.

Friday, March 23, 2018

This Week’s MENU. Pinotage and Biltong Festival, Lanzerac Harvest Day, Muratie Harvest Festival, Prawn curry, Villiera Barrel Chenin

The freedom of flight – Kelp gulls off Strandfontein

One thing you never hear anyone say in the Western Cape: “Damn, it’s raining!” Right now, the spirits are lifted, a steady, soft, soaking rain is falling; the pipe from our gutters to the fish pond is sending a largish trickle to bring a little relieving fresh water to our embattled koi whose home has about half its proper content. This has been a Festival week. We have been to Harvest festivals at two historic wine estates and to a preview of a very popular, very South African Festival which will take place mid next month. We will miss it as we will be in the Iberian environment. So, click on the links below to see what it’s all about

Lanzerac Harvest Day
Pinotage and Biltong Festival Media Briefing
Celebrating the Harvest at Muratie
MENU's Wine of the Week is yet another beautiful Chenin Blanc
On the MENU this week. Prawn and Tamarind Curry

Lanzerac Harvest Day

It is Harvest time in the winelands, so we were up early to get the arranged transport to Lanzerac in Stellenbosch (for which we are very grateful) and warmly welcomed on arrival by General Manager Barend Barnard

Pinotage and Biltong Festival Media Briefing

This year's festival will be held on the weekend of the 14th and 15th of April at Perdeberg Wine Cellar in Voor Paardeberg, easy to get to: down the N1 and turn off at the R44, then left at Windmeul Cellar. Tickets are available in advance from www.plankton.mobi or www.computicket.com at R200 (and R230 on the gate depending on availability). You will get a wine glass to keep, and can taste 18 Pinotages that have been paired with 18 biltong flavours, which will be marked off the card as you taste them. The wine farms involved will also be bringing other wines and you can taste these as well at no charge. There will be live music, food trucks, craft beers, cheese platters and a play area for children. Sounds like a wonderful day. Dress code is purple and white. Saves having to wash out any Pinotage splashes!

Celebrating the Harvest at Muratie

An annual event we really look forward to, this Harvest is worth celebrating. We had a lot of fun, as did everyone else who attended. In a very difficult year for the wine industry because of the drought, most farms are producing slightly less because yields are down and there are smaller grapes, but they are getting very good quality. The wines are looking good. However we must have rain this winter; if we don’t, next year's harvest is doubtful.

MENU's Wine of the Week is yet another beautiful Chenin Blanc.

This is the Villiera Traditional Barrel Fermented Chenin Blanc 2017. Rich on the classic Chenin nose; on the palate it starts shyly, then suddenly blossoms out and grows in depth and fruit, showcasing just how versatile and enticing Chenin with a little wood can be.

Full of golden fruit, pineapple, peach, lemon, honey, some subtle spice and with just a little toasted vanilla wood, it shows lees and some minerality. Perfect for food and so quaffable. 4 months in oak barrels, 20% new French, the rest 2nd fill, given regular batonage to the lees and fermented with natural yeast. We predict that this wine is going to win more awards; it already has two. It will age beautifully. Get some soon. R129 on the farm. Platter gives it 4½ stars

On the MENU this week. Prawn and Tamarind Curry

3cm piece of ginger - 1 onion - 2 cloves of garlic - 150 g ripe tomatoes - 3 T vegetable or coconut oil - ½ t black mustard seeds - ¼ t fenugreek seeds - 12 fresh or dried curry leaves - 1 t chilli powder - 1 t ground coriander - ¼ t ground turmeric - 1 T tamarind pulp - 12 peeled king prawns - sea salt - 1 x 400 ml tin coconut milk - 2 dried red chillies - 1 fresh green chilli if you want more heat

1 T = Tablespoon 1 t = teaspoon

Peel and finely chop the onions, crush the garlic. Grate the ginger and chop the tomatoes.

Heat 2 Tablespoons of oil in a frying pan and, when it’s almost smoking, add the mustard seeds, the fenugreek, ginger and the curry leaves. Fry for a few seconds, then add the onion and the garlic and cook over a medium heat until golden.

Add the chilli powder, coriander and turmeric, and stir for a few seconds. Add the tomato and tamarind. Simmer until slightly reduced and you can start to see oil separating from the sauce.

Add a few tablespoons of water to get the sauce back to the consistency it was before, season with sea salt. Simmer until the sauce is quite dry. Then add the coconut milk and the prawns; bring back to boil and turn the heat down to low till the prawns are cooked. Taste and adjust the seasoning. This makes quite a chunky curry. If you want it smooth, and we do, just put in your stick blender and blitz to the desired consistency BEFORE you add the prawns. They only take a minute or two to cook.

In another pan, heat 1 tablespoon of oil, the chillies and remaining mustard seeds and curry leaves. Fry for 10 seconds or so, then tip into the curry. Serve with steamed rice, some atchars and a sweet chutney which will temper the tartness that the tamarind brings.

We enjoyed it with a 2016 Chenin blanc from De Wet cellar, a previous Wine of the Week

14th March 2018

Subscribe to MENU

PS If a word or name is in bold type and underlined, click on it for more information

Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656 4169

Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005

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,

This Week’s MENU. Simonsig tasting, lunch at Glenelly, Villiera Trade tasting, A visit to Cape Point Vineyards and lunch at the Food Barn Deli, Breakfast at Shift Coffee bar, Spanish seafood rice, Saronsberg Full Circle

A Sea Point sunset - and a new moon

Late again! Blame it on the visa issuing agency VFS who have rejected John’s visa application for a lack of nitpicking detail in the paperwork. Finally managed to get it accepted this morning on the third attempt. The time taken to put together all the minute details of our plans is extraordinary.

Another wonderful week of spending time with good friends and taking them to some of our favourite places. Beautiful weather as we expect of the Cape in late summer, while we try not to be jealous of the excessively rainy weather our Johannesburg family is “suffering” and at the same time commiserate with winemakers who have just returned from ProWine in cold, icy, snowbound Dusseldorf. Greener on the other side of the hill…? Not really

Spoiled wonderfully at Simonsig followed by a Birthday lunch at Glenelly

We mentioned to Johan Malan last week that we planned to bring our Dutch friends to Simonsig this week, on our way to attend our friend Peter's Birthday lunch at Glenelly. And they really pushed the boat out for us at Simonsig and made it such a special day for us and especially for Peter

On the Town with Villiera

Some wine farms, intelligently, showcase their wines at a town venue so that the trade can taste quickly and efficiently without having to drive out to the farm. If you are restaurateur, sommelier or wine retailer, taking time out is not easy, and using your day off to visit farms is nice, but people have lives to sort out. Villiera held their trade tasting last week at the Cartel Rooftop Bar in Waterkant Street and we had a very warm welcome from Cellarmaster and co-owner Jeff Grier, CWM

A visit to Cape Point Vineyards and lunch at the Food Barn Deli

Another jaunt to the winelands to show our visitors yet another stunning view, taste some wine and eat a light lunch. The view over the vineyards from Cape Point Vineyards is spectacular – Noordhoek’s Long Beach is one of the longest beaches in the country. Here you can visit the Thursday evening market where we used to work, have a meal in the restaurant or order a picnic and have it on the lawns. We stopped to admire the view and then told two young men in the small shop that we were going off to the winery to do a wine tasting ......

Breakfast at Shift Coffee bar

We have not been out for breakfast for ages and wanted to get together with good friends we haven't seen for a while. The original plan was to go to Jason's in Green Point but when we got there we discovered he closes on Sunday (Memo to self - always check the web site first. ) We wandered along the road knowing we would find something open in this area and one of the signs above the door told us this was possibly the place for us. It read "Death Before Decaff!" and we agree

On the MENU this week. Spanish Seafood Rice

A winemaker friend recently told Lynne how much he looks forward to her weekly recipes because it helps him sort out Sunday lunch! Very flattering. He wants us to put together a cook book from our past recipes, which we have been publishing weekly since 2003. It is something we have had in mind for many years, but the time involved has just slipped away. Maybe this winter.

As it is Harvest time and winemakers are very busy, this week's recipe needed to be simple and quick. Which set her thinking of a delicious one pan dish for a late summer Sunday lunch. This is not a paella, just a good seafood and rice dish, quick to prepare. If you don't eat seafood, you could use a firm fish like kingklip or monk fish cut into cubes. If you can't find dry sherry, you could use a semi sweet sherry (but not full cream!) or 100 ml dry white wine

1 T olive oil - 1 large onion, finely chopped - 2 cloves of garlic, crushed - 1 large red pepper, deseeded and sliced – 100 ml dry sherry - 400 ml tomato passata - 1 bay leaf

1 t sweet smoked Spanish paprika - 1 cup of rice - a 500g packet marinara mix - salt and freshly ground black pepper - 1 T flaked almonds - 1 T chopped flat leaf parsley - 1 hardboiled egg, sliced

Fry the onion and garlic in the oil till just transparent, then add the pepper and fry until it starts to take on some colour. Pour in the sherry and boil rapidly till reduced by half then add the tomato passata, the bay leaf, paprika and the rice. Allow to simmer, covered, until the rice is just cooked, stirring a couple of times and adding more water if it seems dry. Then add the marinara mix, season, cover with a lid and steam for 3 to 4 minutes till it is cooked. Sprinkle with the almonds, parsley and egg slices and serve.

1 T = 1 Tablespoon 1t = 1 teaspoon

MENU's Wine of the Week. Saronsberg Full Circle 2013

A blend of 89% Syrah with some Grenache, a little Mourvèdre and a splash of Viognier. We had this with a rich, deep-flavoured cassoulet when we had friends to dinner last night. It was a perfect match. The confit duck in the cassoulet (from Woolworths) was quite spicy, which added a rich spice note to the dish. The wine matched it beautifully. Plum fruit developing to a rich, dark cherry flavour at the end with the Viognier giving a lightly peachy overtone. Very complex and intense flavours. A very satisfying wine. Treat yourself and buy it to put away for a few years. The current 2015 will drink well now but will certainly improve. The 2013 still has years of life ahead if we can resist drinking the remaining bottles. It is expensive at around R400 to R450, but the quality justifies the price. Platter gives it 4½ stars, #Winemag Rating: 91/100

23rd March 2018

Subscribe to MENU

PS If a word or name is in bold type and underlined, click on it for more information

Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656 4169

Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005

Thursday, March 22, 2018

On the MENU this week. Spanish Seafood Rice

1 T olive oil - 1 large onion, finely chopped - 2 cloves of garlic, crushed - 1 large red pepper, deseeded and sliced – 100 ml dry sherry - 400 ml tomato passata - 1 bay leaf -

1 t sweet smoked Spanish paprika - 1 cup of rice - a 500g packet marinara mix - salt and freshly ground black pepper - 1 T flaked almonds - 1 T chopped flat leaf parsley - 1 hard boiled egg, sliced

1 T = 1 Tablespoon 1t = 1 teaspoon

RETURN TO MENU

Subscribe to MENU

MENU's Wine of the Week. Saronsberg Full Circle 2013

Plum fruit developing to a rich, dark cherry flavour at the end with the Viognier giving a lightly peachy overtone. Very complex and intense flavours. A very satisfying wine. Treat yourself and buy it to put away for a few years. The current 2015 will drink well now but will certainly improve. The 2013 still has years of life ahead if we can resist drinking the remaining bottles. It is expensive at around R400 to R450, but the quality justifies the price. Platter gives it 4½ stars, #Winemag Rating: 91/100

RETURN TO MENU

Subscribe to MENU

Off to Noordhoek for the day with a visit to Cape Point Vineyards and lunch at the Food Barn Deli

Another jaunt to the winelands to show our visitors yet another stunning view, taste some wine and eat a light lunch. The view over the vineyards from Cape Point Vineyards is spectacular – Noordhoek’s Long Beach is one of the longest beaches in the country. Here you can visit the Thursday evening market where we used to work, have a meal in the restaurant or order a picnic and have it on the lawns. We stopped to admire the view and then told two young men in the small shop we were going off to the winery to do a wine tasting ......

We went to the cellar, a kilometre or so up the road, where we have often enjoyed tastings, only to find that the tasting is actually back at the main farm which we had just left. And it has been for a while. We were a bit put out that the two young men had not stopped us going to the cellar, as they are the people who do the wine tastings next to the restaurant! There is no sign above their door saying “Wine Tastings Here”. Nor does there seem to be a proper wine tasting centre. Strange for a wine farm

Luckily, John bumped into the winemaker Riandri Visser, whom we know and, although she was rushing to get her grapes into the tanks, she took the time to chat to us and said we were welcome to go down to see the cellar. They are making wine in good French oak barrels, but also amphora and concrete eggs. It was a hive of activity and we didn't stay for more than a few minutes. She offered us a tasting of the fresh juice, but we didn't want to take up any more of her time; she was flying to ProWine in Germany the next day to spend two days there and then rush back to finish the harvest

Hunger had now set in, so we found ourselves a table at the Food Barn Deli. The menu is on the blackboard and breakfast is served all day. In the evening, they have a Tapas menu that looks interesting. Second hand books for sale too and, in the shop, lots of local jams jellies, sauces, spice mixes and, of course, the bakery

Caught checking our phones! something you won't see often!

An Eggs Benny with smoked salmon

Enormous hamburgers topped with bacon and cheese, with sauté potatoes R125

An Eggs Benny with mushrooms and spinach

An enormous ciabatta filled with not much smoked salmon, and a garden sized helping of watercress. The dill cream was spread on the top slice with the rather strong capers. And it came with a huge salad, well dressed. R125

The Village Green

We then decided to go back to Cape Point Vineyards for a wine tasting. As they have no tasting room, we had to sit out on the terrace in a chilly, howling Southerly wind that cut through us like a knife. They really need to put up some sort of screen and surely no one is going to sit outside to taste wine in the coming winter?

We were the only people there, other than a large party on the lawn below

This is the "tasting room". No seating and no sign. We thought it was a shop, as it is packed with branded Cape Point Vineyards merchandise and a few bottles and a till

Wines available for purchase and tasting. Three of us tasted the five wines and paid for three tastings. Nicolette bought some wine. They charged us R80 per person tasting, with no refund if one makes a purchase. Hmmm. Well at least they took pity on us and we tasted the last two in the shelter of the 'tasting room' but had to stand, as there is no seating. We really think this is not working and must put a lot of people off. Or people simply miss tasting the wine because its hidden or difficult? We came to the conclusion that they sell most of their wine to people eating in the restaurant. So different from the tasting experiences in the many other wine farms we visit in the Cape. The descriptions by the young man pouring the wines we were given were a little wanting. Never should a wine be described as "harsh" or "high in acid" if you are trying to sell it and his reasons for the development of the characteristics of the wines were quite creative

RETURN TO MENU

Subscribe to MENU

Villiera Trade wine tasting

On the Town with Villiera

Of course we started with the MCC bubblies. Starlight is lower in alcohol at 9.5%. Crisp, with a good zingy edge. The Rosé has a bready nose, an unexpected enjoyable savouriness of marmite, then a pinch of salt and fruit. It has some Pinotage in the blend. The Brut Natural which is a 100% spontaneously fermented Chardonnay has brioche on the nose, and a nice prickle on the palate. The 2011 Monro is the top of their range, a classic rendition, which has spent 5 years on the lees, with 60% Chardonnay, 31% Pinot Noir, 9% Pinot Meunieur and it shows. Beautiful on the leesy nose, long flavours and shows all its components, with some savouriness followed by lots of red berry fruit, then lemon and grapefruit on the crisp end

Tradition is a great name for an MCC and celebrations; it has been around for quite a while and is very popular. A blend of 50% Chardonnay, 30% Pinot Noir, 16% Pinotage, 4% Pinot Meunier, this Non Vintage MCC has brioche and fruit on the nose, is lively and refreshing on the palate with apples and strawberries, a summer celebration

It was a very good spacious venue on a terrace overlooking the city

Time to taste the white wines

The Unwooded Chenin has always been one of Villiera's star wines; it has a classic Chenin nose and is deep and full on the palate with lovely fruit. The Barrel Fermented Chenin 2017 jumps out as a food wine immediately; it is rich on the nose and on the palate it begins slowly then blossoms out and grows in stature. Golden fruit, some soft toast notes, this wine is so quaffable and classy. We predict many more wine awards; it has already won two. The Sauvignon Blanc is full of green pepper and figs both on the nose and palate, our style of Sauvignon Blanc, with a few tropical hints at the end. The Bush Vine Blanc Fumé had gentle smoke on the nose, full on the palate and more wood on the end which will soften with a bit of age

There were plenty of rather good canapés, which kept on coming. Green Catering and Events are one to watch; we were impressed. www.greencatering.co.za. These were crisp cheese filled filo cigars

Huge oysters on ice, some plain, some with a spicy salsa

Huge juicy prawns with a rather warm salsa which some of us removed, as it does get in the way of tasting wine

They don't look very appetising, but they were lovely potato latkes, flame grilled and topped with avo and cheese

Good Paté

Tiny hot meatballs

The 2017 Jasmine, a blend of 50% Moscato Ottonel, 27% Riesling, 23% Gewurztraminer is perfect for spicy food. Lovely scents of rose and jasmine on the nose, complex on the palate with a residual sugar of just 15gm, it ends with spicy floral notes

What shall I try next?

The Grier family has had a farm in Southern France since 2006, when they acquired a 22-hectare vineyard and cellar. Domaine Grier is in the Roussillon region near the town of St Paul de Fenouillet. The wines were available for tasting.

We really like the labels. Alba is a blend of Grenache Gris, and Blanc and they get low yields on the stony vineyard. Whole bunch natural ferment has produced a nose with vanilla wood notes, with spicy fruit. Silky smooth on the palate it opens up to delight one. Ripeness and nice warmth on the end, a wine from the South. Shown here by French intern Bérénice de Gouville

The Rosé from Syrah and Carignan is pretty and floral and very typical of Mediterranean Rosés, light and slightly spritzy, gentle fruit with nice fruit acidity. Close your eyes and you are on holiday in the South of France. The Grenache Noir is perfumed with mulberries, a powerful, intense food wine extraordinaire, fruity and silky, with some smoky wood. Savoury on the end with nice chalky tannins and a dark toast end. Odyssey, a blend of Syrah, Carignan and Grenache, has smoky spice and nice oak notes, with salty licorice, minerality, lovely fruit, dark mulberries, and milk chocolate on the end. Olympus is a blend of 80% Syrah and 20% Grenache from 80 year old vines, so low yielding, spends two years in barrels, but only 20% new oak. It is dark, almost black in colour, spicy fresh fruit and incense wood. On the palate salty licorice, delicious dark berry fruit, minerality and chalky tannins, another food wine

The lonely muso who kept the atmosphere alive but was never intrusive

Villiera’s Red wines, all very drinkable, but the prize for us was the 2007 Cabernet which showed how the current 2015 should develop. Ripe cassis fruit with a touch of mulberry; full-bodied with serious barrel aging giving a subtle cedar note. One to buy and keep for a few years. The Pinotage was a surprise as it was the first we had tasted from Villiera. Ripe plum fruit and no trace of metallic flavour which so often spoils this varietal. Delicious. The Down to Earth range is perfect for every day use. Easy drinking with no faults at an affordable price

Delia Colborne-Hagen, owner of Outsource Marketing and Cathy Grier CWM, who handles the Sales and Marketing. This was a very impressive tasting

RETURN TO MENU

Subscribe to MENU