Thursday, April 02, 2015

Vertical tasting of Inanda red blend at Yonder Hill

Winemaker Abé Beukes moved to Yonder Hill two years ago from Darling Cellars and he is enjoying his tenure at this farm, established by the Naude family in 1997. The draw card was a tasting of some of their Inanda (place of Beauty in Zulu), a Bordeaux blend, and then to have some fun, blending some of the new wines to see if our media blends compared with the professionals! Our table didn’t make the winning blend but we came a close joint second with two other tables
Welcomed by Winemaker Abé Beukes
The Yonder Hill tasting room
Getting the room ready for breakfast and the tasting
The wines we were to taste. In the decanter is their top wine, 2009 Nicola, a classic Bordeaux style blend. It had lots of sweet fruit with grippy, chalky tannins. Smells herbaceous with smoky oak and savoury notes before the fruit appears. The palate is full of nice sweet plums and cherries and a kick of cherry pip wood. It has a lovely finish of violets from the small amount of Petit Verdot they add. Drinking well now, but will last
A butt full of Inanda
Ladies from the media, all dressed in blue, by coincidence, chat before the tasting
There was good coffee, muffins, smoked salmon egg wraps and toasted cheese sandwiches. Or fruit and yoghurt and muesli for breakfast before the tasting. We arrived at 9 and started tasting at 10. An early start
Catching up on the media gossip
John would never miss this wine box lid, it is his favourite Bordeaux
Owner Mr Naude welcomes us and tells us about the wines we will be tasting
Autumn hits the vines
Tasting begins. We tasted three. 2008, 2009 and the 2013. And then a barrel sample of the 2014. The current vintage 2013 is good value at R85 on the farm and is full of incense and violets with lots of elegance. Sweet black & dark red fruit with chalky tannins. Black cherries and their pips show in these wines and some have plums and mulberries as well. There is a little dark toasted wood bitterness on the earlier ones
Christian Eedes of Wine Magazine with the 2009 Nicola
Time to start the blending exercise These are the components we used to make our blend of Inanda
We discuss our blends. In fact both teams on the table made the same blend without realising it
Time for a coffee before heading back to town
We look forward to seeing the wines that winemaker Abé Beukes produces when they are released
This is the oldest vineyard on the farm, it is Merlot. Many of the other vineyards have been taken out and are waiting to be replanted
The front of the winery
Beautiful views across the Stellenbosch hills. It is indeed a Place of Beauty
Shady parking
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

This week's MENU: SAA Voyager, Imibala, Neil Ellis sundowner, Yonder Hill vertical,

A Clifton evening. Looking toward Oudekraal and Llandudno
In this week’s MENU:
* Canapés with a tasting of Creation wines
* Cape Sun Hotel
* Veritas 25th Anniversary Celebrations
* Taste of Cape Town competition
* Biltong and Pinotage Festival
* Crustless Melktert
* Learn about wine and cooking
We write about our experiences in MENU, not only to entertain you, but to encourage you to visit the places and events that we do. We know you will enjoy them and we try to make each write up as graphic as we can, so you get a good picture of what is on offer at each place, restaurant, wine farm, festival we visit.
To get the whole story with photographs, please click on “Read on.....” at the end of each paragraph, which will lead you to the related blog, with pictures and more words. At the end of each blog, click on RETURN TO MENU to come back to the blog version of MENU.
We wish a very happy and peaceful Easter and Passover to all our readers
Miles for Style     Do you travel a lot? Do you accumulate Air Miles? Are you a South African Airways Voyager member? Do you never redeem your miles earned on travel? Miles for Style is another innovative way to use them. They offer luxury goods, travel, experiences and so much more in exchange for your miles. Investigate and register here: https://milesforstyle.com/ We were at the official launch at Le Franschhoek last week Read On
Canapés with a tasting of Creation wines – a recommendation     John had a great two day photographic job last week, taking photographs for Benguela Cove Lagoon Wine Estate’s brochure and web site. That was why MENU was so early last week, as we decided to take our Dutch friends with us and stay in the Hemel and Aarde Valley, so that he didn’t have to drive back and forth from Cape Town after long working days.
We ventured out to Creation (without John) as our friends love these wines and order them in Holland. While we were there, we had their canapé tasting for lunch. When next you visit, try this great tasting menu of excellent morsels, cold and hot, paired with their wines; we absolutely loved it. See it here. The good news is that the road there, which has been under construction for longer than Carolyn Martin wants to think about, is nearly fully tarred; it was all ready to go last week, so it may well be done in time for Easter.
Imibala Restaurant     We ate some lovely food this week at a new restaurant/deli in Somerset West called Imibala. The Imibala Trust, a Gaynor Rupert philanthropic initiative started 15 years ago, is a charity that provides scholarships, uniforms and supplementary educational training to children in financial need. They ask donors to give a child R1000 and every penny of this is spent on the child and is accounted for. The Imibala Restaurant and Arts (Pty) Ltd is a company that runs a restaurant, shop and gallery and this company's activities are separate from the activities conducted by the Imibala Trust. It is the income from these businesses that supports the charity by donating funds from time to time and by hosting events for the charity.
We were invited by Ian Downie, who is a member of the trust and who runs the restaurant, to join him for a delightful lunch this week with other members of the media. Read On
Neil Ellis Sundowner     This Friday sundowner must be one of the best value events in the winelands. We were invited there last Friday evening and the next one will be on the 17th April. From 4 till 8, you watch the sun set over Ida’s Valley in Stellenbosch and drink a glass or two of wine, with a huge charcuterie & cheese platter for two for only R99. Booking is essential. http://www.neilellis.com   Read On.
Yonder Hill     Winemaker Abé Beukes moved to Yonder Hill two years ago from Darling Cellars and he is enjoying his tenure at this farm, established by the Naude family in 1997. The draw card was a tasting of some of their Inanda (place of Beauty in Zulu), a Bordeaux blend, and then to have some fun, blending some of the new wines to see if our media blends compared with the professionals! Our table didn’t make the winning blend but we came a close joint second with two other tables. Read On
Cape Tourism and Hospitality Exhibition     This was held at the Cape Sun this week and we had a chance to listen to a presentation by Enver Duminy, Head of Cape Town Tourism with his innovative strategy for tourism in our great city. We also met several new tourism people on their stands and did a lot of networking. We hope to visit some of these areas and places soon and write about them. Read on
Cape Sun Hotel, Strand Street     Great news also from the GM of the hotel is that Tsogo Sun are about to spend 200 million Rand refurbishing this central city landmark. It so needs it. And they will be able to provide in-house parking at last.
Veritas 25th Anniversary Celebrations     The Veritas Awards are celebrating 25 years with a series of dinners this year. The next one will be at the Cullinan Hotel's Peach Tree Restaurant on 14th April at 18h30. The draw card for us is that top chef Bertus Basson is doing the food for this one and we are very sorry indeed that we cannot be there because of a previous commitment. Act now! Dinner will be expertly paired with a selection of recent Veritas gold and double gold winning wines. The dinner will be hosted by Veritas vice-chairperson and well-known Cape Wine Master, Bennie Howard. Tickets cost R350 per person and bookings can be made by contacting Liesl Els on 021 415 4000 or liesl.els@tsogosun.com
Taste of Cape Town competition      The Taste of Cape Town festival will happen again on 10th to 12th April at the Green Point Cricket Club and we are lucky enough to be able to offer you the chance to win one of five pairs of standard tickets. Each ticket includes entry for two people, but no meal or drinks vouchers. All you need to do is answer this simple question by Tuesday 7th and email your answer to us. We will then draw the five lucky winners from a hat and you will be notified by us and receive your tickets electronically direct from the organisers, so that you can book your session.
Question: Name one other city in South Africa where this festival has been held
Biltong and Pinotage Festival      Get your tickets for this fun festival to be held at L’Avenir wine farm on April 18th. Tickets at R150 pp are available from www.plankton.mobi or selected J&M Stores
Lynne thought you might like to make THIS WEEK’S RECIPE for Easter, when we traditionally have family to entertain.
Crustless Melktert
This traditional South African tart is, apparently, originally from Holland - with the spice added here by our Cape Malay cooks. This recipe is more like a clafouti than a tart. The addition of flour to the batter and then the whipped egg white, makes it light and fluffy on top, while it sets like a clafouti on the bottom, making it easy to cut and serve.
1 cup white sugar - 3 eggs, separated - 3 tablespoons melted butter & 1 T extra to butter dish - 1 cup cake flour - 1 teaspoon baking powder - 1/4 teaspoon salt - 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract - 4 cups milk - 1 tablespoon cinnamon – a good grating of nutmeg
Preheat the oven to 190°C. Butter a 23 cm wide, deep pie dish.
In a large bowl, beat together the egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the butter and beat until smooth. Sift in the cake flour, baking powder and salt, and stir until well blended. Fold in the vanilla and milk. In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites to stiff peaks using an electric mixer. Fold gently into the batter. It will be very liquid - this is normal. Pour into the prepared pie dish, and sprinkle the cinnamon and nutmeg over the top. Set aside to rest for 20 minutes in the fridge. This allows more of the flour to sink to the bottom.
Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce the temperature to 165°C, then continue to bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the centre is just set, it should have a little wobble. Serve hot or cold.
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
The Hurst Campus, an accredited school for people who want to become professional chefs, has a variety of courses. See the details here
In addition to his Sense of Taste Culinary Arts School, Chef Peter Ayub runs a four module course for keen home cooks at his Maitland complex. Details here
Nadège Lepoittevin-Dasse has French cooking classes in Noordhoek 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
Nicolette van Niekerk runs baking courses at La Petite Patisserie in Montague Gardens
George Jardine will be running a series of winter cooking courses and other activities at Jordan. Details here





2nd April 2015
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.
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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.

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Wednesday, April 01, 2015

Friday Sundowner at Neil Ellis Wines

This Friday sundowner must be one of the best value events in the winelands. We were invited to go there last Friday evening. The next Sundowner will be on the 17th. From 4 till 8, you watch the sun set over Ida’s Valley in Stellenbosch and drink a glass of wine (R25) with a huge charcuterie & cheese platter for two for only R99. Or pay R150 per couple for a platter and a bottle of Aenigma wine. Booking is essential. http://www.neilellis.com
It is a very modern wine cellar on the top of a hill going up towards Hell’s Hoogte (Heights) Pass behind Stellenbosch.
Clean modern lines
The best value Charcuterie platter in town
This young man in the tasting room, Jovan Pietersen, really looked after us
An old basket press, so you know it is a winery
Chatting to Financial Manager Charl Ellis
We enjoyed the refreshing Aenigma 2014 dry White blend of Chardonnay& Sauvignon Blanc very much with our platters. It is floral and full of melon and peach notes, with a good dry finish
The evening was fully booked and guests enjoyed the tables outside as the sun went down
We preferred to sit inside and spent a while taking to Neil Ellis about the farm and the wines. And our Dutch friends Yvonne and Peter were delighted to find that they can buy some of it in the Albert Heijn supermarkets.
A view towards the Simonsberg mountains and the Helshoogte Pass
The platters will continue into the winter as there are good log fires in both rooms
It is a very popular event, especially with the young Stellenbosch crowd
Held between 4 and 8, it’s a lovely way to spend a Friday evening
A Charcuterie and Cheese platter for 2. There is plenty of food and we really liked the quality of the meat and cheese. The candied orange slices were excellent with the cheese
Really enjoying the view, the wine and the food.Thank you Neil Ellis family and staff
Neil Ellis with Rochelle Kotze, marketing manager of Taste of Terroir who invited us
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015