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Thursday, September 12, 2013

DGB Trade Show at The Westin

A welcoming glass of Boschendal Brut

Some of the warm canapés on offer during the evening:

Mushroom vol au vents, fried sushi rolls, mini hamburgers and spanakopita

General manager John Loubser with Steenberg’s cracking new MCC Sauvignon Blanc Bubbly. Great label

Cellar master JC Bekker with one of Boschendal’s best wines

Winemaker Hannes Nel with Lourensford’s much awarded MMC bubbly

Sommelier Xolani Mancotywa from Pistachio Restaurant at the Saxon Boutique Hotel in Johannesburg, partaking of a good wine from Steenberg with Chanel Bradley

Franschhoek Uncorked: A night at Val d'Or

The main building entrance, which contains the reception and breakfast room

The conference centre. All these buildings sit in very lovely, extensive, well cared for gardens

Our room in the warm light of a spring day

A little old fashioned, needing a bit of updating, but very comfortable, with air conditioning and under floor heating

The manor house entrance lounge. Our room was off to the right

The manor house has a kitchen should you need to self cater

We had our own terrace area, but no time to enjoy it! This is the open area at the back of the manor house

Our bathroom. Apparently they are all being updated. The shower was good, the bath rather narrow, but it was clean and well supplied

The view of the garden, looking toward the mountains from our terrace

The meat and cheese plate on our table for breakfast. We didn’t touch it.

The breakfast room

The cereal bar with coffee on tap

Fresh fruit, juice, coffee and muesli for John

Low carb egg and bacon for Lynne. Very, very fresh eggs beautifully cooked, good smoked bacon and great fried mushrooms

Franschhoek Uncorked: Tasting at Antonij Rupert

We were greeted by Brand Ambassador Andrew Harris and Hospitality manager Gidi Caetano, with a taste of the Terra del Capo Pinot Grigio and Sangiovese

Gidi showed us the new garden tables

View of the entrance to the tasting room with the Terra del Capo specials available for tasting in the centre table.

Upstairs tastings were being held for the Protea range of wines

A lovely lounge to the side of the tasting room

They were well prepared for the lunch crowd, with lots of fresh crisp baguettes ready to fill

Franschhoek Uncorked: Dutch East's butchery

This is what we came to see: the fridge full of Pasch’s new products. Note the huge sirloins on the bottom, next to the game.

Pasch du Plooy, trained wine maker, coffee expert, butcher and restaurateur explains his new products. Lots of different sausages, ham, bacon and other smoked products as well as the fresh meat.

Today’s special menu. Very, very good prices. We had the Seafood Laksa and the Chinese Duck Salad.

The bistro style restaurant has the butchery above it, see the window above the fridge where it all happens. And the coffee roaster is alongside. We wrote about it earlier in the year, when we first visited.

Just what we needed after a week full of great wine. A refreshing Lumberjack from Jack Black beer

Sparkle

Good local beer on tap

The bar

Franschhoek Uncorked: A visit to Glenwood

Chatting to assistant winemaker Justin Jacobs in the tasting room

An interesting well wooded Semillon still shy on the nose with hints of nougat. Crisp full mouthfeel, as expected, on Semillon. White peaches, nougat and unusually light litchi and hibiscus flower tea hints

and their 2012 Grand Duc wooded Chardonnay, which is crisp and elegant with lots of depth of flavour. 18 months on 100% new French oak is just there as a gentle backbone and is full of golden delicious apples, lime and cooked pears. Deserves an award or two and lots of stars.

Then their Merlot 2011 Nose full of berries and cherries. Tasting of ripe plums mulberries with amami savouriness and beautiful fruit layers. This would go so perfectly with lamb in all its guises. No greenness, no mint, no stalkiness.

We had the opportunity to taste their 2012 Shiraz which was only filtered on Friday. Incense wood, sweet juicy fruity, licorice, pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg point to a very drinkable spicy shiraz.

We really liked the2011 Grand Duc Syrah and awarded it five stars. Notes of balsam, rich fruit on the nose, cassis and blackberries. Also given 18 months on 100% new French oak, it does not taste overwooded. Mouth filling fruit washes the whole palate with cassis and a little spice. A beautifully balanced wine. Wish we could afford it, we have to make a plan.

The new restaurant logo on the menu. A branch of Le Bon Vivant in Franschhoek has replaced the Japanese restaurant which was there previously

Ducks next to the garden pond (Egyptian Geese are actually ducks)

A view of the farm from the road

Franschhoek Uncorked: A taste of wine at Stony Brook

The spacious tasting room

The lovely Christna van Zyl, who runs the tasting room, the office and the marketing, really looked after us

Some of the range of wines which we tasted.

We really liked the 2007 Lyle MCC which has a rich apple and pastry nose just like the tart tatin Lynne had for dinner the previous night . Very well priced at R125 a bottle from the farm. It is crisp and dry, lean and delicious. The Pinot is shy and only shows right at the end as fresh strawberries

Of extra special note is the Ghost Gum Bordeaux style white blend. 60% Sauvignon Blanc from Elgin with 40% Franschhoek Semillon in second fill oak. Wafts of vanilla and good bitter caramel hover over long flavours of the buttery citrusy grapes. R95. Could drink lots of this

The J 2011 is a blend of 36% Semillon, 34% Viognier & 30% Sauvignon Blanc and has the perfume of fresh ripe white peaches on top of lively clean crisp flavours R75. Great for spicy Asian food

The Max 2009 a Bordeaux Blend with some Petit Verdot and Malbec smells like an almond cherry dessert with honey and a bit of licorice. It has very good sweet cherries and chocolate and its chalky tannins mean it will last. R95

The 2010 Syrah Reserve is a big wine and has expensive wood notes as 100% new French oak is used. Incense, pepper, spice on the nose. Good fruit and, savoury white pepper, and chalky tannins add to the elegance. Needs a lot of time to settle down. R190

SMV 2009 Shiraz & Viognier were co-fermented then the Mourvedre was added later. It is very spicy and interesting but still opening up. It tastes of a fruit salad of Raspberries, rhubarb and red cherries. R90

The courtyard in front of the tasting room. The oak trees were being trimmed because several had been damaged by the recent storms (800+mm of rain in August!) and were threatening the buildings

The farm's famous ghost gum tree, which is their logo

Franschhoek Uncorked: to French Connection for dinner

Franschhoek by night! The outside of the French Connection restaurant on the main street where Jason Ratner, the manager, had invited us to come and have dinner.

Tonight’s specials. Wines come in a small pichet as in France or by the bottle. Lynne had La Bri Chardonnay and John Boekenhoutskloof Wolftrap red

We sat close to the fire. The décor is very like most good French bistros

Starting to fill up at 7 pm

The menu has lots of options

Lynne ordered the grilled squid in chilli and garlic which was delicious, very tender and nicely chilli warm and garlicky. But she could have done without the large pool of olive oil on the dish. She wanted grilled because it is not oily.

John had the roast duck with a gooseberry sauce. Perfectly cooked duck with crisp skin, he found the sauce rather sweet but the counterpoint to that was the nicely tart fresh Cape gooseberries. Note the generous pichet of Boekenhoutskloof Wolftrap, which cost only R36

Lynne does not often do dessert but, if Tart Tatin is on a menu, she has to try it. This was quite wonderful. Soft and intense apples, beautifully crisp flaky pastry and a good sour cream to counterpoint the richness and sweet and sticky caramel sauce. She( ~~needed)~~ wanted lots more caramel sauce…

Second chocolate tart of the week, but this was for John. The best thing on the plate was the chocolate filled deep fried spring roll. When opened it oozed liquid chocolate all over the plate