Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Shiraz Showcase at the CTICC

Since its inception in 2009, the Shiraz Showcase has grown and, this year, it took place at the CTICC for the first time, previous venues having become too small to accommodate it. Shiraz has become a signature varietal for South Africa and shiraz plantings now account for about 11% of the national vineyard. CTICC is a good venue for this huge showcase of shiraz and it was a very good tasting indeed this year. It was difficult to manage to taste more than half of what is on show, but we tried. It is always a very social evening as well and we met lots of you enjoying yourselves

Zia and Michiel du Toit were showing the Landskroon shirazes
 Dewald and Tania Heyns of Saronsberg
 Richard Hilton, assisted by Eleanor Swanepoel, was showing his Hilton wines
 The Pebbles Project is doing wonderful work to make sure that children in the winelands are properly educated. Charmaine Gola was there to encourage support
  Anetha Volschenk with Oldenburg GM Philip Costandius
 These "Mexicans" serenaded us while we had supper
 The team from Kleinood showed their Tamboerskloof shiraz
Spicer de Villiers, Jessica Sauerwein and Gunther Schultz
Reinier van Greunen of Spruitdrift Cellar
 with Petra and Nico van der Merwe of Saxenburg and Nico van der Merwe Wines
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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

Sommeliers Selection wine awards at Open Door Restaurant at Constantia Uitsig

A total of 101 wines was selected from 400 entries for the first Sommeliers Selection Wine List, which was judged only by members of the South African Sommeliers Association (SASA).  The judging panel was chaired by internationally acclaimed sommeliers David Clarke and Higgo Jacobs. The award ceremony last Friday was attended by many members of the wine and food industry and, following the awards, the wines were available for tasting
Winemakers, brand ambassadors, sommeliers, chefs,  restaurateurs and the media assemble
Darielle Robertson of DnA Event Management announced the awards
She was assisted by Anne Ferreira and Neil Grant, co-owner of Open Door. It is a very interesting selection
"The focus of the competition was to keep it fresh, new, and different, but still retaining the serious aspect of wine, whilst guaranteeing the highest standard."
The Wine By The Glass Trophy Wine List winners in each category are:
HOUSE WINE - WHITE

Nederburg
Riesling 2014
HOUSE WINE - RED

Hartenberg
Alchemy Syrah 2013
HOUSE WINE -BUBBLES

Graham Beck
Brut Rosé NV
WHITE - FRESH/CRUNCHY

Villiera
Sauvignon Blanc 2014
WHITE - ELEGANT/CLASSY

La Motte
Chardonnay 2013
Laibach
The Ladybird White Organic 2014
Shannon
Semillon 2014
WHITE - FULL/RICH

Durbanville Hills
Rhinofields Chardonnay 2012
Grande Provence
Chardonnay 2013
RED - FRESH/ JUICY

Stellar
Organics Reserve 2013
RED - ELEGANT / CLASSY

Longridge
Pinotage 2013
Hamilton Russell
Pinot Noir 2014
RED - VOLUPTUOUS/RICH

Flagstone
Dragon Tree 2012
Oldenburg
Syrah 2012
VINTAGE MCC

Domaine des Dieux
Claudia 2009
BLANC DE BLANCS

Bon Courage
Blanc de blanc 2009
STICKYS

Paul Cluver
Noble Late Harvest 2014
INTERNATIONAL WINES

Domaine Grier - France
Rosé 2014
FORTIFIED

Monis
Muscadel
The audience listens to the awards
All the winners were available for tasting afterwards
The Trophies
The wines were arranged in the award categories. Here are the Whites
and the Fizz
and the "Stickies"
John sneaked into the kitchen to see the chefs at work
The Trophy winners with their awards. Getting this picture was no picnic, like herding cats!
Jubilation
The tasters and the organisers
Judges
The PR ladies
We get down to serious tasting
Group head chef Annemarie Steenkamp preparing small slider hamburgers for the tasters
It's an open kitchen
And there is an elegant bar
Loads of glasses for the tasting
The restaurant
It also has a good outdoor terrace
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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

New winter menu at Den Anker, V&A Waterfront

We always enjoy it when we are invited by restaurants to come and taste their food; better still when we know that the food they produce is good. Last Friday was a beautiful crisp and sunny winter’s day and, following the Sommeliers Selection Awards, we made our way to this waterside restaurant in the Waterfront. We were able to sit outside on the dock and eat our way through tasting portions of their winter specials, accompanied by a selection of samples of Belgian beers. The selection is very good and those of you with children will love Sundays, when they eat free (but no beer for them!)
Lovely wintry light on the harbour. A long view of Den Anker, which is on the left
The Winter Special flyer with the details
The front of Den Anker. This popular Belgian restaurant has been open for 19 years
The beer bar inside with its rowboat canopy
Our table outside on the dock
Or you can sit inside in the window area and admire the view of Table Mountain and the harbour
The beer menu is large and comprehensive, they import good beer from Belgium
The food menu
Its Moules on Mondays. 1 Kg of mussels, cooked in beer with crisp frites and mayonnaise. Lynne is not a mussel fan but these were truly superb. Fresh mussels, cooked just enough to open them, so they were juicy and succulent, beautifully flavoured with herbs and onions and the beer. The frites disappeared too quickly
On Tuesdays, with every Trappist beer ordered, you get a plate of cheeses. This was a small taster, we had already enjoyed a huge amount of food. The actual portion is more generous
The Trappist beer served to John

On Wednesdays, it is seared Norwegian salmon steaks and a glass of wine. The salmon is so fresh and beautifully cooked in a citron cream sauce, on spinach and with more vegetables on the plate
On Thursdays, you can enjoy a spectacular tasting of six Belgian draught beers for only R50

The size of the tasters is good. They brought these first, so that we could drink them with the food

Fish and Frites with a white beer on Fridays
On Saturday, you get three Tapas treats for R120. We had enormous panko crumbed sweet prawns with two dipping sauces - a sweet chilli and mayonnaise; Steak béarnaise and deep fried Bitterballen meat croquettes with mustard. A lovely selection and, of course, if there are two of you, you will have six tapas

The Tapas menu

A Blue outlook. No blue filter was used! Just the winter light
There are some impressive yachts moored in the inner harbour and, in the background, the city and Table Mountain are on view
He wanted some of our lunch
Restaurant manager Brandon and Chef Doekie Vlietman
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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015