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Thursday, September 28, 2017

The WineMag Tonnellerie Saint Martin #PinotNoirReport 2017

What does the future of Pinot Noir in South Africa look like? Very bright, given the results of this competition. This difficult grape to grow is the fragile diva of the wine world; she refuses to be tamed and keeps changing her clothes. If correctly handled she can be superb. The judges in this competition termed it "The most romantic grape". We do have to take into account that Pinot generally needs a cooler climate, she is thirsty and we have a drought. But we were so impressed when we tasted the top wines in this competition this week

This Noble grape has reached such heights in Burgundy that Pinot Noir is aspirational in many other wine areas of the world and some do indeed produce rather excellent examples. South African Pinot was first grown on Muratie in Stellenbosch by George Paul Canitz in 1927 and they are still making it. Canitz worked closely with Professor Perold on the Pinot Noir and we all know where that ended up when Perold crossed Pinot with Cinsaut, which resulted in Pinotage. And some old Pinotages do show Pinot Noir characteristics. Now that we have the correct clones, the popularity of this wine has grown

There are two distinct styles of Pinot Noir in South Africa. Dark and extracted, lots of wood, minerality, heavy tannins, dark berry fruit; these are built to be long term wines for putting down. The style we prefer is the elegant style that is supple and textured; with perfume and pure red berry fruit, good minerality and the wood supporting but not overwhelming

The Awards were held nearer to some of the producers this time, in Somerset West at the Proof Wine Bar in Drama Street

What? You again? Christian Eedes Editor or Winemag.co.za and Derek Prout-Jones; a former Rand Merchant Bank executive, he is a minority shareholder

A happy crowd, mostly Pinot Noir wine makers

Jacqueline Lahoud, WineMag’s Business Manager, begins proceedings

Next to Christian Eedes is Garry King of Tonnellerie Saint Martin, the sponsor of these awards. The top scoring wine wins one of their 228 litre barrels

Phones and cameras at the ready

Garry King of Tonnellerie Saint Martin from Lot-et-Garron in France

Christian Eedes told us that there were 52 entries from 33 producers the largest line-up in recent time, (Growing and making Pinot is becoming popular). They use the 100 point system of voting and 14 Pinots scored 100 points or more; the average score was 88.1. They included two Burgundy ringers in the group to keep the team on their toes. The spread of growing areas is intriguing: four from Elgin, two each from Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge, Napier and Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley and once each from the Ceres Plateau, Hemel-en-Aarde Valley and Stellenbosch as well as a multi-regional blend, The Fledge & Co. Katvis 2016, made from a combination of Langeberg and Klein Karoo fruit. There are no prizes, only certificates and kudos, unless you get the top wine; then you win the French oak barrel

The top wines were as follows:

93
Creation Reserve 2015

92
Dabar 2014
Dabar 2015
Newton Johnson Family Vineyards 2016
Paul Cluver Seven Flags 2015

91
De Grendel Op die Berg 2014
Shannon Rockview Ridge 2015

90
B Vintners Reservoir Road 2016
Creation Reserve 2016
Hamilton Russell Vineyards 2016
Newton Johnson Walker Bay 2016
Oak Valley Sounds of Silence 2015
The Fledge & Co. Katvis 2016
Vrede en Lust 2016

90 B Vintners Reservoir Road 2016 has a typical Pinot nose, sweet soft fruit, chalky tannins, good fruit acid and light toast

90 Creation Reserve 2016
With violets and incense wood on the nose, wild berry fruit, silky, long flavours and only whiffs of oak wood at the end, with soft chalky tannins

90 Hamilton Russell Vineyards 2016
A very French Burgundian nose, sophisticated. Very wooded, with licorice and chocolate predominating at the moment, a hint of salt, with shy fruit. Needs lots of time

90 Newton Johnson Walker Bay 2016
Raspberries and strawberry fruit on the nose and palate, with a hint of salt, nice soft supple tannins, a juicy food wine with great balance

90 Oak Valley Sounds of Silence 2015

Their entry level Pinot. Smoky wood, nice sweet and sour fruit

90 The Fledge & Co. Katvis 2016

Shy raspberry fruit, salty drop liquorice and good minerality

90 Vrede en Lust 2016

Pale in colour, mulberry cranberry lots of fruit and vanilla oak on the nose. Some lactic flavours, deep red and black berries, warm and long

91 De Grendel Op die Berg 2014

Dusty at first then pretty fruit and some strawberry ice cream on the nose. Silky soft on the palate with lots of sharp berry fruit, with dark toast on the end

91 Shannon Rockview Ridge 2015

Classy, quite French on the nose. Sweet berry fruit with some crispness and good tannins. Built to last and improve. Wood supports

92 Dabar 2014 grapes from Napier. Made by Rianie Strydom. Stewed plums on the nose, intense fruit and wood in concert with a dark ending

92 Dabar 2015 Wood and shy berries on the nose. Chalky tannins, crispness, dark cherries and plums, ends dry. Needs time.

92 Newton Johnson Family Vineyards 2016

Perfumed fruit, cherries, raspberries and soft smoky wood. Light fruit, long flavours, chalky tannins with a bit of grip of the end. Complete

92 Paul Cluver Seven Flags 2015 The big boy of the bunch. Complete nose with all the right components. Elegant. Perfume, berries and cherries and incense wood all beautifully integrated. Soft tannins; a food wine

93 Creation Reserve 2015 Herbal fynbos incense wood on the nose, with cherry fruit. On the palate silky soft, warmth from the 14% alcohol, huge fruit, nice soft chalky tannins, some grip and oak wood on the end

Jean-Claude Martin of Creation with his two certificates. His wine was the top scorer in this competition for which he received the 228 litre Tonnellerie Saint Martin barrel

Dabar was new to us, this is their back label

Generous platters of food were brought round after the presentation

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On the MENU this week. Asparagus Soup

Winter seems to be lingering this year, so soup is not off our menu yet. When we have fresh asparagus, Lynne snaps off the harder stalks and saves them in a box in our freezer. When we have enough, she makes this soup. It is easy and quick and delicious. If you want to make this much richer, cook it in milk rather than stock and add a stock cube

1 large onion, finely chopped - 1 stick of celery, finely chopped - 1 T butter - 1 T olive oil - 1 T flour or corn flour - 1.5 to 2 cups asparagus stalks, defrosted - 1 litre of vegetable or chicken stock - salt and freshly ground pepper - a dash or two of cream - Flat parsley or chervil to decorate

Fry the onion and celery in the butter and oil till soft and transparent, do not brown. Add the garlic for the last minute. Add the flour and stir well to incorporate it. Then slowly add the stock and stir well. Then finally, add the asparagus stalks. Simmer for 10 minutes covered. Allow to cool slightly then liquidise or blend with a stick blender till smooth and creamy. Taste and adjust the seasoning (If your stalks were a bit woody, you may need to put the soup through a sieve). Serve hot with a swirl of cream in each bowl and top with a sprig of flat parsley or chervil. Lovely with a good chilled Sauvignon Blanc

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Friday, September 22, 2017

This Week's MENU. Zenzero, Amorim MCC, Darling Flowers, Lunch at the Homestead, Tea with Leeu, Muratie Du ToitsKloof cook off, Veal Piccata, Simonsig Cuvée Royale

Cymbidiums or boat orchids at the Duckitt orchid nursery near Darling

We wish all our Jewish readers a blessed Rosh Hashanah and well over the Fast

A Happy Islamic New Year to our Moslem readers

A long weekend awaits. We will enjoy it with friends in the Hemel en Aarde Valley, after which we'll rush back onto the treadmill of the exciting things that fill our life ... and give us more stories to relate to you. We hope that you will enjoy yourselves as much as we intend to, whether you celebrate Heritage Day or National Braai Day

Dining at Zenzero in trendy Camps Bay

We were invited to review this beach front restaurant in Camps Bay last week. The website says, "Robust with the full flavours of Italy" which pays " ... homage to Italy ... encapsulates ‘La dolce Vita’". And it is undoubtedly popular with its impressive full frontage with great views of Camps Bay beach and the sea. We passed it twice more that week and the double fronted terrace was filled with people enjoying the view with some drinks, and soaking up those views. Inside is much bigger than one expects.....

A Pop up Lunch at The Homestead

Elaine Rousseau is one of our best caterers in Cape Town, she has 18 years of experience. Her company, Food Fanatics is very successful. She has a lovely venue on Constantia Road in Wynberg which you can book for events, and we were invited to come and join her and some of her family, customers and friends for lunch last weekend. She has an amazing garden.....

Amorim Cap Classique Challenge

This is the 16th year this prestigious Cap Classique Challenge has been held. Run by the Mèthode Cap Classique Association and sponsored by Amorim Cork, it lauds the best MCCs in the land. You know it is Spring when.....

Afternoon tea with friends at the Leeu Estates in Franschhoek

How can one refuse an invitation to take tea with friends? We were invited to try the afternoon tea at the Leeu Estates this week with other members of the media and they kindly arranged transport from Cape Town to get us there and back. Should you wish to partake of this lovely experience, the tea costs R190 per person and includes a pot of tea. Afternoon Tea will be served from 2pm to 5pm every day of the week. The Leeu Estate is the 17-room country house retreat and boutique winery in the Franschhoek valley and it is part of the Leeu Collection owned by Mr Analjit Singh. It was a lovely day, the gardens are looking splendid.....

The Annual Cook-Off between Muratie and Du Toitskloof Wine Cellars

It was time again for the annual cook off between these two wine producers (one a family-owned Stellenbosch estate, the other a huge consortium of wine producers on the other side of the Du Toitskloof Pass in Rawsonville); both renowned not only for their wines but their good cooking. They take turns in hosting this fun competition. The object is to each braai the same meat, prepared in two different ways and then have the attending guests taste them, and vote for their favourites. This year, the sixth time the cook off has happened, it was at Muratie in Stellenbosch and the theme was pork. They were to cook two different cuts each, they could choose which....

The Darling Wildflower Show

In our spring, the Cape is a showcase of wild flowers. To see the best, you have to go up the West Coast and this year we were invited to one of the oldest flower festivals, Darling which was celebrating its 100th year. It was held at the Darling Golf Club

What is on the MENU this week Veal Piccante

Lynne loves this dish and ate it a lot when she lived in London, where there are many good authentic Italian restaurants. She has not ever cooked it but found this recipe by Donna Hay that she wants to try soon and thought you might also like it. Veal production nowadays is strictly controlled, the calves are not tightly penned as in the past. That means the veal is not white but pale pink and very delicious. So don't let history put you off eating it. You can of course also use pork escalopes.

Donna Hay's recipe for Veal Piccante

Ingredients

8 veal cutlets, pounded thin - 1 cup of flour for dredging - ¼ tsp salt - ¼ tsp of fresh ground black pepper - 3 Tbls of butter - 1 Tbls of extra virgin olive oil - ½ cup of chicken broth - ¼ cup of dry vermouth or white wine - ¼ cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice - ⅓ cup of capers, drained and rinsed - ⅓ cup of fresh parsley, chopped

Directions

Prepare the veal by pounding thin between two sheets of wax paper. Season the flour with salt and pepper. Dredge each piece of veal in the flour making sure you coat both sides. In a large skillet heat the butter and the olive oil over medium heat. Sauté the veal for around 2 minutes on each side, add more butter if needed. When all the veal is done remove from the skillet and set aside. Turn up the heat deglaze the pan with the broth, lemon juice, vermouth and capers. Scrape the brown bits from the bottom of the pan and reduce. Return the veal to the pan for 2 more minutes. Plate the veal and pour the sauce all over the top. Garnish with parsley

MENU’s Wine of the Week - Simonsig Cuvée Royale Blanc de Blancs 2012

This has had good lees contact. Made from 100% chardonnay, it is exactly the style of MCC that we love and drink as often as we can. Lean and crisp citrus, very elegant, fine mousse, no dosage. Very French in style. Heavenly. A deserved winner of the 2017 Amorim Cap Classique Challenge Award for Blancs de Blanc and a Gold medal at the 2017 Concours Mondial in Brussels

22nd September 2017

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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. 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. 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.

MENU’s Wine of the Week - Simonsig Cuvée Royale Blanc de Blancs 2012

A deserved winner of the 2017 Amorim Cap Classique Challenge Award for Blancs de Blanc and a gold medal at the 2017 Concours Mondial in Brussels

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The 100th Darling Wild Flower Show

We had been invited for the media day on Thursday and could not make it as we were at the Amorim MCC Challenge Awards, but we did drive up on Friday. Sadly, it was a rather grey day and when the sun hides itself, so do the daisies which grow everywhere

This is a very refreshing country festival, people are friendly and helpful, they have not modernised too radically, there is no blaring music and the stalls actually have things you want to buy. We loved it.

Food is interspersed with things for sale and there was a variety of food trucks

There is quite a lot of art for sale

We went to visit the Ormonde stand first in the wine tent, where we found Berinda Basson, Ormonde owner Theo’s wife, organising things

She gave us a taste of Ormonde's Ondine Grenache and one of those lovely chocolate and strawberry cupcakes which are made with the Grenache

and then she took us to the flower show in the Hall. Hanging decorations of wild freesias

The flowers are all picked the day before and put into small water phials which are buried in the ground to look natural . Even the reeds have last year's weaver bird nests on them

A beautifully maintained veteran Triumph motorbike in a field of Arum lilies and fynbos. a 100 year old bike at a show celebrating its centenary

The flowers are so delicate and beautiful. Many have been hybridised and commercialised by the bulb and other flower industry, and are sold as bulbs or corms for you to plant in your own gardens, worldwide. Like Freesias, Ixias, gladiolas, gerberas, ericas and heath, they all originate from this area

Some guinea fowl in their natural habitat amongst the flax, heath and the wild rosemary (kapokbos)

Even some rare orchids

which only the experts know how to find. They are protected, as are all of our wild flowers

You can view individual specimens, which are replaced as they need to be

The modern world has reached the festival. Scan with your phone for information

Duckitt’s orchid farm is just outside Darling- this was their display

Time for lunch. The golf club was doing a braai and we really fancied some chops and boerewors but, sadly, we could not buy them with the vouchers which the show’s organisers had been kind enough to give us

So John went to find a German stand and had a lovely Bratwurst roll. Lynne had some ribs from a food truck and Loraine had some chips

You could lose yourself in the many alleys of stands

The weather was getting chillier and rain was threatening, so we found a table in the wine tent

and went to have a taste of Groote Post wines with Wimpie Borman

wonderful wood carvings

Bags and cushions and a German sausage stand

What a wonderful display of proteas and all for sale

So many different varieties

These very tall gum trees, which must be at least a century old, were planted along the roads to give the ox wagons some shade as they travelled along in the summer. The gums were imported from Australia; the Cape does not have many tall indigenous trees

We left the show and went to visit Duckitt’s Orchid farm just outside Darling, which is open to the public only on the first Saturday of the month from May to November, from 9 to 12 and always at festival time. The last open house will be on November 4th this year. It is a wonderful sight. We saw mostly cymbidium orchids but they do have other species as well. Delicate white and pink?