The Getaway Best Value Wine Awards

Almost 250 wines were entered for this annual competition and we attended the awards ceremony this week. Should you want a copy, this year's Getaway Best Value Wines Guide is bagged with the February issue of Getaway, which is on sale from 23 January 2017. Results are also are also available at www.bestvaluewineguide.com

It was held at a new venue for us, The Eatery Wood Fired Grill in Belvedere Square, Claremont There is a list of national restaurants in the guide where you can drink these wines as they allow you to Bring Your Own good value wines

All the wines were laid out for us to taste at our leisure. There are a few more wine farms we would like to see entering these awards next year

They produced some very good canapés to ease down the wines. These were Bruschettas of tomato, olives, cheese and basil. Messy but satisfying

They have a lovely shady terrace where the winners were announced.

Kathryn Frew is the organiser of this event for Getaway magazine

Neil Piper, Getaway Publisher, told us about these awards, which have been presented since 2002. The statistical model that rates each wine was developed by UCT academic Dr David Priilaid after more than a decade of analysing the results of various wine competitions and tastings. Dr Priilaid’s system uses the data he’s collected to work out each wine’s value, quality and price. All the wines are available on shelf for R80 or less

Fiona MacDonald, head judge, told us about the process. All the wines are tasted blind and by two separate panels of judges. They were tasted in specific categories: Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, white blends, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Pinotage, Merlot, red blends, Almost 250 wines were entered for this annual competition and, this week, we attended the awards ceremony. Should you want a copy, this year's Getaway Best Value Wines Guide is bagged with the February issue of Getaway, which has been on sale from 23rd January. Results are also are also available at www.bestvaluewineguide.com 

The Getaway team 

The awards were presented by Sonya Schoeman – Getaway Editor

Here she is with Ken Forrester and Shawn Mathyse of Ken Forrester wines, who won for the Petit Sauvignon Blanc

Jean du Preez receiving his award for the Du Preez Rockfield Cabernet Sauvignon

Theunis van Zyl of Imbuko in Wellington swept the board with three separate Awards - Imbuko Merlot, Van Zijl Coffee Pinotage and Shortwood Red Blend 

and therefore won the Overall Best Value Producer award

Brendan Butler of Mount Vernon won the award for the best value Rosé

Calamari and chips motivate us to make a booking soon

Chilli poppers

Very good, lean seared steak topped with a green herb sauce

 And Bobotie spring rolls with a sweet chilli dip, dessert wines and bubblies

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017

Brandy Alexander Day at Shaker with Distell

Cocktails or straight up?

We love having our predilections challenged. We like good brandy, gin and whisk(e)y. We didn't think that we liked cocktails. Distell threw us in at the deep end and taught us how to make some cocktails with their brandies. We had a ball and loved the experience, although it did have an effect on the rest of the afternoon. And yes, we took the bus there and back

Brandy Alexander day is celebrated on January 31st every year. It is the only cocktail to have a day officially named in its honour. Bet you didn't know that; neither did we. The motivation for the day, therefore, was to teach us how to make them. The venue was at the Shaker Bar School, a school for bartenders and the public. First, we sampled some great brandies and imported cognacs like these

Just in case the cocktails made us hungry, some snacks were provided. The sweet ones went very well with what we were sampling. Yes, chocolate brownies, almond biscuits and macarons are the perfect match

The savoury options were good if you had skipped lunch. The lecture started at 2.30

Rissoles with dips

Beetroot and cream cheese

and Thai vegetable rolls

The lecture room

Also has a proper mixologists' bar

Dr Winnie Bowman CWM talked us through the brandy tasting and gave some history and some tasting hints

Professional snifter glasses

The French Cognacs. We didn’t taste the Bisquit XO, sadly. Our South African brandies stand up well to the French ones. We consistently win lots of international awards with them

Discussing the finer points

Then it was time to learn from the expert. Anil Sabharwal was our instructor and he is the Director of the Shaker Bar School at 235 Bree St Cape Town. They also have a school in Johannesburg. He is a Londoner, so we got on well

Here he is showing us how to make the Brandy Alexander. Preciseness is important. Chill the glass with ice too. Here is the recipe: This relatively simple cocktail is a concoction of 1 part brandy, 1 part chocolate liqueur and one part cream, garnished with a dusting of nutmeg. And for a decadent dessert, just add a scoop of vanilla or chocolate ice cream and transfer to a bowl. You will need for one cocktail:

25 ml crème de cacao - 25 ml cream - 75 ml Van Ryn’s 10 year old brandy - Nutmeg, - Ice cubes

Add all the liquid ingredients to a cocktail shaker, fill the shaker halfway with ice cubes and shake for about 30 seconds or until the outside of the shaker is getting nicely frosted. Strain into a glass, traditionally a cocktail glass or martini glass which, ideally, you’ve been chilling in the freezer. Garnish with a sprinkle of nutmeg and you’re ready to celebrate!

This is the cocktail he made. Dark Crème de Cacao chocolate liqueur is difficult to get in South Africa. He used the Bols white version. You can use Klipdrift Black Gold, a chocolate coffee liqueur, or other brands of chocolate liqueur on the market

We get to make our own and were encouraged to try and make other versions. Here Lynne receives instructions on making a variation

Shaking well is the key. And chilled glasses

Everybody's doing it!

TaDa! Lynne has invented a new Alexander, named by her the Almond Alexander, using DiSaronno Amaretto liqueur, a favourite

We all made the Alexander and then an old fashioned cocktail, The Side Car from the 1920's. Wow - we absolutely loved this sour cocktail made with Brandy, fresh lemon juice and Cointreau. Perfect if you don't like very sweet cocktails. And not drowned in ice as Mojitos so often are

Fiona MacDonald getting in the spirit

Benika Palfi enjoying a very popular cocktail which originated in Harry's Bar in Paris. Thank you Distell and Dayne Stern. We are converted

A creative Bree Street sign
We were amused. We hope it works

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017

A Day in Darling

You might think the West Coast is quite sleepy but it is not! There are so many things to do up there. While we were on holiday, we accepted two invitations, which included wine and food, from Darling people: Lukas Wentzel at Groote Post and Charles Withington of the Darling Wine shop, who was doing a wine tasting at Chicory Cheese restaurant. We decided to see them both on the same day so we could spend the other days relaxing by the sea!

Tasting wine from the tanks, lunch at Hilda's and a game drive at Groote Post with Lukas

It is a short and very pleasant drive from Yzerfontein to Groote Post, especially now that the roadworks are finished, and we arrived there mid morning on a hot and sunny day

Lynne toasting Lukas and wishing for a great Harvest. He was very generous and gave us a superb tasting in the cellar from tanks and barrels. Their range of wines is impressive, nearly all of them have been awarded 4 stars and above in Platter; well deserved. Chardonnays, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Shiraz, Riesling, all impress us

 Lukas makes a lovely Pinot Noir, some of which we bought. We all admire Newton Johnson very much and he generously added this bottle of the Family Pinot (adjudged by Decanter to be one of the two best Pinots from the world outside Burgundy) to be drunk with lunch

There are some magnificent ancient gum trees on the farm. These were planted for shade when people travelled by ox wagon and horse

Into Hilda's Kitchen, run by chef Debbie McLaughlin, for lunch. They have lovely friendly staff

The red wines we drank with lunch

We love the terrace, but the day was so hot that we elected to sit indoors

John began with the classic Tomato and Camembert tart

Lynne enjoyed the smoked salmon, cream cheese on a Blini

and Lukas a generous portion of Roast Butternut and Feta salad

A delicious main course of Coq au Vin with lots of vegetables

and of course the superb Steak sandwich with chips (this one was photographed in January when John took American tourists to Groote Post)

At the insistence of Lukas and the kitchen we shared three desserts:

Melktert

chocolate ganache tart

a wicked chocolate gateau

Hilda’s getting ready for Christmas

The 18th century Cape Dutch manor house, which houses the restaurant

The Winery, which contains the tasting room, basking in the afternoon sun

And then it was time for the game tour. Groote Post is a huge farm and besides grapes and cattle they have a large wild section. We went hunting the newly introduced Giraffes, without success. And found this bontebok

with his family

some of the herd of eland with the huge bull. You too can do this game drive after a wine tasting. Check out their web site: http://grootepost.com They also have a free monthly Country Market that is great fun. Dates for 2017: 26th February | 26th March | 30th April

And then it was time to drive to Darling to meet Charles and Janet Withington of the Darling Wine Shop at Chicory Cheese restaurant, where Charles was getting the room ready for the wine tasting, ably assisted as always, by Ida van Tonder

A busy Charles. The tasting was of wines grown and made in Darling; wines made elsewhere from Darling grown grapes like KWV Mentors Sauvignon Blanc, a Thelema Riesling, Niel Joubert Malbec and a couple of foreign wines introduced to excite, confuse and confound us: a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc and a Mosel Riesling. It was very enjoyable and the invited audience were very appreciative. Charles holds these tastings quite regularly and you can book to attend. 

They are organised with Anesia Darné, who is the chef and owner of Chicory Cheese, seen here talking to Janet Withington

and in her kitchen preparing the dinner which followed the tasting

On the menu were Coronation Chicken, Broccoli, Beetroot and Bacon salad, a Strawberry, black pepper, spinach and candied almond salad, a superb blue cheese and tomato fig tart of which Lynne would love the recipe to share with you. A fun and very satisfying meal

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016