek and the Sauvignon Blanc from Journey’s End in the Helderberg

Then the two wooded Sauvignons Blanc

Cape Point wooded Sauvignon Blanc Reserve 2015. Green peas on the nose with a little elderflower. Clean on the palate with lean gooseberries and lime, the wood is nicely integrated and does not shout

Marianne 2016 Sauvignon Blanc has wood, cat’s pee and must on the nose, with lots of vanilla wood - they use batonage. Some oxidation, with light flavours which wake up with food

Lots of canapés were served, these were lovely fish cakes topped with a little tomato confit

Mozzarella, tomato jam and balsamic reduction on bread

A vegetarian platter especially for Jacqueline

Braised mushrooms on avocado

Smoked salmon with a garish pink mayonnaise

Michael White and winemaker Vanessa Simkiss with Highlands Road’s certificate

Duck spring rolls

fish on small bread rounds

Chicken Saté

A coot scoots across the pond

Spring is breaking through; after the recent rains, the grass is so lovely and green

And two ducks leave long wakes

A party beginning at the end of the awards ceremony. Some of the bottles needed finishing

Here is the full list of the wines and the points awarded:

The top Semillon Sauvignon Blanc Blends

Bizoe Henriëtta 2016

Gabrielskloof The Landscape Series Magdalena 2016

Highlands Road Sine Cera 2015

Nederburg Private Bin D252 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2016

Nitida Coronata Integration 2016 (BEST OVERALL)

Benguela Cove Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2016

Cape Point Vineyards Isliedh 2016

Constantia Uitsig Natura Vista 2015

Fairview Drie Papens Fontein Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2016

Mulderbosch Faithful Hound White 2015

Stellenzicht The Ratio 2015

David Nieuwoudt Ghost Corner The Bowline 2015

Celestina Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2016

Constantia Glen TWO 2016

Creation Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2016

Delaire Graff White Reserve 2016

Glenwood Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2016

Groot Constantia Gouverneurs Reserve White 2015

Iona One Man Band 2016

Kevin King Bassey 2015

Nitida Coronata Integration 2015

Vergelegen GVB White 2014

Zorgvliet Simoné 2016

Wooded Sauvignon Blanc

Marianne 2016

Cape Point Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc Reserve 2015

Stark-Conde Round Mountain 2016

Klein Constantia Perdeblokke 2016

Authentique 2016

Glendirk 2016

Jordan The Outlier 2016

Klein Constantia Block 361 & 372 2015

Mulderbosch 1000 Miles 2015

Neil Ellis Amica 2016

Nitida Wild Child 2016

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Friday, September 01, 2017

This Week’s MENU. Vinimark Tasting, Witlof, Chenin Blanc Top 10, Matjiesfontein, Winter Witlof salad, Cederberg 2016 Chenin Blanc

Rain comes to a vineyard in Rawsonville

The pot is full to overflowing. Our biggest story of the week has been a trip to Matjiesfontein, with a half day ride to Sutherland an its observatory thrown in. Schedules went a bit awry, which is why this week’s MENU comes to you a little later than we’d like. With the other activities we have to report, our Matjiesfontein experience was more than we could fit into this week’s MENU, so we start it here and will continue that story next week, along with a fairly hectic few days’ stories ahead of us, so we hope that you will enjoy this first instalment and we’ll do our best to be on time with the rest of the story

Vinimark Trade tasting at the CTICC

Lynne was catching up with articles for MENU and feeling a little stressed, so John went to the annual Vinimark trade tasting on his own. Vinimark is a huge organisation with a very large portfolio of excellent wine producers. We have been to several wine tastings recently and have tasted many of the wines on offer at this presentation, so John sampled as many wines as he could from producers whose wines we haven’t tasted recently

Have you tried Witlof? You should

PRO Brian Berkman invited us to lunch this week at Den Anker in the Waterfront as he is promoting Witlof, also known as Belgian Endive and to some of us as white Chicory. It is often confused with the lettuce-like curly endive a.k.a. escarole or chicorée frisée in French which is grown outdoors

Chenin Blanc Shines its Sunshine on South Africa and the world - the 2017 STANDARD BANK CHENIN BLANC TOP 10 CHALLENGE WINNERS

This happy grape, with so many different faces and guises is just the thing to warm up winter and cool down summer. It is the grape that is getting such good attention overseas for the many wonderful wines being produced and so well marketed overseas, thanks to the Chenin Blanc Association and Wines of South Africa. It has the Chenin Blanc Association says, become our calling card, offering such diversity of expression

August is the time of year when we get to taste the adjudged best Chenins in the land. The weather is usually showing signs of Spring but this year we are still in winter and it was a cold and wintry day at Delaire Graff at the top of Helshoogte pass for the Awards ceremony over a superb lunch....

A Journey into the past in Darkest Africa. To Matjiesfontein we go

We were invited by Michael Pownall of PMR Group to stay at the famous Lord Milner Hotel in Matjiesfontein. It is in the deep Karoo, straight up the N1 motorway - direction Johannesburg - and while it seems further because the countryside keeps changing, it is a really reachable two and a half hour drive from Cape Town, through some of the most beautiful scenery of the Western Cape. OK, the Karoo, which you reach after about one and a half hours, is very dry scrubland which can only sustain some sheep farming but it is high, the air is clean and pure and the nights sparkle with stars. Even on a wintry day, there was much to see and enjoy. In summer it will be hot. As one of John's relatives used to say, "Once you leave the Cape, its miles and miles of bloody darkest Africa". He obviously had never been to the real undiscovered Africa, like the Congo! But driving long distances in the past was very tedious in the slow transport they had then....

What's on the Menu this week?

This is a quick winter salad with lots of different textures. Use the best mozzarella you can find, and we don't mean that plastic stuff that comes in blocks used on pizza. Burrata is a fresh Italian cheese made from mozzarella and cream. All you need to do is some tearing, chopping, crumbling and arranging for a great result. Witlof, white leaf in Dutch, is also known as Belgian Endive

Delicious Winter Witlof salad

Leaves from one or two witloof - a round Mozzarella or Burrata cheese - 1 avocado - a roll of mild creamy goats cheese - 20 mini tomatoes - 25 g of roughly chopped walnuts, pecans or pistachio nuts - Extra virgin olive oil - balsamic reduction - salt and freshly ground black pepper

Check that the Witlof is not sandy; wash and dry if it is. Then remove and fan out the leaves of the Witlof on a flat salad plate. Cut up the Mozzarella and avocado into bite sized pieces and strew them over the plate, then crumble the coats cheese over the salad. Add the tomatoes and the nuts. Dress with olive oil and a balsamic dressing or your favourite French or Italian salad dressing and season to taste. Serves 4

Menu's Wine of the Week

We opened a bottle of Cederberg 2016 Chenin Blanc from our cellar. Not the prize winning Five Generations mentioned this week in our story about the Top Ten Chenins, but a lovely expression of this mutable grape. Cederberg winery is up in the high mountains of the Western Cape - they call them Wines with Altitude. Winemaker owner of Cederberg, David Nieuwoudt makes elegant wines in his mountain farm near Citrusdal. This has benefited from a year in the bottle; its dusty nose has whiffs of minerality and ripe pears. On the palate, it is lean and clean with limes, grapefruit and greengages. So good with all sorts of food. Sells for around R104

1st September 2017

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Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656 4169

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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.

MENU's Wine of the Week. Cederberg 2016 Chenin Blanc

Cederberg winery is up in the high mountains of the Western Cape - they call them Wines with Altitude. Winemaker owner of Cederberg, David Nieuwoudt makes elegant wines in his mountain farm near Citrusdal. This has benefited from a year in the bottle; its dusty nose has whiffs of minerality and ripe pears. On the palate, it is lean and clean with limes, grapefruit and greengages. So good with all sorts of food. Sells for around R104

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Thursday, August 31, 2017

Vinimark trade wine tasting at the CTICC

What better way to start the evening than with a taste of Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne?

Bosman winemaker Corlea Fourie with Marketing manager Neil Buchner. Their Chenins were particularly impressive

Hoghouse sommelier Hans Joakim Blackadder and Isabella

Huguette van der Merwe of Landskroon with Lanzerac GM Barend Barnard. Landskroon has always produced excellent Shiraz and their very affordable Cinsaut Shiraz has long been a favourite of ours. Lanzerac made its name with Pinotage and is still a premium producer of this varietal as well as excellent Chardonnay

Leeuwenkuil wines from the Swartland, presented by Jéan Aubrey. The Syrah is very impressive and deserves its 5 Platter Stars

Jonathan Snashall discussing the provenance of the superb Le Riche red blends with Christo Le Riche

Winemaker Danie Keulder showed Nitida's range, including The Matriarch MCC and the excellent Coronata Integration white blend

Dave Swingler and Jonathan Snashall enjoying Reyneke reds with Johan Reyneke. Johan is a pioneer of biodynamic production and his wines show a special purity of flavour

Nicolas Feuilatte Brut Rosé shown at its best in Riedel's Veritas champagne glasses by Tarryn Vincent and Ginette de Fleuriot

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About us

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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