Tuesday, September 12, 2017

"The Perfect Blend has been Chosen" at the Blaauwklippen Blending Competition

This fun annual competition, open to all South African wine clubs, announced the winners at a lunch held on the farm last Friday. We met the four teams in the final, three from the Western Province and one from Gauteng, aptly named the Outlanders. We had a great lunch and we tasted the winning wine, which Blaauwklippen thinks is good enough to warrant putting on their Cabriolet label this year
The oaks are just opening their leaves on this Stellenbosch farm
Something to welcome us with: a glass of the Diva MCC made from Zinfandel
Lots of new faces as the guests were mainly the entrants, a small contingent of media and some of the important farm workers who put the blend together and bottle it
Canapés were served on arrival and they were so good that we risked filling up before lunch. This was salmon tartare topped with a quail’s egg
These were the sensation of the day. How else would you present a Caprese salad but in a crisp sweet biscuit dough with pepper cone? No one could get enough of them
Tiny porcini mushroom, blue cheese and pine nut filo parcels
And the Springbok bitterballen also earned loud applause
Clive Torr CWM with Rolf Zeitvogel, MD and cellar master at Blaauwklippen
Time to take our seats at the very long table
And on the table were the magnums of the winning wine. Were they not giving the game away early? No, these special bottles had no back label, so we couldn't guess the blend or the winners
Rolf tells us about the competition this year. 84 wine clubs entered in this, the 34th year of the competition. “We challenged the clubs to produce a serious, well-structured red blend, with ageing potential, consisting of Zinfandel 2016, Cabernet Franc 2016, Merlot 2016, Petit Verdot 2016 and Shiraz 2016”, explained Rolf. “Each year we are surprised by the popularity of this battle we created for amateur wine tasters and lovers and this year was no exception, with a rise of 16% in entries!” says Zeitvogel. “This is proof that we have a winning recipe, the true art of tasting and blending wines, sharing it with local and international amateur wine lovers and, in the process, educating while everyone is having fun.”
Judges for this year’s competition were Blaauwklippen's winemaker, Narina Cloete, Mark Norrish of Ultra Wines, Clive Torr CWM, Ligia de Coito of the Wine Desk, Broadcaster Guy McDonald and Karen Glanfield, owner KGB Wine
Lunch began with a glass of the White Zinfandel, which has a nice rosy blush with lots of strawberries and a touch of smoke
This was served with a rich Prawn Bisque with coconut and green chilli, a plain cream bavarois, a scallop and two grilled prawns and some large coriander oil and garlic croutons - rather rusk like. The wine was a very good match
Winemaker Narina Cloete told us that all five of the cultivars supplied to the clubs had to be used in the final blend. All the wines are marked for use in the Blaauwklippen Vineyard Selection range. The Zinfandel was limited to a maximum of 10% of the blends, while the Cabernet Franc was limited to not more than 40% of the total blend. They were asked to create the new Cabriolet flagship wine to drink now and it had to have a potential to age
Then it was time for the four finalist clubs to introduce themselves. First, Kelderhof Winos. It is the name of their estate in Somerset West, Western Cape. They told us that they had 3 pregnancies the week of the tastings, so only the men made the blend
Then the Wine Geeks: Elmarie is from Ida’s Valley, Hans is from Stuttgart (Western Cape entry)
Ruan of Business Time (Western Cape) won Best newcomer last year and was to marry Nanette, who is in charge of the competition, at Blaauwklippen the following day! All the samples are coded so everything is tasted blind, OK. She would not have known it was his entry
and finally Jaco of the Outlanders club in Gauteng
And then the winning wine is opened for us to taste. We were very impressed this year; to be frank, we haven't always been. With incense and vanilla wood, it has berries and whiffs of geraniums from the Zinfandel. On the palate, there are soft, sweet, chewy chalky tannins; it is full of ripe fruit, with hints of violet from the Petit Verdot and a zing from the Zinfandel. It is our Wine of the Week
 The main course was a roulade of beef filled with herb and bread stuffing, a rich and smooth spreadable duck liver mousse (thank heavens we still had some bread on our plates), roasted parsnips, polenta croquettes and three vegetable purées - carrot, beet and pea - with baby carrots
Carrot bottles decorated the plates
Chef told us about how she made the pairings and then introduced all the staff who had made the lunch possible - the waiting staff
who all received loud applause
The first award is for the best newcomer to the Competition and it went to the Kelderhof Winos
And then, keeping us guessing for a while as to what was the winning blend, Rolf announced that the winners of the competition were also the Kelderhof Winos. As the winning wine club, Kelderhof Winos wins various prizes which include wine, as well as glassware from Vitria
The Trophy
Time for dessert. And we moved into the next door room where there were tables filled with these delights. Raspberry mousse cheesecakes
Tiny apple tarts
Passion fruit mousse cheesecakes
Chocolate bombs, very rich and good
And some Blaauwklippen Brandy and the sweet fortified wine Before and After
The Blaauwklippen team and the Gauteng visitors with the engaged pair who will get married the next day
Goats on the farm
Lots of new kids
Beautiful Blaauwklippen manor house in the late afternoon sun

Posted by MENU at 2:50 pm 0 comments

Glen Carlou celebrates 30 years of wine making with the release of their new wines from Johnnie Calitz’s first harvest

We were invited to celebrate this 30th anniversary over lunch, which was paired with the new wines. Glen Carlou is on the Simondium Road in the Paarl vineyards, at the foothills of the renowned Simonsberg Mountain; the road you travel down to get to Franschhoek. Owned for many years by the Hess family, the farm has recently been sold to the Pactolus Consortium, whose chairman is Wayne Pitout, a leading figure in the mobile data industry. We were told, "Today begins a new season at Glen Carlou"
We were from collected the V&A Waterfront by bus, which departed from the V&A Hotel near the Cape Wheel. It was a glorious day
A popular event, especially when they provide transport, which is much appreciated
Glen Carlou's restaurant and tasting room is in a lovely building, built when Walter Finlayson owned the farm. Glass panels in the floor give a view of the underground barrel maturation cellar
Inside this lovely thatched building, tables were set for the event
Ah, twin minds. Neil Pendock and Greg Landman in matching shirts. And no, they didn't consult each other
Time to taste the wines. We began with the Unwooded Chardonnay which has pears and white peaches on the nose and palate, with limes and good minerality. And the 2017 Sauvignon Blanc with an almost muscat perfume on the nose, full of tastes of tropical fruit, guavas and limes from Darling fruit and a long finish. Here Fiona MacDonald, Greg Landman and Sue Wardrop get their first pour
The canapés were superb. Fresh salmon gravadlax with salmon caviar and marinated shaved fennel
Lorna and Dave Hughes enjoying the day and the wine (um, Dave ... is that a beer in your glass? Recovering from last night's Tribute dinner?). It was a beer, from CBC Brewery across the valley
Very fresh oysters and there were also lamb crostini
Time to begin, with MD Johan Erasmus welcoming us. Time to celebrate the 30th Vintage, which is also the first vintage for the new shareholders and winemaker Johnnie Calitz, who joined in December 2016. Today begins a new season at Glen Carlou
An attentive audience
The menu
We had the 2017 Curator’s Collection Sauvignon Blanc next. This was served with a fish rillette topped with radish and served with pressed cucumber and a beetroot ketchup
Next came a small salad of tomato, strawberry and bocconcini mozzarella - the dressing of tarragon and tomato water seemed to be missing as was the seasoning?
It was paired with the delightful 2017 Pinot Noir Rosé which has a nice tongue tingle and lots of strawberries, light and refreshing, a very nice summery wine. It made a good dressing for the salad
Next, a Spring pea soup, poured at the table with a piece of chicken thigh, some crisp chicken skin and some cured bacon bits. Before the pour
and after. A really lovely PPPPP soup. This was served with the six month wooded Curator’s Collection Chenin Blanc, full of golden fruit, tropical flavours and some oxidative lees character at the end
Winemaker Johnnie Calitz talked us through some of the wines. He says that the 2017 Sauvignon Blanc is primary fruit, uncomplicated, to enjoy. The Rosé goes with everything except, perhaps, cocoa pops and the Pinot Noir is made to age in the bottle
A line up of the bottles
The next wine was the Quartz Stone 2016 wooded Chardonnay with wood notes on the nose; it is a lively wine with good peaches and limes, rounded off with wood, an excellent Chardonnay
Our next course was a twice baked Parmesan and gorgonzola cheese soufflé, light as air, with good deep cheese flavours and served with a walnut pesto, dill and an apple and leek slaw
Thank heavens the courses were small, as there were so many of them. The kitchen was doing a sterling job. Next came the slices of beef fillet with grilled asparagus, horseradish, unctuous bone marrow and a lovely jus. It was paired with the 2011 Gravel Quarry Cabernet Sauvignon, with incense wood and cassis on the nose, rich berries, cherries and warm alcohol on the palate. Not long
Dessert was a wobbly and mousse-y lemon cheesecake , served with lemon curd, frozen lemon yoghurt, candied lemon, a nutty crumble .... and olive oil. Served with a glass of 2015 The Welder, Natural Sweet Chenin Blanc. The wine was really good with the lemon sweetness of the dessert. The olive oil got a bit in the way, especially of the sweetness
The end to a marvellous day of great wines, and lovely food. We were able to salute and thank the chefs and the kitchen staff and our serving staff. We can heartily recommend the wines, the venue and the Glen Carlou restaurant
Posted by MENU at 2:15 pm 0 comments

Showcasing Ormonde wines at The Taj Hotel in September

Ormonde wines from Darling are being showcased at The Taj hotel in Cape Town for the month of September. This is a taste teaser for the chef’s pairing dinners with the wine estate’s wines throughout the month. They were presenting their Barrel selection range. Ormonde and The Taj hosted an early evening launch last Thursday evening in the foyer of the hotel and we were invited. The present owner of Ormonde is Theo Basson. The farm is large, 3500 hectares with 380 planted with grapes. They also produce the Alexanderfontein wines. They say "the Darling hills are on contours of an ancient granite intrusion. These molten rocks, forced from the earth to 300m above sea level, guard the Atlantic Ocean while banks of fog roll to the foot of the hills, blessing the vineyard with coolness and moisture". And they produce grapes of such quality that there are many wine farms in other areas that buy these superb grapes for their wines
Adre Rheeder, COO of Ormonde was there to meet and greet the guests
One of two white wines on offer, the 2016 Sauvignon Blanc; typical Darling grapes, tropical guava and hay, a good mouth feel with crisp and dry gooseberries, figs and limes and some soft tannins
The wines were served by one of the Taj staff members to hotel and invited guests
Adre and Samantha Koegelenberg who is responsible for Ormonde's sales and marketing
Canapés were served. This is a version of Caprese salad; pesto tomato and mozzarella on bread
Mini cheese croquettes
The 2014 wooded Chardonnay with whiffs of smoke, golden apricots and hay. An intriguing nose. A good tingle of fruit acid, rich fruit, cooked apples and marmalade, nicely blended with the wood. A food wine of good character. Very quaffable too!
Two premium wines from their collection in a showcase, named after the two grandfathers of the Basson family who own Ormonde. The Ormonde Vernon Basson a Bordeaux style red. Vernon Basson was present owner Theo Basson's grandfather and The Vernon Basson wine is dedicated to their founding principal and grandfather who lived by the creed, "Mediocrity is never an option". The Theodore Eksteen, a blend of Shiraz and Grenache is named for the grandfather and patriarch to his descendants who own Ormonde
There were three good red wines for tasting
Some sauced beef mini sosaties
The Ormonde 2015 Pinot Noir is aromatic and perfumed with cherries and fynbos herbs. The sweet cherry fruit carries over to the palate with the addition of salt and licorice, most enjoyable
The 2014 Ormonde Shiraz has incense wood and spice with raspberries and red fruit on the nose. Dark mulberry fruit, some warmth and more of that salty licorice on the palate. Some grippy tannins which soften to dark caramel toffee wood on the end. Another food wine
The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon is a classic with cassis and violets on the nose and palate, with some dark malt and black cherries. The wood supports in the background

Some beef rolls with carrot and rocket went well with the red wines
and were also good with the Sauvignon
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