A southern red
bishop (Euplectes orix) in a bamboo thicket, Wildekrans Estate, Bot River,
Western Cape
The madness continues. This is truly a “silly
season” when we speak of the huge number of activities happening in the Cape’s
food and wine environment. We had a most enjoyable weekend at Bot River with
fellow members of our wine club which meant that we missed the Veritas Awards and an
invitation to lunch with members of the Elgin Valley’s Chardonnay Colloquium. We believe
that one does not renege on a commitment made, even though other, later
invitations might be very attractive. Not that we have been short of
activities, as you can see below. Next
week, we'll tell you of a sparkling lunch at a great restaurant, an important
wine awards event and an environmental accolade amongst others, so we hope you’ll
enjoy this week’s stories and come back next week....
- Michael Hans “Spatz” Sperling (1931-2017)
- Catherine Marshall Wines tasted with lunch at Ellerman House
- Tasting the Sommeliers’ Selection in Cape Town
- Dinner at Forage; Wildekrans Estate, Bot River
- A Lovely Lunch at The Restaurant, Newton Johnson
- The Hard Rock Café returns to Cape Town and opens in Camps Bay
- MENU's Wine of the Week. Catherine Marshall Peter's Vision 2015
- What's on the MENU this week? Broad bean, Bacon and Parmesan risotto
A giant of the South African wine industry
has left us. Spatz came to the Cape from Germany in 1951. He joined his uncle
Hans Hoheisen and his aunt Del on the Delheim farm where he started to
experiment with wine making, eventually adding to his knowledge by consulting
with established winemakers. His first wine Spatzendreck, a natural sweet, was
tasted by a friend who pronounced it “dreck”. He bottled it with a picture of a
sparrow relieving itself on the label and it has been a favourite dessert wine
for many aficionados ever since. Sperling is the German word for Sparrow and
Spatz is the colloquial equivalent
Spatz, Sydney Back of Backsberg and Frans Malan of
Simonsig founded the Cape Estate Wine Producers Association when there were
very few independent wine estates in South Africa. They were also the driving
force in transforming wine estate legislation. The 1973 Wine of Origin system
was largely the result of their combined efforts. He was also a pioneer
producer of quality red blends and, together with Frans Malan and Neil Joubert
of Spier, was a founder member of the Stellenbosch Wine Route. He also had an
important role in the establishment of the Stellenbosch Bottled Wine Show and
Food and Wine Festival. Pioneers like Spatz laid the foundation for the modern
South African wine industry and we are all in debt to his spirit, hard work and
enterprise. Our sympathies go to his wife Vera and his family. We celebrate his
many achievements and we wish them long life
Catherine Marshall has been
making wine now for 20 years! We all remember her first Barefoot wine, but
making wine for this long matures one and her wines have changed, evolved and
emerged as some of the best South Africa produces. We were delighted to be
invited to taste them last week. Ellerman House is one of the best boutique
Hotels in South Africa, with one of the best wine cellars, and a renowned art
collection. We have been invited for wine tastings before; this time it was to
be lunch
We
were recently at the Sommeliers’ Selection announcements in Stellenbosch. This
week we had a chance to taste them all at The Stack in Gardens. And what a
popular tasting it was with members of the restaurant and hotel fraternity, the
wine trade and media. You can see the 2017 Sommeliers Selection here: http://www.thesommeliersselection.co.za/2017/06/the-sommeliers-selection2017.html
The
last time we stayed at Wildekrans in Bot River, chef Greg Henderson had just
arrived to open Forage restaurant. A year later, we returned with most of our
wine club in tow to stay in the Lodge for the weekend and have dinner in the
restaurant on Saturday night. There were 18 of us seated at three tables. Forage
has been gaining a reputation for interesting modern food and it is located in
an area rather barren of fine dining
We
were invited this week to the media launch at the Hard Rock Café, the day
before it officially opened. Lynne has very fond memories of the London Hard
Rock, the first one as, when it opened in 1971, she was working at Universal
Pictures, which was next door at No 1 Piccadilly. Yes, there were long queues
to get in and yes, you did see lots of celebrities when you eventually got in. Loads
of Rock and Roll memorabilia on the walls. And they always had very good
hamburgers. We were keen to see if and how the concept has changed in 46 years!
The
wine everyone raved about at Catherine Marshall's Ellerman House tasting. It
has been nominated for 5 stars in this year’s Platter Guide. Announcements will
be at the Platter launch on the 4th of November. Peter's Vision 2015; a blend
of 87% Merlot (an Italian clone) from Shannon and 13% Cabernet Franc (a French
clone)
From Elgin, on the left hand side of the N2.
Berries were hand sorted. Lead pencils, rhubarb, mulberries, cherries, savoury
and herbal. On the palate, layers and layers of rich, ripe red and black fruit,
elegance, wood and soft chalky tannins and some caramel, with plums in brandy
enrobed in chocolate on the end. A WOW wine. This is dedicated to Pete Oxenham,
Cathy's late partner, son Jonathan's (Jonno) dad who, sadly, died of cancer
What's on the MENU this week? Broad bean, Bacon and
Parmesan risotto Lynne was given a generous supply of broad
beans this week and this was the first chance we had to eat them. She has been
depodding them for hours and many have gone into the freezer
This recipe is Lynne's adaptation of one from the
River Café Easy cookbook. We had all
the ingredients in the house, so it was simple to make and really good. The
Fontina cheese is optional, but it does add a lovely creamy stickiness to the
risotto. You could make this vegetarian by leaving out the bacon and using a
good vegetable stock. You will need to season
1.5 litres chicken stock - 2 or 3
rashers of streaky bacon - 1 small onion, finely chopped - 1 clove of garlic,
finely chopped - 10 ml olive oil - 10 g butter – 100 ml dry white wine - 250 g
Risotto rice - ½ kilo young broad beans (out of their pods) - 50 g grated
Parmesan - 30 g cubed Fontina cheese - 50 g butter
In a large pot, heat the stock. In another pot,
melt the butter with the olive oil. Cut the bacon into 1 cm strips and add to
the butter. Fry gently for a minute or two, then add the onion and the garlic
and fry for another minute until they are transparent and softening, but not
browning. Pour on the white wine and
bring to a rapid boil to reduce it by half and burn off the alcohol. Turn down the
heat, add the rice and coat it well in the remaining sauce. Add two ladlefuls
of the stock and the broad beans. Add more as the rice begins to absorb it. Stir
and continue adding stock and stirring occasionally until the rice is cooked -
takes about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the butter and then both
cheeses. Taste, season if required and serve
12th October 2017
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017
Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656 4169
Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005
If you like the photographs you see in our publications, please look at our Adamastor Photo website for our rate card and samples from our portfolio
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.
