140516 Main Ingredient's MENU - Old Mutual Trophy Feedback, Keet & van Biljon wines, Mediterranean delicacies, spiced meat loaf

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In this week’s MENU:

 Old Mutual Trophy Feedback

 Keet & van Biljon Wines at Aubergine

 Chocolat with Mediterranean, Knead & Nitida

 Spiced Meat Loaf

This week’s Product menu – If the cold weather is driving you indoors and you getting excited about cooking exotic winter dishes, remember we have all the difficult to find spices like whole nutmeg, grains of Paradise, juniper berries for game, za'atar and sumac, Ras al Hanout for tagines, and rose water and orange blossom water as well..

If you can find it in the supermarket, we don't usually stock it, just the products you would struggle to find.... Check our online shop to see more details and prices.

Old Mutual Trophy Feedback’s Exciting results for the SA wine industry in 2014      There are quite a few wine competitions throughout the year and they all have different formats. Some are judged by wine experts, others by the wine trade, some by pure amateurs, and others by winemakers, journalists or the entrants peers and some are a combination of all the above. Old Mutual Trophy employs a mix of different specialists involved in the wine industry and invites several of the judges each year from different countries to get a good outsiders view of how the local industry is doing. The wines are subjected to rigorous tasting. This year 212 producers entered wines, and 1040 wines were tasted in three and a half days. And there are some very exciting results reported at the Feedback session last Thursday .

We heard that the depth of talent in most classes was extraordinary and how hard it was to keep wines out of the medal classes. High silvers this year would have been gold a few years ago. There are 23 Trophies this year, including the Museum class, 14 gold, 121 silver and 496 bronze awards.  LOTS MORE here about the Feedback, with pictures

 Old Mutual takes the top wines on a national road show to introduce them to discerning wine lovers in eight cities in Southern Africa. Check out the website www.trophywineshow.co.za for more details

Keet & van Biljon Wines at Aubergine      To say we are big fans of Christopher Keet and his wines is an understatement. We first met Chris in the mid 90s, when we both were beginning to get involved in the wine industry – he lectured in our Wine Academy Diploma course - and we have loved his wines ever since. His intelligent and precise winemaking produces classic wines. They are brought out from our cellar on high days and holidays to be enjoyed and the 1997 Crescendo is still drinking beautifully. We were distressed when Cordoba closed and he had to go out on his own, so we were excited to buy some of his First Verse 2009 when he released it.  Last Friday we attended the launch of his 2010 First Verse, an extremely elegant red blend of Cab Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and a soupçon of Malbec, together with the launch of another wine he has made for Anton and Julia van Biljon, a powerful classic Bordeaux blend called Van Biljon Cinq 2011. They are very different, but both excellent.  Both need time.  Then we had the pleasure of a lovely Aubergine lunch cooked by chef owner Harald Bresselschmidt. MORE here

Chocolat with Mediterranean, Knead & Nitida under the stars      The May weather may not seem sensible for an evening watching a film on a rooftop in Central Cape Town but we had such fun on Tuesday night at the Grand Daddy Hotel. Mediterranean Foods laid on a huge spread of dips, cheeses, olives, crudités and other delicacies, there was great bread from Knead and really special wine from Nitida in Durbanville . Then we took our seats in the small outdoor cinema and armed with blankets, a superb glass of red wine (Nitida Calligraphy) and popcorn to watch this lovely movie with nostalgia. Was it chilly? Yes it was but we were all well wrapped up, and they came up trumps when they provided a cup of hot cocoa mid-performance. And they sent us home with a lovely goodie bag full of some new products to try like an Asparagus dip, Halva and roasted artichokes. MORE

This week’s recipe       We thought it was time for a simple meat loaf. Prosaic, yes, delicious yes, you can’t cook special meals all the time and this is quick to assemble and easy to make. This is suitable if you are cutting out carbohydrates. Flavour to your own taste using dried spice and herb mixes like Nomu, Cajun, Garam masala etc. And cook a spoonful to check the taste before baking the loaf. Should serve 4 (or 2 for two meals). You could also bury a couple of peeled, just hard-boiled eggs in the centre of the loaf.

Spiced Meat Loaf

350g beef mince – 1 small onion, finely chopped – 1 jumbo egg – 2 T almond flour – 1 small grated carrot – 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped – 80g haloumi or other hard cheese, cut into 1 cm squares - 1 t marmite – 1 t mixed dried herbs – 1 T fresh chopped parsley – 1 t Cajun spice or garam masala or ras al hanout – ½ chilli powder or cayenne - 1T mixed seeds (sunflower, flax, sesame, pumpkin) – salt and freshly ground black pepper

Put everything into a large bowl and mix together really well. Take a small spoonful and fry it or put into the microwave for half a minute and taste and adjust seasoning. Line a small loaf tin (19 x 10 cm) with foil and fill with the mince mixture. Cover the top with the foil. Put into a tall sided baking dish and add boiling water to that dish until it comes half way up the sides of the loaf tin. Put into a slow 160°C oven and bake for about three quarters of an hour or until the loaf is cooked through but still moist. Serve slices with a good home made tomato or mushroom sauce and lots of vegetables. You can double this up to make a large meatloaf.

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 and drives the wheels that enable us to produce MENU possible. 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.

Food and wine (and a few other) events for you to enjoy

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. Karen Glanfield has taken over the UnWined wine appreciation courses from Cathy. See the details here

Chez Gourmet in Claremont has a programme of cooking classes. A calendar of their classes can be seen 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 Thursday evenings and she has decided to introduce LCHF (Banting classes). The Kitchen Confidence classes, which focus on essential cooking skills and methods, have been expanded and are now taught over 2 evenings. She continues to host private dining and culinary team building events at her home. She trained with Raymond Blanc, and has been a professional chef for 25 years. More info here

16th May 2014

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 our best policy. While every effort is made to avoid mistakes, we are human and they do creep in occasionally, for which we apologise. Our Avast! ^® Anti-Virus software is updated at least daily and our system is scanned continually for viruses.

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. We own our mailing software and keep our mailing list strictly confidential. 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.

Mediterranean Delicacies launch at the Grand Daddy with Chocolat

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014

Keet and van Biljon wines with lunch at Aubergine

To say we are big fans of Christopher Keet and his wines is an understatement. We first met Chris in the mid 90s, when we both were beginning to get involved in the wine industry – he lectured in our Wine Academy Diploma course - and we have loved his wines ever since. His intelligent and precise winemaking produces classic wines. They are brought out from our cellar on high days and holidays to be enjoyed and his 1997 Crescendo is still drinking beautifully. We were distressed when Cordoba closed and he had to go out on his own, so we were excited to buy some of his First Verse 2009 when he released it.  Last Friday, we attended the launch of his 2010 First Verse, an extremely elegant red blend of Cab Franc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and a soupçon of Malbec, together with the launch of another wine, Van Biljon Cinq 2011, which he has made for Anton and Julia van Biljon - a powerful, classic Bordeaux blend. They are very different, but both excellent.  Both need time. Then we had the pleasure of a lovely Aubergine lunch, prepared by chef patron Harald Bresselschmidt.

Both wines were decanted beforehand, as they need time to open up.  Lynne’s notes on the First Verse 2010 read  “Intense cooked red fruit, very French style, forest floor, mulberries, cherries, cassis and umami. Great fruit, tannin, wood balance made to last. Silky mouthfeel.  A great mouthful of elegant fruit.  So concentrated one sip is ‘almost’ enough. Needs decanting and long cellaring.  Will last 10 to 20 years.  It's a blend of 32% Cab Franc, 27% Merlot, 23% Cab Sauvignon, 14% Petit Verdot and 4% Malbec, sourced from some of the finest vineyards in Stellenbosch. R350 and 1000 x 6 bottles.

On the van Biljon Cinq 2011, she wrote: Unusual nose of fresh warm linen and sesame with wine deep below, then cassis leaves and berries, good wood, mushrooms and some spice. Sweet fruit on palate, lots of smoky wood, some coriander seed, spice and black currants leave long flavours ending in dark liquorice and chocolate. Not ready, but will be in 10 years. 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 15% Cab Franc and 15% Malbec, all grown on the farm.

The guests enjoyed a welcoming glass of bubbly

To prepare our palates: Miso soup with a fried prawn

Cured Ostrich with mango chutney

Chris Keet chatting to Winifred Bowman CWM

Winnie and Chris

Keet First Verse 2010 and van Biljon Cinq 2011

Khuselo Mputa, sommelier at Aubergine, pours for Martin Drotsky, Cape Grace restaurant manager, and food writers Nelia Vivier and Greg Landman

A room full of happy people

Anton van Biljon tells us his part of the story

Léanne and Christopher Keet

Chris tells us about his wines

Two wonderful young wines, with potential to develop over a long time

Julia van Biljon is a swimsuit designer

Good conversation always flows with a superior glassful

The menu

Chef patron Harald Bresselschmidt in his kitchen

Springbok Carpaccio, seared in a white pepper crust with cherry guavas, plated and ready to serve

and on the table, paired with the van Biljon Cinq 2011

Lamb Rack and Involtini of Lamb & Aubergine with chickpea purée and pomegranate, paired with Keet First Verse 2010

Savoury Tarte of Three Hard Cheeses with pumpernickel crème anglaise - an amazingly good match with both wines

A sublime coincidence: we had met Veronique Drouhin-Boss the previous day. She was a judge at the Old Mutual Trophy competition. We spoke over lunch at the Grande Roche about this event and about Chris Keet, and wished that she could have been able to join us. David Brice, of The Wine Cellar, brought her to Aubergine for lunch and she was able to taste the wines.

A selection of friandises to accompany our coffee and bring an end to a wonderful wine and food experience

Christopher Keet

Khuselo Mputa, Aubergine sommelier, exhibiting a special talent for holding an expensive handful of Spiegelau glasses, safely

 Harald Bresselschmidt, Léanne and Christopher Keet

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014

Old Mutual Trophy feedback at the Grande Roche, Paarl

There are several wine competitions throughout the year, each of which has a different format. Some are judged by wine experts, others by the wine trade; some by pure amateurs, others by winemakers, journalists  or the entrants' peers and some are a combination of all the above. The Old Mutual Trophy employs a mix of different specialists involved in the wine industry and, each year, invites several judges from different countries to get a good outsiders' view of how the local industry is doing. The wines are subjected to rigorous tasting. This year, 212 producers entered wines, and 1040 wines were tasted in three and a half days. There were some very exciting results, reported at the Feedback Session last Thursday

A welcome snack and a cup of coffee on arrival

There is always a large gathering of media and wine industry at the feedback, to hear the views of the judges on what they have tasted over the last few days. They talk about quality in the different categories, improvements, trends and, sometimes, the disappointments. 

And, as all the wines are tasted blind, this feedback is a very good indicator of where the South African wine industry is currently and where it seems to be heading. No results will be announced until the Awards presentation and lunch on the 28th of May

We heard that the depth of talent in most classes was extraordinary and about how hard it was to keep wines out of the medal classes. High silver medals this year would have been gold a few years ago. There are 23 Trophy awards this year, including the Museum class, 14 gold, 121 silver and 496 bronze awards

Show Chairman Michael Fridjhon tells us about this year’s wines

On average each taster tastes approximately 110 wines a day. Museum Class entries continue to show growth – an indication that producers and consumers are beginning to acknowledge the age-worthiness of the best new-generation South African wines. This year they represented 5% of all submissions

Michael was pleased with the spread of entries, noting that the increased number of submissions in the more niche classes added interest to the event and reflected the adventurous spirit of the Cape wine industry. “In the past we tended to receive the bulk of our submissions in a few high profile classes.” he said. "It left us wondering why producers who had planted less well-known varieties were disinclined to commit them to the judging process. Increasingly, we have seen that these lesser-known categories can be the important differentiators for the industry and it’s exciting to see more of them in the line-up.” Shiraz was the toughest and the largest class.  Someone asked if there had been stylistic changes over  the last five years. Top Shirazes were in a more elegant style, but there certainly are monstrous shirazes out there, which are not being awarded gold at this competition.  Red wines have started to dry out again. They have less sugar and less alcohol

Fongyee Walker (China) - Malaysian-born, a graduate of Cambridge University, where she held the title of ‘Best Varsity Blind Taster, and China's best known wine educator. 

She said that the Chenin class was fantastic and mind-blowing in its diversity of style, which we produce so well. There was not a lot of love in the large Merlot class. She was excited to see what South Africa has to offer and encouraged us to get involved in the growing Chinese market, where most people still drink tea and beer and spirits. She thinks that Cape Blends is an exciting category, although their reliability was disappointing, probably because of indifferent closures. So many bottles were needed because of this. Pinotage domination should not happen. It bullies everything else into submission. There are so many exciting red blends and several medals were awarded this year for wines using Tannat and Touriga Nacional; so different on the nose and the palate

François Rautenbach - Heads up the ‘Singita Premier Wine Direct’ programme for Singita Private Game Reserves, Relais & Chateaux, sourcing and supplying wines for the Singita properties in Southern and East Africa

He reported that there is obviously real care being taken in the Semillon class, so we need to reward them with purchases. There is substantial growth in the white Bordeaux blends class, but growers think that they can charge more for these wines. And, while there were a few good wines, too many did not reflect excellence. "Don’t experiment at the customer’s expense". The Sauvignon Blanc class was remarkable this year, no massive acid attacks, they have mellowed in a good way. Shiraz needs more precision and there were many disappointing wines. Some top, but not enough good wines

Trizanne Barnard - Graduated from Stellenbosch University in 2002 with a BSc in Viticulture and Oenology

Following vintages in Alsace, Bordeaux and Northern Rhône, as well as Portugal and Western Australia, she served as chief winemaker for Anwilka in Stellenbosch from 2005 to 2008. She released the maiden vintage of her Trizanne Signature Wine in 2010. White wine producers generally are doing a good job. Semillon is a hard sell but, if we continue to create these at this level, we will get great results. Niche whites show good growth and quality. Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon blends are very site-specific and we need to concentrate on choosing the right clones and terroir. She has so much praise for the Chardonnay class, where we are getting it right, showing focused and detailed wines, done to a T. Red blends were hard to judge and medals have gone to varietals not normally tasted, like Touriga National and Tannat

Christian Eedes - Freelance wine writer, contributing to Business Day’s Wanted and to GQ. Founder of Whatidranklastnight.co.za, past editor of Wine magazine

He is this year’s most experienced South African judge. He found a definite sense of growth, maturity and sophistication in the industry this year; better travelled and more experienced wines. With red wines, we seem to have stepped back from ultra ripe and block-buster wines; these wines are more restrained and will last. Chenin is the most widely planted and strong category. It is a difficult category to judge as every wine had merit. It is all over the place in the best possible way. Stylistic consolidation is not possible. He asks the growers please to put "Wooded" or "Unwooded" on the label, as is done with Chardonnay  

Véronique Drouhin-Boss (France). Winemaker at family-owned Maison Joseph Drouhin in Burgundy, she supervises the vinification and tracks the development and ageing of the wines through daily tastings with her brothers, Frédéric, Philippe and Laurent. 

In 1988, together with her father, Robert Drouhin, she vinified the first vintage at Domaine Drouhin in Oregon, USA, where she is still in charge of the winemaking.

She last judged here 6 years ago and says that the improvement is amazing. Quality is very high and the use of oak is a lot smarter than it was. There is great definition, purity, complexity and elegance. We need to ask "is the clone or rootstock the best for my terroir?" She encourages organic and biodynamic winemaking. There is still some over-pressed bitterness on wines. She found the Pinot Noir class more difficult; it was not very exciting this year. She found greenness and queried the fining and filtration. If it is ‘refining’, would it be better ? We need to do trials of when to pick, and when to bottle. She picked up too much alcohol on some wines. The most disappointing is the bitterness from possible over-wooding. The use of a maximum of 25% new oak overwhelms the wine and it does not age well. Some are too light, need texture and don’t taste like Pinot Noir. 

Gerard Basset MW (United Kingdom) - French-born but UK-based for more than 30 years, he started his career as a restaurant waiter, followed by extensive sommelier experience and training

Judged the World’s Best Sommelier in 2010 and awarded an OBE (2011) in acknowledgement of his mentoring of a generation of young sommeliers and his contribution to the British hospitality industry. Voted Decanter Man of the Year in 2013. The only person to have qualified as a Master of Wine and Master Sommelier and to hold a Wine MBA (from Bordeaux). Honorary President of WSET (Wine and Spirits Education Trust. Overall the quality of the wines he tasted is excellent. The Bordeaux blends were very consistent. The Sparkling/MCC class was disappointing. Many of the new wines are harsh, bitter and not very pleasant. Many lacked elegance and were clumsy but, conversely, some established wines are very good indeed. The Champagne template doesn’t always work for us. He enjoyed the Pinotage class; after 50 tasted, he is very positive. He would have given gold to all the dessert wines

JD Pretorius
- Graduated from Stellenbosch University in 2007 with a BSc in Viticulture and Oenology. Worked at Beyerskloof and Graham Beck Wines as well as at Stonestreet Winery in Sonoma County, California. Appointed winemaker at Steenberg Vineyards in Tokai on the Constantia Wine Route in 2009 and promoted to cellarmaster in 2012

In the Chardonnay class, he found some incredibly fine wines, very focused and poised with good minerality, not too rich. However, some contained so much CO2 that they could have been in the Sparkling class. Michael commented that with the use of mobile bottling plants, people are not controlling sparging, sulphur levels and CO2 levels; they leave it to the bottling plant and this is not good. Tasting the 50 Merlots was hard work. There are not many good ones. The Other Red Blends class, with cinsaut and other rarely used grapes, is beautiful and needs more investment and investigation.

James Pietersen Head sommelier for Belthazar and Balducci's restaurants in Cape Town and a former wine buyer for the Vineyard Connection in Stellenbosch. Moving imminently from there to The Wine Cellar.

Riesling was an interesting class, winemakers are working hard at it. One shone, others coming to the top. We mustn’t be scared to experiment. Unusual varieties like Tannat, Reisling etc will excite the consumers. They tasted 94 Cabernet Sauvignons and this is the most important class internationally. There were wines of quality and it is a strong class. He is glad to see structure, persistence and great freshness coming through. Our top wines are world class.

Cathy van Zyl MW  Master of wine, who has judged previously at the Trophy Wine Show, most recently in 2011

An occasional panelist for several other local competitions and has judged overseas with stints at Vinitaly's Concurso Enológico Internacional, the Sydney International Wine Competition, the Shanghai International Wine Competition, Decanter's World Wine Awards and the International Wine Competition. Associate editor of Platter's South African Wine Guide, co-founder of the web-based publication Grape, and co-author of the South African chapter of The Wine Report for several years. She chairs the Institute of Masters of Wine's education committee and lectures internationally.

She had a wonderful time judging the Sauvignon Blanc class. What style should we be producing? We should vary our styles. Herbaceousness is fine, so is the slightly sweaty style. There was representation of every style we could imagine. The wines tasted were very impressive. There is also improvement in oaked Sauvignon Blancs. She is just back from the UK and Decanter and tasted New Zealand, Chilean, Argentinian, Australian wines. Ours are good

The line up of the wine crew, who work tirelessly in the background to facilitate the tasting of the wines

The Grande Crew!

Then it was time for lunch in the restaurant

and to taste some wine with lunch

Three of the wines available for us to drink

as well as some good bubblies

The Menu

The fresh and simple starter of beetroot with goat's cheese

This unusual white blend from Rickety Bridge was a good accompaniment to the beetroot

Another guest at lunch was Don Hammond, a Confrère de Maitre de Bordeaux from Manchester in the United Kingdom. We had great fun tasting wine together and comparing the wines and the dishes

Veronique Drouhin-Boss and Angela Lloyd in deep discussion. We spoke to Veronique about Christopher Keet's wine pairing lunch at Aubergine the next day. Good fortune and coincidence brought her there... 

The main course was succulent breast of duck with a confited duck leg, crisp tuille of duck skin and a duck rissole, accompanied by a cauliflower purée and mushroom jus. Delicious and a good sized portion

The Outsorceress magician in the background: Janice Fridjhon, who makes it all happen, keeps this competition going so well and works on the road shows - seen here with Veronique Drouhin-Boss and Angela Lloyd. Do try to get to one of these shows in your area to taste some of the winning wines. Click here for details.

Another great wine to go with the duck

Decadent dessert

Tired judges and organiser after a long four day stint, enjoying lunch. Francois Rautenbach, Christian Eedes, Janice Fridjhon and James Pietersen

The beautiful manicured gardens of Grande Roche hotel in Paarl

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014