RIP Francois Conradie - a tribute by Rijk Melck

In Memory of Francois Conradie

By Rijk Melck

Francois, our beloved winemaker and friend, tragically passed away on 13th January 2014 after a short battle with cancer. He leaves behind his lovely wife, Adel, and their two young children, JD and Annabel.

Francois joined us as winemaker at Muratie on 1^st December 2005. What struck me from day one was his inimitable humility, honesty and ability to make time for anybody and everybody. Always with a smile on his face, no job was too big for Francois. He was always ready to give and reluctant to receive. In addition to making our wines, conducting our wine tastings and planting our vines, he also took it upon himself to look after my mother’s beautiful garden, assist her with her prized hanepoot and fig jam and do everything else that needed to be done. He sat in on all our monthly farm meetings, keeping his head while listening to all the varied opinions and suggestions. At Muratie we never saw Francois as just our winemaker; he was a member of the family.

Francois leaves behind a treasured legacy at Muratie. He saw the huge potential on the farm, accepted the challenges, and in his eight years with us, took Muratie from the dark ages of winemaking into the light. He has been an inspiration to us all, be it in the office, in our homes, in the vineyards or the cellar, imbuing Muratie with his own unique signature of modesty, kindness, passion, integrity and courage. Francois will also be sorely missed by our colleagues in the wine industry, our loyal customers and visitors to the farm.

As with all the special characters who came before during our estate’s rich history, Francois’s spirit remains woven into the very fabric of our farm, our minds and our hearts. We extend our deepest condolences to Adel, JD, Annabel and the family. Francois we will miss you more than you could ever know.

Hemel en Aarde tastings day three

Day three in the Hemel and Aarde valley started a little late after we had packed up the car and tidied up the cottage. Then we were off to Sumaridge for a tasting of their wines. The cellar also looks rather like the outside of a stone church and is situated next to one of their dams.

You can stand at the tasting counter, or sit, as we did, on the balcony or in the tasting room.  They charge for their tastings; R25 per person, refunded to you individually if you buy a bottle of wine

Savey (sort for Sauvignon Blanc) is the white tasting room cat and there is a large totally black one but he is not as approachable as Savey.

The gorgeous view from the balcony, over the dams towards Betty's Bay and Walker Bay

Cellarmaster/General Manager Gavin Patterson welcomed us, answered all our questions and told us a great deal about the farm and the wines and the terroir .

We liked his 2011 Chardonnay:  woody and buttery with marmalade on the nose, Nice fruit and deep and full on the palate with orange peel limes and lemon but perhaps a tad too much wood for us. The 2013 Rose has a pretty ‘pink’ nose and is made from 50% Merlot,  25% Cabernet Franc, 25% Malbec.  The Pinot Noir is made in the darker, more concentrated style  with dark fruit and lots of licorice and smoke -  lots of elegance but will need time. And the Epitome has expensive wood notes and savoury deep dark fruits and is made from an unusual blend of Pinotage and Shiraz

Then it was off to the seaside to try to see some whales and do some sea bird spotting

Hermanus in all her glory

Cormorants having a roost

Lunch at Milkwoods at Onrust.  It is on the edge of the Onrus River estuary

and right on the edge of the beach, which is great for surfing and has a lifeguard

We ordered and enjoyed a bottle of Beaumont Raoul's Jackal's River White and took the unfinished half home. The crisp acidity was a perfect foil for the fried food

Delicious, crisply beer battered hake, garlicky tartar sauce and crisp chips

Lynne had the grilled hake with a small salad and a hollandaise sauce with chips and a Becks alcohol free beer

The very reasonable bill before our tip was added.  They forgot to charge us for the wine (R100), but we EFT’d a payment in the evening, so our good waiter, Rodney, wouldn't have to pay for it.

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014

Hemel en Aarde tastings day two

We started the day with a tasting at Bouchard Finlayson and were delighted that Peter Finlayson, the winemaker, could join us. He generously gave us a full tasting and added some very special reserve wines. 

This farm is producing superb wines. The Pinot Noirs are exceptional. The 2012 Hannibal, a six part marriage of French and Italian varietals, has beautiful fruit on the nose. Its soft fruit has long, long flavours with a good whiff of smoke. As Peter says this is in the style of a Super Tuscan and is built to last. Kaaimansgat 2013 Chardonnay has rich golden fruit, is well integrated and very satisfying. The Kaaimansgat 2010 Limited edition has such pretty fruit on the nose and lots of length and depths. Full of melons, vanilla, peach, sultana grapes it is lean and clean and very minerally. Very French in style with lovely chalky tannins. Wish we could drink this every day.. The wine Lynne scored 18 out of 20 is the Missionvale Chardonnay 2010 Clean and crisp, full of limes and lemon and also extremely French in style, a wine to quaff often, if you can afford to. Tasting room manager Danel Theron served us a lovely platter of olives, salami, bread and tapenade with the wines and gave us a lovely welcome.

Then it was off the Newton Johnson to have lunch at The Restaurant to sample chef Eric Bulpitt’s food and then to taste their wines.

Everything happens around the pass where the chef runs a very organised and silently industrious kitchen.

We were shown to a table with a superb view over the valley and looking through to Walker Bay

The menu is small but offers something for most people, including very good vegetarian options. They try to use only locally sourced ingredients and the chef does do some foraging.

The bread platter had small hot rolls and a very dense seed and fruit bread. This comes with a slightly sweet olive tapenade. Delicious and irresistible.

Two of us went for the slow braised tongue with carrot puree starter. Interestingly the tongue was a large wedge rather than the usual unsatisfying thin slices, and it softly fell apart. The carrot puree was inspired as the sweetness and smoothness complemented the rich meaty tongue. The mustard seed and nasturtium leaves added good piquancy. The rich jus was also much appreciated. It was paired with the Felicité Rosé

John’s starter was Tilapia, a freshwater fish accompanied by green apple slices, Amasi (local buttermilk) was the sauce and it was dotted with a mango atchar oil and strewn with micro greens and herbs. It was paired, very elegantly, with the 2012 Resonance white blend

The view across the valley on a hot day, so lots of heat haze

Lynne’s main course was loin of Pork accompanied by roasted pieces of cauliflower and dots of cauliflower puree. There were also blobs of apple puree and both went well with the freshly cooked pork. Squares of cooked apple and mustard, braised cherries and some lemon completed the taste profile of a good dish which was decorated with sorrel leaves. 

Our host Terry ordered the perfectly cooked hake encrusted with cashew nuts perched on a ragout of summer vegetables, dune spinach and samphire. Hope this is on again said Lynne, would love to try it. He enjoyed it with the 2012 Southend Chardonnay

John’s main was sliced aged sirloin with crisp roast baby potatoes, pickled turnips and bone marrow with a good beefy jus. The 2009 Full Stop Rock red blend was a brilliant partner. 

We also ordered a dish of the triple cooked French fries for the table and recommend everyone who goes to the Restaurant does the same. They were also outstanding. Perhaps a touch of truffle salt next time?

Chef Eric with his wife, Celeste, who supports him in the restaurant.

Bevan Newton Johnson then generously gave us an extended and in depth tasting of their wines in the tasting room in Spiegelau glasses. 

We were so impressed with the wines we tasted. Every single one is printed in red in Platter which means they all get at least four stars. We started with Resonance 2012. Lynne has written Scrumptious, BUY and scored it 19 out of 20. It is a blend of single vineyard Sauvignon Blanc grown on the farm blended with 15% Semillon. This is the blend that can bring South African wines international recognition. It is light floral notes and then full on the palate but finishes lean and elegant. Sadly no longer available on the farm but it is available out there in the trade so check out your local wine emporium. The next vintage should be bottled some time in April or May.

The Family Vineyard Chardonnay 2012 is butterscotch, cream and marmalade with vanilla notes. Elegant, buttery and long with nice gentle wooding. A food wine of note.

And then we tasted the three current 2012 Pinot Noirs, all single vineyard wines from below the cellar. And although they grow within just a couple of 100 meters of each other, the terroir dictates their difference. And different they are but tasting them all together it was hard to pin down which one was your best choice, as they change and grow in the glass all the time. Luckily, at the moment you can buy them together in threes at R600 a box of three from the farm.

Lynne absolutely loved the Windansea Pinot when she tasted it at the Platter awards, where it was voted the best red wine in Platter this year and she has coveted it ever since. The nose is pretty and fragrantly floral, and the fruit is reminiscent of raspberry and red current cordial. On the palate, it has lovely clean fresh Pinot fruit, which develops on your palate into something very special indeed, and it keeps on giving. And there is a note of sea salt. The Mrs M, full of maraschino cherries and full-on sweet fruit that is velvety in texture and the Block 6 is still restrained on the nose, but has great integrated fruit tempting one to drink. Sweet and sour fruit appear with nice dark licorice wood on the end.

Then we tasted the Family Vineyard Pinot Noir, which is an intriguing blend of all three, but a complete individual with a very complete nose and it is a classic. You probably need to go to the farm to taste these while there is still stock. Do take your wallet with you, you will need it. We had an expensive visit if it is any comfort.

Thank you Bevan and their lovely tasting room manager, Lisa. Here are the three in a row

 © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014

Hemel en Aarde tastings day one

Between Heaven and Earth

It is wonderful to visit a wine route and to see such impressive improvement in the wines in their style and quality.  The Hemel and Aarde has always produced good wines, they seem to stick with what they grow best and now we are finding some that are truly exceptional , and there is  a such marked rise in quality and enjoyment throughout at some farms.  Terroir plays a huge part but so does very careful and knowledgeable viticulture and wine making . They know and really understand their area, its climate and its assets and drawbacks and are maximising every worthwhile aspect to aid the production of these wines.   Platter’s Red wine of the year comes from Newton Johnson and it is so deserved.  We spent a lot of time with winemakers discussing what they are trying to do and learnt a lot more about an area we know and love to visit.

They tell us that sales up, despite the recession and the prolonged  road building in the area.  The dirt road between Hermanus and Caledon is being turned into a good tarred road, some parts will be dual carriageway but it is taking a very long time. Now the developer seems to have stalled at a crucial point and no one is sure what will happen next. The current dirt road should not deter you however,  we had a couple of very easy trips up and down it, and apparently it has not deterred other visitors over the holiday period.  

After this last wonderful wet winter we all assumed the Cape would have a great harvest  but sadly with the recent rains and escalating heat and damp from wet earth, many farms, in many areas  are having to deal with severe mildew and late ripening.  Harvest will definitely be moving into February in many areas.  All the grapes we have seen in the last couple of weeks are still very small and the reds had not yet started to colour.

Our first visit was to Ataraxia  to taste the wines made by Kevin Grant. The Greek church-inspired tasting room is positioned high up on a hill overlooking the valley and facing towards Caledon

with Philippe Starck furniture and abstract art in the interior

and windows which give wonderful views of the valley

His Sauvignon Blanc is exactly the style we love to drink, crisp and full of minerality, full of green notes without any tropical flavours.  We tasted the newly released 2013 and were not disappointed, it is another stunner.  New on his list is a lovely full, wooded citrussy and buttery 2013 chardonnay, extremely easy to drink but with lots of class and length.  His usual mystery blend of Southern French varietals, Serenity  2009 blew us away and Lynne had to come home with a case of it. It has cinnamon on brown sugar on raspberries on the nose and the wine is jam packed  full of mulberries, raspberries, red and black cherries and leads to a little espresso and some chalky tannins. Soft and delicious on the palate this will last for ages.

Ataraxia vineyards

and another view of the tasting lounge

 Elmarie Pretorius, who runs the Ataraxia tasting room with informed charm

Next we were off up the valley to Creation, a farm we visit quite often.  

The wines were ably shown to us by Karlé in appropriate Riedel glasses and this does make a difference

This time we really liked their 2012 Viognier full of apricots and peaches with floral notes and some fresh crisp acidity with a little salt to finish. We tasted two Pinot Noirs and found the 2011 has much riper fruit on the nose with a sweet and sour taste while the Reserve has liquorice, violets and incense on the nose with strawberry and raspberry while the palate shows chewy tannins and lots of licorice with cherries and raspberries. Definitely a food wine. Their Bordeaux Blend is huge and we particularly liked the soft sweet fruit of the Syrah/Grenache  full of blackcurrants, cinnamon, liquorice and cloves. It has lots of depth and is delicious. 

Philip, the friendly and helpful tasting room manager

The tasting room is also a restaurant and you can do all sorts of food and wine pairings

and then we went home for a braai

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2013

Supper at La Bohème, Sea Point

La Boheme bistro in Main Road, Sea Point

 The menu changes daily and is written on blackboards

Duck spring rolls was Lynne’s choice of starter

Sesame encrusted fish cakes and meatball tagliatelli, two of our main courses

Steak au Poivre for John

 Faisal, the owner with Allister, our waiter

We prefer to sit out on the covered terrace where it is cooler and less noisy than inside

 Engruna, La Boheme's new pizza and burger restaurant next door

©John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014