Monday, December 01, 2014

Food and Wine pairing at the Cape Wine Academy

How nice to receive an invitation from our alma mater to attend a Food and Wine pairing evening guided by chef Wanda Cronje. It is a very clever concept and we thoroughly recommend them to anyone who wants to know more about this subject. It costs R395 a person and you get a full dinner with lots of wine, in smaller portions
When we got there we were faced with 8 glasses of different wines and a small platter containing a walnut (tannin), a (salty) biscuit, a slice of apple (fruit), a slice of lemon(acid) and a small dish of soy (umami). No, this was not the only food of the evening, we were relieved to learn. You taste each of these with a sip of the wine to see how they affect it, as many of these flavours are found in wines and some compliment and others clash. The wines were a popular selection of what many people drink with food. Then came several courses which were tasted with the wines and discuss how we found the matches and learn more. 
The wines we had for the tasting: Nederburg Cellarmaster Sauvignon Blanc, Durbanville Hills Rose, Raats Old Vine Chenin Blanc, Nederburg Baronne, Swartland Hanepoot, 4th Street Natural Sweet, Graça, KWV Cafe Culture Pinotage
The line-up on our tables of the glasses
Our lecturer for the evening, chef Wanda Cronje
The “class room”
1st course: Smoked salmon salad with balsamic vinegar
2nd course: Chicken and mushroom tartlet with delicious crisp edged cinnamon pumpkin pie which made an instant convert of Lynne who has never liked this before. Recipe please someone
3rd course was Fish and Chips. 4th course was Cape Malay Bobotie on yellow rice. This is the 5th course of Tomato and basil Oxtail stew on brown basmati rice. Rather sweet, as was the Bobotie, but that is traditional.
6th course was dessert a fruit salad, koeksister (crisp deep fried syrup dipped doughnut) and a chocolate mousse. Traditionally all very hard to match with anything else than the Hanepoot. And the last and 7th course was a cheese platter with crackers and a green preserved fig
Our conclusion was that Graça and the Rosé go with almost everything. The Raats Chenin was a joy to drink
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014

Thursday, November 27, 2014

141127 Main Ingredient's MENU - Benguela Cove, Rivendell, Baleia Bay, Delaire Graff Sunrise, Wine Concepts Champagne Festival, Wine at the Mill, Green Summer soup

MENU
Main Ingredient’s weekly E-Journal
Gourmet Foods & Ingredients
Eat In Guide’s Five time Outstanding Outlet Award Winner
+27 21 439 3169 / +27 83 229 1172
Follow us on Twitter: @mainingmenu

Developing olives at Baleia Bay
In this week’s MENU:
* This week’s products: Truffles
* Benguela Cove Winery
* Rivendell
* This week’s recipe: A Green Summer soup
* Tastings and Festivals
* Learn about wine and cooking
To get the whole of our story, please click onREAD 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.
This week’s Product menu      The delicious truffle flavoured chips we have had recently, at Delaire Graff and other places prompted us to remind you that we have a good range of truffles and truffle products such as oil, pastes and truffle salt. An easy way to add wonderful flavour to savoury dishes. See them here
Thanksgiving      We have a surprisingly large number of American readers, so we wish you all a happy and peaceful Thanksgiving. We all have a lot to celebrate and be thankful for, including a personal anniversary.
Discovering new country      Sometimes we are asked to visit farms that are quite far away from Cape Town and we try to include them in an itinerary which we build to include visits en route. This week we did just that and, on our way to Riversdale, discovered a new wine route, not that far from home. Actually, not that new, we have visited Beaumont in Bot River many times and have driven through the area frequently, on our way to Hermanus and Hemel en Aarde, but didn’t take much notice until we met Penny Streeter, owner of Benguela Cove, earlier this year. She invited us to visit, but this was our first opportunity.
We had been invited to the Grand Opening of Baleia Bay’s new winery and deli in Riversdale. They laid on a bus, but we had another commitment at Delaire Graff the next morning, with the Champagne Festival at The Vineyard in the evening, so we decided to make a round trip of it and travel up slowly, hence the diversion.
On the Bot River     We have wanted to visit two wineries in this area for a while. Benguela Cove had invited us recently, but we were already engaged on that date. Also, we had heard that Chef Thomas Sinn (ex Wembley Square and Blue Danube) had now moved to Rivendell Winery, which is just across the estuary from there.  It was a short, pleasant diversion off our route up the N2 to Riversdale and we had allowed ourselves all day.  Bot River has always been included as a ward of Elgin wine area, but suddenly there are many new wine farms opening up and it is becoming a wine route all on its own.
Benguela Cove Winery      This is the site that Lynne had picked years ago for the perfect weekend escape cottage when driving past towards Hermanus and we see that someone is now building a large and impressive house in the spot we had fantasized about. We don’t have the R2 plus million for a plot nor do we have the time to build a luxurious escape, we would prefer a tiny seaside cottage but it is an interesting place to visit. Apparently they plan to build a hotel in the next year and there are houses going up in the vineyards and along the lagoon edge. The tasting room has only just been finished and it is large and modern and has nice views from the lawn in front of it of the river and lagoon and estuary. They currently only have three wines for tasting.
Rivendell     This is a winery that has a separate restaurant. They are easy to find. You turn off the N2 towards Hermanus and, when you get to the Y junctions marked Kleinmond to the right and Hermanus on the left, you take the left fork and turn into the winery about 100 meters on your right.  Our first visit was to the winery to taste the wine and we were warmly welcomed by Rachel, who runs the tasting room.  We really liked their 2012 Sauvignon Blanc, asparagus and green on the nose and a full mouth of golden fruit with some minerality and saltiness. The 20013 needs more time.  They have a spicy rosé from Shiraz and a velvety 4 star Platter Shiraz with delicious tastes of dark fruits and wood. Read on....
Baleia Bay      We wrote about these wines when Baleia Bay Chardonnay appeared from nowhere to win The Discovery of the Year Trophy at the Old Mutual Trophy awards in May and when they appeared at the Good Food & Wine show later that month, we tasted and bought some, as well as their very creditable, but young, Pinot Noir. So we were delighted to receive an invitation to the Grand Opening of the winery in Riversdale. They were very intelligent and arranged transport from Cape Town and overnight accommodation for media.
We were to meet at 5pm at the farm, which is at Dassiesklip, about 30 Kms south of Riversdale and, following the instructions, we drove down the good dirt roads but missed the rather shy farm and ended up in Vermaaklikheid which, literally, translates as “entertainment”! Yes, it was; certainly a diversion. Turning back, we eventually arrived at the farm ‘gate’, at the same time as the bus from Cape Town, where the winemaker /viticulturist Jacques Geldenhuys was waiting for us. Read on.....
Delaire Graff sees the Sunrise     There is a need on Delaire Graff for their own MCC and, this week, they released it. Named after the 118 carat Delaire Sunrise, the largest square emerald cut yellow diamond in the world. Morne Vrey has used mainly Chenin Blanc, making this more like a Crémant de Loire. It is a blend of Chenin Blanc (58%), Chardonnay (34%) and Cabernet Franc (8%). All the grapes come from the estate. It is intensely crisp and has quite a crackle on the palate. Given time, this will be a beautiful wine, but it will only be available at Delaire. Then it was time for a tasting of some currently available Delaire wines, followed by lunch on the terrace. It’s a hard life and, yes, the weather, wine, food and the view were perfect. Read on.....
Wine Concepts Finer Things in Life Champagne Festival     We wouldn’t miss this annual festival of French Champagnes, held at the Vineyard hotel by Mike Duggan and his team from Wine Concepts, and nor should you. We changed into our ‘Ebony & Ivory’ finery (Formal dress suit for John, black & white evening dress for Lynne) in the health centre of the Vineyard hotel and then it was time to get to know and love over 44 champagnes from 18 Marques. Read on.....
Wine at the Mill Wine Festival      Nigel Cattermole’s boutique Wine at the Mill shop is at the Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock and he had the very clever idea of taking over the outside area on Sunday for his wine festival. It was tremendous fun and very well attended. There were lots of wines to taste for the R175 entrance fee, which also got you a large wine glass. Read On.....
A Green Summer soup     The warm weather is upon us and lunches with friends need something light. This fresh cold soup is delicious and can be made very quickly, as little cooking is required. Make sure you use a really good, well-flavoured stock or the soup will be bland.
1 kg small to medium courgettes, topped and tailed and halved lengthwise – a drizzle of olive oil – salt and pepper - 1 T fresh chopped marjoram
2 cups good chicken or chicken stock – ¾ cup of crumbled feta cheese - ½ cup mint leaves – ½ cup watercress – 1 T fresh oregano – 1 small garlic clove, crushed – salt and freshly ground pepper - 500 ml Greek yoghurt or cream – 1 T fresh snipped chives for decoration
Put the courgettes into an ovenproof dish, sprinkle over the marjoram, season and drizzle with a little oil  Roast in a 180°C oven until they are starting to colour at the edges and the flavours are concentrated. Remove and allow to cool. You can do this the night before.
Blitz the courgettes, stock, feta, mint, watercress, oregano and garlic together in a blender then stir in the yoghurt or cream. Season to taste with flaked salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper, then chill well. Serve topped with the snipped chives or more watercress leaves. Serves 4.
It is Festival season; we may see you at one or both of these
Franschhoek’s “The Magic of Bubbles Cap Classique and Champagne festival will be held this year on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th November from 12 to 5 pm in the gardens of the Huguenot Monument. Their theme this year is Parasols and Panama Hats, very suitable for the usually hot weather. Tickets here There is a reduction if you pre-book using a MasterCard.
The Cape Town Festival of Beer Yes, we also like beer. John used to brew at home. and will one day have the time to do so again. Lynne is British, so it’s a given. And Cape Town is having its annual Beer Festival at Hamilton’s Rugby Club on Green Point Common from Friday, 28th November to Sunday 30th. Get your tickets now. This is very popular and gets very crowded, with a huge selection of craft beers, so go early.

Visit the Wade Bales Wine Warehouse Sale from 8:30am to 2:30pm on Saturday, 29th November, at Klein Constantia Road, Constantia, to ensure your festive wine needs are all wrapped up. Contact 021 794 2151 or info@thewinesociety.co.za . www.wadebaleswinesociety.co.za
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 type of event 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 list of wine and food pairing dinners, list of Special events with wine and/or food connections, list of Wine Shows and Tastings and list of special dinner events. All the events are listed in date order and we 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
The Hurst Campus, an accredited school for people who want to become professional chefs, has a variety of courses. See the details here
Chez Gourmet in Claremont has a programme of cooking classes. A calendar of their classes can be seen here.
In addition to the new 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.
27th November 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
Main Ingredient’s weekly E-Journal
Gourmet Foods & Ingredients
Eat In Guide’s Five time Outstanding Outlet Award Winner
+27 21 439 3169 / +27 83 229 1172
Follow us on Twitter: @mainingmenu

Developing olives at Baleia Bay
In this week’s MENU:
* This week’s products: Truffles
* Benguela Cove Winery
* Rivendell
* This week’s recipe: A Green Summer soup
* Tastings and Festivals
* Learn about wine and cooking
To get the whole of our story, please click onREAD 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.
This week’s Product menu      The delicious truffle flavoured chips we have had recently, at Delaire Graff and other places prompted us to remind you that we have a good range of truffles and truffle products such as oil, pastes and truffle salt. An easy way to add wonderful flavour to savoury dishes. See them here
Thanksgiving      We have a surprisingly large number of American readers, so we wish you all a happy and peaceful Thanksgiving. We all have a lot to celebrate and be thankful for, including a personal anniversary.
Discovering new country      Sometimes we are asked to visit farms that are quite far away from Cape Town and we try to include them in an itinerary which we build to include visits en route. This week we did just that and, on our way to Riversdale, discovered a new wine route, not that far from home. Actually, not that new, we have visited Beaumont in Bot River many times and have driven through the area frequently, on our way to Hermanus and Hemel en Aarde, but didn’t take much notice until we met Penny Streeter, owner of Benguela Cove, earlier this year. She invited us to visit, but this was our first opportunity.
We had been invited to the Grand Opening of Baleia Bay’s new winery and deli in Riversdale. They laid on a bus, but we had another commitment at Delaire Graff the next morning, with the Champagne Festival at The Vineyard in the evening, so we decided to make a round trip of it and travel up slowly, hence the diversion.
On the Bot River     We have wanted to visit two wineries in this area for a while. Benguela Cove had invited us recently, but we were already engaged on that date. Also, we had heard that Chef Thomas Sinn (ex Wembley Square and Blue Danube) had now moved to Rivendell Winery, which is just across the estuary from there.  It was a short, pleasant diversion off our route up the N2 to Riversdale and we had allowed ourselves all day.  Bot River has always been included as a ward of Elgin wine area, but suddenly there are many new wine farms opening up and it is becoming a wine route all on its own.
Benguela Cove Winery      This is the site that Lynne had picked years ago for the perfect weekend escape cottage when driving past towards Hermanus and we see that someone is now building a large and impressive house in the spot we had fantasized about. We don’t have the R2 plus million for a plot nor do we have the time to build a luxurious escape, we would prefer a tiny seaside cottage but it is an interesting place to visit. Apparently they plan to build a hotel in the next year and there are houses going up in the vineyards and along the lagoon edge. The tasting room has only just been finished and it is large and modern and has nice views from the lawn in front of it of the river and lagoon and estuary. They currently only have three wines for tasting.
Rivendell     This is a winery that has a separate restaurant. They are easy to find. You turn off the N2 towards Hermanus and, when you get to the Y junctions marked Kleinmond to the right and Hermanus on the left, you take the left fork and turn into the winery about 100 meters on your right.  Our first visit was to the winery to taste the wine and we were warmly welcomed by Rachel, who runs the tasting room.  We really liked their 2012 Sauvignon Blanc, asparagus and green on the nose and a full mouth of golden fruit with some minerality and saltiness. The 20013 needs more time.  They have a spicy rosé from Shiraz and a velvety 4 star Platter Shiraz with delicious tastes of dark fruits and wood. Read on....
Baleia Bay      We wrote about these wines when Baleia Bay Chardonnay appeared from nowhere to win The Discovery of the Year Trophy at the Old Mutual Trophy awards in May and when they appeared at the Good Food & Wine show later that month, we tasted and bought some, as well as their very creditable, but young, Pinot Noir. So we were delighted to receive an invitation to the Grand Opening of the winery in Riversdale. They were very intelligent and arranged transport from Cape Town and overnight accommodation for media.
We were to meet at 5pm at the farm, which is at Dassiesklip, about 30 Kms south of Riversdale and, following the instructions, we drove down the good dirt roads but missed the rather shy farm and ended up in Vermaaklikheid which, literally, translates as “entertainment”! Yes, it was; certainly a diversion. Turning back, we eventually arrived at the farm ‘gate’, at the same time as the bus from Cape Town, where the winemaker /viticulturist Jacques Geldenhuys was waiting for us. Read on.....
Delaire Graff sees the Sunrise     There is a need on Delaire Graff for their own MCC and, this week, they released it. Named after the 118 carat Delaire Sunrise, the largest square emerald cut yellow diamond in the world. Morne Vrey has used mainly Chenin Blanc, making this more like a Crémant de Loire. It is a blend of Chenin Blanc (58%), Chardonnay (34%) and Cabernet Franc (8%). All the grapes come from the estate. It is intensely crisp and has quite a crackle on the palate. Given time, this will be a beautiful wine, but it will only be available at Delaire. Then it was time for a tasting of some currently available Delaire wines, followed by lunch on the terrace. It’s a hard life and, yes, the weather, wine, food and the view were perfect. Read on.....
Wine Concepts Finer Things in Life Champagne Festival     We wouldn’t miss this annual festival of French Champagnes, held at the Vineyard hotel by Mike Duggan and his team from Wine Concepts, and nor should you. We changed into our ‘Ebony & Ivory’ finery (Formal dress suit for John, black & white evening dress for Lynne) in the health centre of the Vineyard hotel and then it was time to get to know and love over 44 champagnes from 18 Marques. Read on.....
Wine at the Mill Wine Festival      Nigel Cattermole’s boutique Wine at the Mill shop is at the Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock and he had the very clever idea of taking over the outside area on Sunday for his wine festival. It was tremendous fun and very well attended. There were lots of wines to taste for the R175 entrance fee, which also got you a large wine glass. Read On.....
A Green Summer soup     The warm weather is upon us and lunches with friends need something light. This fresh cold soup is delicious and can be made very quickly, as little cooking is required. Make sure you use a really good, well-flavoured stock or the soup will be bland.
1 kg small to medium courgettes, topped and tailed and halved lengthwise – a drizzle of olive oil – salt and pepper - 1 T fresh chopped marjoram
2 cups good chicken or chicken stock – ¾ cup of crumbled feta cheese - ½ cup mint leaves – ½ cup watercress – 1 T fresh oregano – 1 small garlic clove, crushed – salt and freshly ground pepper - 500 ml Greek yoghurt or cream – 1 T fresh snipped chives for decoration
Put the courgettes into an ovenproof dish, sprinkle over the marjoram, season and drizzle with a little oil  Roast in a 180°C oven until they are starting to colour at the edges and the flavours are concentrated. Remove and allow to cool. You can do this the night before.
Blitz the courgettes, stock, feta, mint, watercress, oregano and garlic together in a blender then stir in the yoghurt or cream. Season to taste with flaked salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper, then chill well. Serve topped with the snipped chives or more watercress leaves. Serves 4.
It is Festival season; we may see you at one or both of these
Franschhoek’s “The Magic of Bubbles Cap Classique and Champagne festival will be held this year on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th November from 12 to 5 pm in the gardens of the Huguenot Monument. Their theme this year is Parasols and Panama Hats, very suitable for the usually hot weather. Tickets here There is a reduction if you pre-book using a MasterCard.
The Cape Town Festival of Beer Yes, we also like beer. John used to brew at home. and will one day have the time to do so again. Lynne is British, so it’s a given. And Cape Town is having its annual Beer Festival at Hamilton’s Rugby Club on Green Point Common from Friday, 28th November to Sunday 30th. Get your tickets now. This is very popular and gets very crowded, with a huge selection of craft beers, so go early.
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 type of event 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 list of wine and food pairing dinners, list of Special events with wine and/or food connections, list of Wine Shows and Tastings and list of special dinner events. All the events are listed in date order and we 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
The Hurst Campus, an accredited school for people who want to become professional chefs, has a variety of courses. See the details here
Chez Gourmet in Claremont has a programme of cooking classes. A calendar of their classes can be seen here.
In addition to the new 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.





27th November 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.d 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.