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Thursday, October 26, 2017

Prescient Chardonnay Report 2017 convened by Winemag.co.za

Another competition from WineMag.co.za. This time with sponsors Prescient and some great local Chardonnays achieved very high marks. There were 11 wines scoring 93 to 95 this year and we tasted them at The Stack in the Gardens. During the disastrous ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) years Chardonnay became popular worldwide and our winemakers, embracing the challenge, planted it. Sadly many, who had not worked with this noble grape before, gave it far too much new wood contact and put many South Africans off drinking it; it was a tough ride for the industry. But times have changed, much more experience has been gained and we now have much success with different styles appearing. Sales are growing and the wine is being enjoyed. It is also winning many accolades from top judges here and worldwide. We can and do grow and make superb Chardonnay

We do find that the three judges prefer quite a linear, leaner style and they did introduce a French Chardonnay into the blind tasting, which we find rather contentious as we cannot produce this style very often and, maybe, we should be lauding and producing wine which speaks to our own climate and terroirs? There were some excellent Chardonnays for tasting. This noble grape, made famous in the Burgundy area of France, has been grown in South African since the 1980s and plantings total 7% of the national vineyard

Making a statement!?

Swopping stories over a beer were Jonathan Snashall, Miles Mossop, André Morgenthal and Christian Eedes

We were all enjoying some MCC bubbles on the terrace before the awards

Lourensford winemaker Hannes Nel

Rose Jordaan of Bartinney Wines

And then it was time for the awards. The top wines were as follows:

Delaire Graff Banghoek Reserve. 2016 Price: R200. Perfume of golden flowers and fruit, honeysuckle and ripe peach, both on nose and palate, with limes and granadilla, wood just in the background and fresh on the finish

Eikendal 2016. Price: R163. Fresh with fennel on the nose, crisp and fresh acidity in layers, heady and enjoyable

Rustenberg Stellenbosch 2016. Price: R175. Golden Chardonnay nose, so enticing. Sweet fruit in layers nicely balanced. Wood just hinting with caramel and smoke

94
Dabar 2016. Price: R97. From Napier grapes. smoky soft fruitm smooth and sliky on the palate with apples, greengages and a fresh ending

93
Evidence 2016. (Sophie & Julien Schaal) Price: R250. Restrained on the nose, familiar, herbal and fresh

Hartenberg The Eleanor 2015. Price: R325. Shy on the nose with vanilla wood. This is the style of Chardonnay we want to drink Golden fruit, buttery, freshness with a tingle on the end. Made for food

93
Holden Manz Barrel Fermented 2016. Price: R225. Perfumed, waxy on the nose, good fruit on the palate initially then wood takes over

Longridge Organic 2015. Price: R165. Perfumed, a charming entry, layers of fruit and wood, caramel apple and limes with a long finish on a woody end.

Paul Cluver Seven Flags 2016. Price: R550. Pure delight, buttery and floral, layers of fruit apple, peaches pineapple with such length. Wood supports not overwhelming.

Tokara Reserve Collection Stellenbosch 2016. Price: R180. Cigar smoke on the nose, Greengage apple and lime on the good palate, freshness on the end

Uva Mira 2016. Price: TBC. Smoky, rounded complete with pears and apples on the nose, butter, lemon and limes with a very fresh finish

There were also some canapés served. Smoked salmon

Beef tartare

Roast beef with horseradish

Small bitterballen and also some arancini balls

Jacqueline Lahoud announced the winners who all received certificates

Morné Vrey of Delaire with judge James Pietersen

Craig Mockford, CEO of Prescient, said that this was their third year as sponsors of this competition, which is in its 7th year. There were 91 wines in the line up and 42 scored 90 or more, which is impressive

Paying attention

Christian Eedes told us that this was the first time the competition was open to all, and not by invitation, as it was previously. And not capped at 60 wines. There was an entry fee of R450 per wine. It is extraordinary how wide the selection is, from light to powerful wines. Producers need to be careful of the wines at these edges, the big wines were not rewarded. The styles are reductive vs oxidative. A little burnt match and steel on reductive is good, but wines should not be pinched on the palate. Oxidative characteristics of apple, honey and nuts are also not rewarded, as the judges find them to be more like Chenin in style. The judges were blown away by the quality, the variation in style and the improvement in the vintages, which just continue to get better

Achim and Hildegard von Arnim of Haute Cabrière. Their wine, Haute Cabrière Reserve 2016,priced at R190, scored a creditable 90 points

Rose having fun after the award announcements

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Wednesday, October 18, 2017

This Week’s MENU. Simonsig Kaapse Vonkel at Aubergine, FNB Top 20 Sauvignons, Broad beans, Perdeberg Dryland Chenin

Wheat fields, clouds and hills in the Overberg

You will have noticed that our last few weeks have been somewhat fraught. Just now, we are enjoying a small respite while we look forward to times which promise to be as frenetic as those just past. So we are taking the opportunity and publishing MENU with just two stories, each of which we believe to have special significance, plus our usual recipe and Wine of the Week before we gird our loins for the fun to come. We live in an exciting, still evolving country. It has some of the most beautiful, very varied, scenery; challenging, but fermenting and constantly developing politics, kept under control by free courts and media and, importantly for us, a very exciting food and wine environment. We do our best to keep you up to date with all of that, so read on and, we hope, enjoy

Simonsig's Best Bubbles with lunch at Aubergine Restaurant

Simonsig Estate was recently crowned top producer at the 16th Amorim Cap Classique Challenge. Last week, we were invited to a tasting of older vintages from Simonsig’s range of Cap Classiques, hosted by cellarmaster Johan Malan. This was followed by lunch at Aubergine restaurant with a paired menu to match these excellent wines. They were innovative pairings by Chef Patron Harald Bresselschmidt, who is one of the most skilled at this difficult art

FNB awards to the Top 10 Sauvignons Blanc 2017

This year the awards were held over lunch at Franschhoek Cellars. We are great fans of this refreshing, crisp white wine that can have many different characters and styles, so we were excited to see which ones have risen to the top this year .

What’s on the MENU this week? BROAD BEANS ON BRUSCHETTA

Broad beans are in season and, if you are lucky enough to find some, this is one of our favourite recipes to try. Easy peasy, no cooking required. You can make toast can't you?

250G shelled broad beans – salt - 1 small clove of garlic – 1 t of lemon juice - a handful of mint & parsley a dribble of olive oil - slices of bruschetta – 1 clove of garlic

Plunge the beans into boiling salted water and cook for no more than 2 or 3 minutes. Drain, refresh with cold water and then slip the beans from their tough outer coating. This is easy to do if you make a small nick in each bean and squeeze. Put them into your blender with the roughly chopped herbs, lemon juice, garlic and olive oil. Blitz them but leave them a fairly rough consistency - you do not want a smooth paste. Taste and add salt. They will make a beautiful bright green spread. Toast the bruschettas on both sides, and wipe the cut edge of a clove of garlic twice across the surface of each. Spread on the paste and enjoy3

MENU's Wine of the Week. The Dry Land Collection Chenin blanc, unwooded 2013 from Perdeberg

We had this wine with one of our favourite suppers, witlof wrapped in ham and cooked in a cheese sauce. Some wines would not cope with the flavours of witlof or the heavy smoked ham and thick cheese sauce. This Chenin not only coped, but it added a lot to the dish.

A refreshing food wine with hints of spice, ginger and honey on the nose and a little petricor, which is rain on hot stones or earth. A tingle on the tongue from pineapple acidity, crisp citrus flavours followed by green melon and pear, lots of layers. John's comment? "It's a bloody nice wine". Often mistaken for another, very expensive, Chenin Blanc.

The current vintage is available from the farm at R110. They also have a barrel fermented Chenin in the same range for R115. Don't forget that Perdeberg has their open day on the 28th of this month, when you can go and sample all their wines and bring cases home with you

18th October 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.

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Menu's Wine of the Week. The Dry Land Collection Chenin, unwooded 2013 from Perdeberg

A refreshing food wine with hints of spice, ginger and honey on the nose and a little petricor, which is rain on hot stones or earth. A tingle on the tongue from pineapple acidity, crisp citrus flavours followed by green melon and pear, lots of layers. John's comment ? "It's a bloody nice wine". Often mistaken for another, very expensive, Chenin Blanc

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What’s on the MENU this week? BROAD BEANS ON BRUSCHETTA

Broad beans are in season and, if you are lucky enough to find some, this is one of our favourite recipes to try. Easy peasy, no cooking required. You can make toast can't you?

250G shelled broad beans – salt - 1 small clove of garlic – 1 t of lemon juice - a handful of mint & parsley a dribble of olive oil - slices of bruschetta – 1 clove of garlic

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FNB Sauvignon Blanc Top 10 2017 Awards

This year, the awards were held over lunch at Franschhoek Cellars

On arrival, all the top 20 wines selected were out for tasting with a programme, so you could, if you wished, vote for your own top 10. Here Siobhan Thompson, CEO of WOSA was tasting the Mulderbosch with Sean Griffiths and next to them was Kevin King with his South Hill Sauvignon Blanc

RJ Botha of Kleine Zalze, who are doing rather well with awards this year, with Marize Uys of Amorim Cork

Lords Wines owner and winemaker Jacie Oosthuizen was there with Jacques, his son, and their Sauvignon

Boschendal winemaker Richard Duckitt and Cape Point Vineyards' marketing manager Anetha Connan

Jax Lahoud of Winemag.co.za with Michael Smith of Highlands Road

Thys Louw of Diemersdal, the current Chairman of the Sauvignon Blanc Interest Group, was found knocking his opening speech into shape

And the MC for the day, Pietman Geldenhuys of "Oppie Stoep" on Cape Net TV, was going through his. He has the best Scottish accent we have ever heard from an Afrikaans speaker

Time to take our seats

The MC began with a long, amusing story or two, in very colloquial West Coast Afrikaans dialect

and he invented a song made up from random words given by different tables; good memory and great fun

Sean Skibbe, winemaker at South Hill in Elgin

On our table we had Rhinofields Sauvignon Blanc from Durbanville Hills, one we buy often

And Lizelle Gerber's De Werf Sauvignon Blanc from Boschendal; this is only sold on the farm

The starter was a crumbed fishcake with a little salad and a slice of lemon. It needed a tartar sauce, but was fresh and crisp

The Trophies

Stephen Claassens, Provincial Head of First National Bank’s Western and Eastern Cape regions opened proceedings. He told us that the Wine industry creates 19 percent of jobs in the Western Cape. Sauvignon Blanc is increasing in production at the rate of 20% a year. We are the largest Sauvignon producers in the world, but only 14th in terms of land use. 7.8 litres of wine are drunk per person in SA annually. We do need to reset the prices both overseas and here to reflect its worth. (Many people in the room were rather surprised that consumption is so low - they know how much wine they drink, but they are all in the industry and make up for the non drinkers). Agriculture in South Africa is a very stable industry which FNB supports and backs. The awards have been sponsored by FNB Business since 2007; the competition has become the country’s foremost platform for Sauvignon Blanc producers

Thys Louw presented his speech in both Afrikaans and English, switching seamlessly. He said that Sauvignon Blanc is the No.1 varietal to achieve worldwide dominance with its flavours, aromas brightness; it is not a shy style of wine. Tannie Elsabé (Ferreira) said to him "Just brag about Sauvignon Blanc". "Easy", said Thys. 7.5 % of grapes grown in South Africa are Sauvignon Blanc, three times more than its closest rival. 21 million litres are leaving the country to be sold abroad, and these are the best quality wines, not bulk wine. There is massive scope abroad. South Africa now needs to grab the attention of the USA market and he asked WOSA to please help with this. There are many new wine regions in South Africa and they plant Sauvignon Blanc first; it is a pioneer

Time for the main course of chicken breast in a cream sauce with new potatoes and spring vegetables. There was also a table salad

Judges' convenor and Sauvignon pioneer Neil Ellis talked about values in the industry. He had encouraged Thys Louw to choose his own panel. The Top 10 jury comprised Neil Ellis, seasoned winemaker and family estate owner, with leading wine writers and judges Christian Eedes and Samarie Smith, as well as winemakers Kobus Gerber and Wilhelm Pienaar, while Morgan Steyn, Cape Winemakers Guild Protégé, joined by invitation to gain tasting and judging experience. They had the task of evaluating 190 entries from 120 participants. Neil said that the beauty of the panel was that it offered diversity of thought, style, objectivity and not personal favourites. Over the last 10 years, the influence of sites and regions has become more important. We must honour our good winemaking, viticulture, styles and sites and the awards do that

Time to announce the top 10 Sauvignon Blancs. First award went to winemaker Sean Skibbe and owner Kevin King of South Hill

Another to Alastair Rimmer and RJ Botha of Kleine Zalze

Richard Duckitt of Boschendal with their trophy

The wine on the table with the trophy

Sean with Trizanne Barnard of Trizanne Signature Wines and Stephen Claassens

The top Ten Sauvignon Blanc winners with their trophies and certificates. They are

· Boschendal De Werf Sauvignon Blanc 2016 – WO Coastal, Lizelle Gerber, represented by Richard Duckitt

· Diemersdal Winter Ferment Sauvignon Blanc 2017 – WO Durbanville, Mari Branders

· Groot Phesantekraal Sauvignon Blanc 2017 – WO Cape Town, Etienne Louw

· Highlands Road Sauvignon Blanc 2015 – WO Elgin, Vanessa Simkiss

· Kleine Zalze Family Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2017 – WO Western Cape, RJ Botha

· Mulderbosch 1 000 Miles Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc (Wooded) 2015 – WO Western Cape, Adam Mason, represented by Sean Griffiths

· South Hill Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc 2016 – WO Elgin, Sean Skibbe

· Stellenbosch Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc 2017 – WO Stellenbosch, Bernard Claassen

· Strandveld Pofadderbosch Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2016 – WO Elim, Conrad Vlok

· Vrede en Lust Artisan Range Blanc Fumé 2016 – WO Elgin, Karlin Nel

Time for dessert before we leave. With coffee, some small, very gooey chocolate brownies

tiny meringues with fruit

and mini panna cottas

And, as we left, we discovered that they now have double-decker tourist trams in Franschhoek

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About us

MENU, our weekly email newsletter, started as an advertising medium for Main Ingredient, our specialist retail grocery business. We opened our Sea Point shop in December 2002 because realised that there was a place in South Africa for a grocer catering to people with sophisticated tastes and needs. We moved the shop on line in 2010, but discontinued it in 2015, having decided that it is time to “retire” and concentrate on our writing, photography and tour guiding. MENU has a wide circulation and is read nationally and internationally.

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