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In
this week’s MENU:
Riesling Rocks competition Seafood
lunch at Granger Bay Hotel School Mondiall Restaurant Opening Franschhoek “The Magic of Bubbles” Quoin Rock Thelema’s Boland Braai SAWi Awards Grootbos Private Nature Reserve Springfontein Christmas is coming
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this link to see our Main Ingredient blogs, because to tell our whole
story here would take too much space. Click on Bold words in the text of this edition to open links to pictures, blogs,
pertinent websites or more information.
This week’s Product menu: Christmas is only just around
the corner and we do have most of the things you like to buy from us. But
PLEASE don’t leave it to the last minute to get them from us as our suppliers
have limited supplies this year and we are only carrying a limited number of
each item and just ordering what we need as sales so far have been slow. Have a
look at our on-line shop and order now.
Our market activities Come and visit us at the Old Biscuit
Mill’s wonderfully exciting, atmospheric Neighbourgoods
Market, as always, this Saturday and every Saturday between 09h00 and 14h00. Tip:
Some visitors tell us how they struggle to find parking. It’s quite easy if you
know how. Click here for a map which shows where we park.
As usual, we have a link at the bottom to our calendar of wine and food related events which should interest all
lovers of great food and wine and events which promote them. We have always had
a few from centres outside the Western Cape, but we now have enough to justify
a separate list, so, if you live in one of the other splendid places in our
lovely country, have a look. If you are promoting an event in any of
these places, please let us know and we’ll add it to the list.
A little commercial While we have a huge list of subscribers, MENU does not earn us money, apart
from a small amount of advertising revenue earned when readers click on the
advertisements which appear in the blogs which are linked to this newsletter.
So it will be a great help to us if you click on some of the ads in the blogs.
It won’t cost you anything – the advertisers will pay – and we’ll be most
grateful!
Enter Riesling Rocks competition and win
one set of tickets to the event. Get
the New Year into gear and head off to Hartenberg Wine Estate in the
Stellenbosch Winelands for the annual Riesling
Rocks Festival, which takes place on Saturday, 25th January 2014. Taste the finest flagship Rieslings
from South Africa’s top wine producers paired with gourmet deli fare. Answer
this simple question and you will be entered into the draw for this pair of
tickets worth R240. Which European country is famous for its Rhine Rielsings? Or
buy tickets online from www.webtickets.co.za Read more about the festival here.
And you thought last week was busy?...
Seafood lunch at
Granger Bay Hotel School Last
Thursday, invited by Principal Alan Romburgh, director of the Cape Town Hotel
School and Head Chef Jerome Peters, we attended a light summer seafood-themed
lunch served on the terrace overlooking the ocean. The young chefs put on a
very good spread, the hospitality students ably attended us and we enjoyed some
good wines from Allee Blue. And we were all delighted and surprised by a take
home container of steamed mussels and a bottle of Allee Blue to enjoy that
evening. Click here for photographs
Mondiall
Restaurant Opening This brand new restaurant,
which had its glittering opening on Friday evening, is situated in the old
Green Dolphin premises in the Waterfront. We think it will do a huge amount to
push the Waterfront dining experience back into the fine dining arena. It has
very impressive modern décor with several different seating options from
outside, on the glassed in terrace, inside and even on the balcony upstairs. We
now look forward to trying their menu, put together by owner Peter Tempelhoff,
Executive chef at Cellars Hohenhort, and Mondiall Chef Oliver Cattermole. Lots
of good canapés were served, wines flowed and there were good cocktails. See photos here.
Franschhoek –
“The Magic of Bubbles” Cap Classique and Champagne Festival Sunday was a perfect day. There was a
great crowd, not to mention wonderful bubbles to drink. We dressed up as
requested, and so did many of the other guests, and we had a superb time
chatting to old and new friends in the wine industry or just having fun at the
Festival. Good food was available, although less than in previous years, and
the temperature, for once, was very pleasant. Where else can you taste this
many superb sparkling wines in one place? We can’t wait for next year. Click here to see the photographs
We do think the Black and
White theme has completely run its course and needs to be adjusted to something
a little more inclusive to those of us who like a bit of colour and don’t own
any white. Black is far too hot for mid-summer. What about Pink to support
Breast Cancer?
Quoin Rock invited us to join
a few other members of the media and see what they are doing on the farm since
it was purchased by Ukrainian businessman Vitaliy Gayduk. He is a professor of
Economics, resides in Kiev and runs numerous businesses including a business
school in Kiev and is involved in the Iron and Steel industry,. Winemaker
Narina Cloete gave us a comprehensive tour of the magnificent tank and barrel
cellars, we saw the new concrete egg fermenters and learned of the pending
arrival of wooden ones, both new approaches being tried out by some of our more
innovative winemakers. And we learned about her winemaking philosophy and plans
for the future. Viticulturist Nico Walters, who has recently joined from
Rustenberg, told us of his plans for radical new plantings. We marveled at the
Baronial Hall which is something out of King Arthur with its Round Table in the
rock-walled “Cave”, where they will be holding functions, and then sat down for
a tasting of the wines from both the Cape Agulhas and the Stellenbosch properties.
This was served with many, many delicious canapés prepared by their caterer,
well known chef Craig Cormack. We met Dennis, the son of the owner, had a long
chat with him and then spoke to Thys Lombard, the Managing Director of the farm,
about the future plans for Quoin Rock. They have focused mainly on Cabernet
Sauvignon and Shiraz, with smaller plantings of Cabernet Franc, Mourvedre,
Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier on the Simonsberg farm. At Cape Agulhas, the vines
are mainly Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, with smaller plantings of Merlot and
Pinot Noir.
We really enjoyed their Cape
Agulhas Cap Classique bubbly, which is crisp and lean and dry with a good
mousse. Their rather tropical Simonsig Sauvignon Blanc Nicobar is very popular,
as is their Shiraz with a touch of Mourvedre. We have always liked and bought
Oculus, their Sauvignon Blanc/Viognier blend. The 2013 barrel sample of the
Cabernet Sauvignon we tasted is still shy on the nose but the softly perfumed,
berry laden wine with a soft chalky end is full of cassis and black cherries,
with a touch of treacle on the end, and we think it is going to be a cracker.
Narina was a finalist in the Young Winemaker of the Year competition just
announced and all her wines score 4 or 4.5 stars in Platter this year, quite an
achievement for such a young winemaker. Click here for pictures.
Thelema’s Boland
Braai How lucky that we were in the area on
Friday evening, as it gave us a chance to call in at Thelema for their Annual Braai and
tasting of both Thelema and Sutherland wines. Giles Webb, the owner, is the
cook and does very good boerewors rolls, while the rest of the family rallies
round to help serve the wines, make nice snacky things to eat and entertain the
large group of trade and other wine-related people who attend. And then there
is the beautiful view which helps to de-stress one and the great hounds that
roam around. A thoroughly great way to taste wine on a Friday evening. Pictures here.
SAWi Awards SAWi stands for South African Wine Index. It is a
system that records all the awards South African wines, entered and tasted
blind in local and international competitions, receive and, using an algorithm, puts their
results into a point scoring index so that the public can see which wines are
really scoring highly and are therefore deemed to be worth buying and drinking.
It started in 2009 and the plan is to do this over a 10 year period. Do read their web page
for more detail of this complex system and the award categories. We first encountered SAWi earlier this year
when Premier Helen Zille was presented with a selection of
these wines for the cellar at Leeuwenhof, so that she can
serve her guests some of South Africa’s best wines.
We were invited to attend this year’s awards ceremony,
which was held at Grootbos Private Nature Reserve and
were delighted to find that we did not have to drive back after the awards as
‘a room’ had been made available for us at this legendary property.
How to describe the evening? A beautiful elegant
stepped room in The Villa, filled with winemakers, partners and other industry
members and tables laden with their wines. Lynne decided that, given the number
of wines on offer, she would only taste those she was not familiar with. No
chance, we knew all the wines very well, as they are many of the top wines we
taste, drink, buy and write about regularly. Interspersed with the Awards (click
here to see the list) of certificates, plaques, trophies
and accolades presented to worthy winemakers and farms, were superb small
dishes prepared by Executive Chef Benjamin Conradie – of special mention: his
perfectly cooked whole crayfish tail nestling in a glass on a great mayonnaise.
Izak Smit, Project Director who came up with the idea of the Awards, announced
them with Brett Garner, editor of The Month. Hempies du Toit ably and
amusingly did the presentations.
The wines: Lynne tasted four Sauvignon Blancs: Kaaimansgat
from Bouchard Finlayson in Hemel and Aarde, Sugarbush from Lomond in Elim, Cederberg’s
Ghost Corner and Fleur de Cap’s Unfiltered. All from different areas, all with
different profiles, but all top of their field and delicious to drink. And so
the evening proceeded through Chardonnays: Paul Cluver, Bouchard Finlayson
Joubert Tradow, Shiraz: Eagles Nest and Stellenzicht, Pinot Noirs: Creation,
Sumaridge and Bouchard Finlayson Galpin Peak and Chenin Blanc from Rijk’s and
Sijnn; de Morgenzon’s Maestro white blend; Merlots, Cabernets and great blends
and ended with Laborie’s Alambic brandy. Thank heavens we were staying the
night. Look at the photos here.
Grootbos
Private Nature Reserve Eco-lodges
on Walker Bay, just beyond Stanford on the way to Gansbaai, has been voted the
world’s best family hotel, and has received green sustainability awards. Michael Lutzeyer, co-owner
and founder of Grootbos, was at the awards and told us how he and his family
had built up this amazing 5 star luxury property. The lodges are surrounded by
ancient milkwood forests and fascinating wild, indigenous and rare fynbos
plants, with lots of birdlife.
We were given, not a room, but
a two roomed luxury suite with a deck facing the sea. We don’t often get this pampered;
we thoroughly enjoyed our stay and would recommend that you aspire to go and
experience this magnificent place. The price includes many of the features: all
meals, horse riding, nature drives, land-based whale watching tours and much more.
We had a lovely breakfast before departing and loved the place, despite it
raining for the entire time we were there. Click here to see the photographs of our very memorable
experience.
Springfontein We have known Tariro Masayiti for many
years since he was white wine maker at Fleur du Cap and later at Nederburg. He
has recently moved to Springfontein in Stamford to be the
General Manager and winemaker. His partner Hildegard Witbooi is Springfontein’s
horticulturist. When we met them at the bubbly festival, he invited us to visit
and taste some of the wines. Initially hard to find, they are on the other side
of the river from the mountains and you get there by driving through Stamford.
We went on our way home from Grootbos and he did a very generous barrel and
bottle tasting for us.
This is definitely going to be
a label to watch under his expert guidance. They grow Merlot, Cabernet
Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Pinotage, with smaller amounts of Petit
Verdot, Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc. He is focusing on Pinotage and we had a
really interesting tasting of three different barrels which he plans to blend. They
all had something to offer and it looks as though the finished wine might just
be one to savour. In the tasting room we tasted the current wines on sale and
particularly liked their entry level Sopiensklip Red blend of Cabernet, Merlot,
Petit Verdot and Pinotage, which we think is an easy drinking wine at very good
price. Jonathan’s Ridge Pinotage 2010 earned 4½ stars in the new Platter and
the delicious Jil’s Dune Chenin blanc gained four.
Springfontein is evolving into
a four star place to visit. They are building guest accommodation and have
recently opened a fine dining restaurant “Springfontein Eats” under Chef Jürgen
Schneider who, with his wife Susan, held a Michelin star for over 18 years at
their successful restaurant in Germany. He told us he does a lot of foraging
and the food features a strong locavore leaning with hints of molecular
gastronomy, though never at the expense of flavour. We will definitely be
visiting again when Tariro has some of his wines to show. Pictures here
Christmas is
coming – much too fast
This week’s
recipe is just a suggestion. You
probably have your dinner all planned or, like us, are looking around for
alternatives. We don’t like turkey and local duck is disappointing, so this
year we may be doing a roast in the evening. We could do a Capon stuffed with
Chestnuts or possibly a Beef Wellington or, more likely, a local adaptation of
the celebratory dish Tournedos Rossini. The dish comprises a beef tournedo
(filet mignon), pan-fried in butter, served on a crouton, and topped with a
rich duck pate. This is garnished with slices of black truffle and finished
with a Madeira demi-glace sauce. Outrageous. Which means our starter will need
to be really fresh as we have to
finish off with a small portion of traditional Christmas pudding. Boxing day
will be left-overs and, sometime over Christmas and New Year, Lynne will cook a
traditional gammon.
Buying from us On Line We have a lot of fun putting MENU together each week and, of course, doing
the things we write about, but making it possible for you to enjoy rare and
wonderful gourmet foods is what drives our business. We stock a good range of ingredients and delicious ready-made
gourmet foods. You can contact us by email or phone, or through our on line shop. We can send your requirements
to you anywhere in South Africa. Please do not pay until we have confirmed availability and
invoiced you, then you pay and then we deliver or post. When you make an eft payment,
make sure that it says who you are. Use the form on the website to email us
your order. Click here to see our OnLine Shop.
There is a huge and rapidly growing
variety of interesting things to occupy your leisure time here in the Western
Cape. There
are so many interesting things to do in our world of food and wine that we have
made separate list for each month for which we have information. To see what’s happening in our world of
food and wine (and a few other cultural events), visit
our Events Calendar.
All the events are listed in date order and we already have a large number of
exciting events to entertain you right through the year. Events outside the Western Cape are listed here.
Learn about wine and cooking We receive a lot of enquiries from people who want to learn more
about wine.
Cathy Marston and The Cape Wine Academy both run wine
education courses, some very serious and others more geared to fun. You can see
details of Cathy’s WSET and other courses here
and here and the CWA courses here.
Chez Gourmet in Claremont has a programme of cooking classes. A calendar of their classes can be seen here. Pete Ayub, who made our very popular Prego
sauce, runs evening cooking classes at Sense of
Taste, his catering company in Maitland. We can recommend them very
highly, having enjoyed his seafood course. Check
his programme here. Nadège Lepoittevin-Dasse has cooking
classes in Fish Hoek and conducts cooking tours to Normandy. You can see more details here. Emma Freddi runs the Enrica Rocca cooking courses at her
home in Constantia. Brett Nussey’s Stir
Crazy courses are now being run from Dish Food and
Social’s premises in Main Road Observatory (opposite Groote Schuur hospital).
Lynn Angel runs the Kitchen Angel
cooking school and does private dinners at her home. She holds hands-on cooking
classes for small groups on Monday and Wednesday evenings. She trained with
Raymond Blanc, and has been a professional chef for 25 years. More info here
6th December 2013
Remember - if you can’t find something, we’ll do our best
to get it for you, and, if you’re in Cape Town or elsewhere in the country, we
can send it to you! Check our online shop for details and prices.
PS If a word or name is in bold type and underlined,
click on it for more information
Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656
4169
Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005
Our Adamastor
& Bacchus© tailor-made Wine, Food and Photo tours take small groups (up to 6) to specialist wine
producers who make the best of South Africa’s wines. Have fun while you learn
more about wine and how it is made! Tours can be conducted in English, German,
Norwegian and standard or Dutch flavoured Afrikaans.
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
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