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Friday, June 15, 2018

This Week’s MENU. Siris Vintners Trade tasting; Latest wine releases by David & Nadia; Wine Concepts Chardonnay & Pinot Noir Celebration; MENU's Iberian Exploits. Jerez de la Frontera, Córdoba; Broccoli and Blue Cheese Soup; Backsberg Family Reserve White 2017

A courtyard in the Sandeman winery, Jerez de la Frontera

We apologise to those of you who are not wine fanatics. We’ve had a week of wine tastings and we’ve even held two over until next week. But we do have two more Spanish stories for you, Jerez and Córdoba, two lovely places in the Spanish south which started to ease the tensions which developed in Portugal with visa issues, misguided Satnav and, of course, stolen equipment. On a lighter note, we are having some beautiful rain; still not enough to take away the pressure, but the dams are starting to fill and, if we have a wet July (a lot of our problem is because we had a dry one last year), we might see the drought broken

Siris Vintners Trade tasting at the Mount Nelson

Once a year, Siris Vintners holds a trade tasting for their commercial customers. This year, it was held in the Ballroom at the Mount Nelson so there was plenty of space for the many brands they represent

Latest wine releases by David & Nadia

A trip to the Swartland this week to taste the wines of David and Nadia Sadie at their (soon to be opened) new venue in Malmesbury called Bill and Co. which will become a market when the building works are finished

Wine Concepts 8th Chardonnay & Pinot Noir Celebration

Last Friday evening saw us at Wine Concepts' annual celebration of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, held at the Vineyard Hotel. We decided that it was time to emulate the Burgundians and begin with Pinots Noir and then go on to taste the Chardonnays. They say Chardonnay muddies ones palate for Pinots. It was a good exercise for us, as we normally don't have time to taste many Pinots after so many Chardonnays. And there were a lot of wines to taste in the three hours we were there; we could only do a selection

MENU's Iberian Exploit 9. Jerez de la Frontera

If you are planning to travel in this area you need to know that from Seville to Cadiz, our next stop, it only took one and half hours driving. We wanted to see this famous port on the coast, but our experience can be summed up in just a few words from Lynne's notes: motorway tolls, SatNav doesn’t work, reverse, reverse, reverse, green roads, too many roundabouts, council estates, no access, dizzy, stress. They do have a seafront like Sea Point, but not a single café or place to have lunch. We left and headed straight for Jerez, where we had booked an AirBnB for a night - 3/4 of an hour away. We eventually found these 2 competing cafés, five minutes’ walk away, to have some sherry and some supper! One had food, the other football, it was Liverpool 2, Roma 0

MENU's Iberian Exploit 10. Córdoba

The next city on this adventure was Cordoba and our apartment was unusual but lovely. The streets in this old area of Cordoba are narrow, cobbled and ancient. They have very confusing one way systems which are almost impenetrable to those who are not familiar with the area but using our phone we managed to find the place, guided by the voice of our landlady, Arantxa

On the MENU this week Broccoli and Blue Cheese Soup

Quite an easy soup to make and great for dinner parties. One thing that is different about this is that it doesn’t contain any milk or cream. You can add some at the table if you wish.

1 tbsp canola oil - 1 medium onion , finely chopped - 1 stick celery, finely chopped - 1 leek, sliced - 1 medium potato, diced - 1 knob butter – 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock - 1 large head broccoli , roughly chopped, core and stalk removed, chopped and put aside - 140g of good blue cheese, crumbled

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and then add the onion, and fry gently on a medium heat until golden. Add the celery, leek, potato and a knob of butter. Stir and allow to sweat, covered with a lid, for 5 minutes. This really improves the flavours. Remove the lid.

Pour in the stock and add any chunky bits of broccoli stalk. Simmer for 10 – 15 minutes until all the vegetables are soft.

Add the rest of the broccoli and cook for a further 5 minutes. Don’t cook for too long or you will loose the lovely green colour. Carefully transfer to a blender and blitz in batches, until very smooth. Be careful, hot soup can be dangerous in a blender, don’t overfill. Stir in 100g of the blue cheese and liquidize till smooth. Season with black pepper and serve. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

We accompanied our soup with three things, bagel croutons, the other 40 g of blue cheese to sprinkle and crisp dried onions. We served a Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2009 from KWV’s The Mentors range. The Strandveld Sauvignon Blanc would also be a perfect match

Menu’s Wine of the Week. Backsberg Family Reserve White 2017

This wine won the Grand Roche Old Mutual Trophy for the best white blend. It is an intriguing blend of three grapes, two very well-known: a Chardonnay and a Sauvignon Blanc, more often found as single varietals, and nestled in the middle of those two is a Roussane, a grape probably unfamiliar to many, found in the Rhône valley in France, often dry land and very rarely used alone, as it is a very good blending wine. They use it in Crozes Hermitage and in the red Chateauneuf du Pape.

Roussane pulls the other two together and adds something very special. Fresh fruity, layered and with a summery attitude, do try it with food or just on its own. An excellent companion to duck or other poultry, rich creamy sauces or with soft, complex cheeses. We hope it will delight and charm you as much as it did us. With aromas and flavours of rich ripe peaches and apricots, vanilla oak and some spice, it is a wine that just keeps on giving, and will do so for a long while

15th June 2018

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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

Thursday, June 14, 2018

MENU’s Wine of the Week. Backsberg Family Reserve White 2017

This wine won the Grand Roche Old Mutual Trophy for the best white blend. It is an intriguing blend of three grapes, two expected: a Chardonnay and a Sauvignon Blanc, more often found as single varietals, and nestled in the middle of those two is a Roussane, a grape probably unfamiliar to many, found in the Rhône valley in France, often dry land and very rarely used alone, as it is a very good blending wine. They use it in Crozes Hermitage and in the red Chateauneuf du Pape

Photograph courtesy of Backsberg

It pulls the other two together and adds something very special. Fresh fruity, layered and with a summery attitude, do try it with food or just on its own. An excellent companion to duck or other poultry, rich creamy sauces or with soft, complex cheeses. We hope it will delight and charm you as much as it did us. With aromas and flavours of rich ripe peaches and apricots, vanilla oak and some spice, it is a wine that just keeps on giving, and will do so for a long while

Postscript from John:
I thought we had the Wine of the Week in our cellar. This is the 2015 Backsberg Centenary Cape White Blend. Our WotW is the 2017 Backsberg Family Reserve white blend. But we had its 2015 predecessor. Also brilliant. The 2017 was tasted at the Old Mutual Trophy tasting at the CTICC

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MENU's Iberian Exploit 9. Jerez de la Frontera

Before ordering supper, we ordered a Palo Cortado sherry as an aperitif - what else would one choose in the home of sherry? Palo Cortado is a rare variety of sherry that is initially aged under flor to become a fino or amontillado, but inexplicably loses its veil of flor and begins aging oxidatively as an oloroso. The result is a wine with some of the richness of oloroso and some of the crispness of amontillado. Only about 1–2% of the grapes pressed for sherry naturally develop into palo cortado. Interesting! Dark amber, we concluded that, had this been from a better house, the quality might be better. €2.50 a glass

When in Jerez.... After the Palo Cortado apéritif, what else to accompany your Salmorejo but a glass of Fino with a lovely nose, nutty and dry, lean, very typical of the style, and hot with alcohol. €1.40 a glass. Sherry should not be something your Granny keeps on the sideboard for when you visit

Our choices for supper

Bad choice: We ordered Chicharrones de Atun Rojo (pink tuna). It was not tuna, but very overcooked pieces of dry pork belly, also Chicharrones but not what we ordered. (Pity, the tuna may have come fresh from Cadiz). The pork was fatty and full of skin and John does not do those

Just billed as Tapas: Salmorejo is a version of Gazpacho found in every restaurant or bar we saw in Andalusia. Lynne makes it often in Summer, as we love it. Base ingredients are tomato, garlic, sherry vinegar, white bread and olive oil (see our recipe at https://adamastorbacchus.blogspot.com.es/2018/01/this-weeks-menu-recipe-is-cold-soup.html). It is delicious and very refreshing, especially in summer

A dish of potato salad, which was another tapa, rather good

Tempura boccarones (flattened anchovies). This suited John down to the ground, but not Lynne, who hates fish bones and small fishy fish

The bill. Lynne had a tonic water

Up bright and early next morning to visit Sandeman Sherry. We wanted to visit Gonzalez Byass (Tio Pepe) but they don't open till noon. Fortunately, Sandeman opens at 10, so we had a very good cellar tour and sherry tasting there. It is time for Sherry to become fashionable again. It is a wonderful apéritif and a good accompaniment to food. South Africa used to produce some really good examples, but the few that remain cannot compete with the Spanish, sadly

First a tour of the cellars; rows of 600 litre American oak barrels of sherry

The shop

Atmosphere

And Lisa, a guide who spoke excellent English and was very informative, wearing the traditional Sandeman cloak and hat outfit. She knew we were informed, so she added to our knowledge

A Sandeman winemaker drawing sherry from barrels for the inspector, using his "wine thief" to pour with incredible skill to give the wine a bit of air as he pours - sorry it's unsharp, but we came round the corner in the dark cellar and John just pointed and shot! Yes, they do this so expertly, no drips

George Sandeman set up his Port and Sherry business in 1790. These, we were told, are his original tools. Not for torture, for marking the barrels

Some more sherry winemaking tools

A lovely courtyard

Lined with flower pots

The vine pergola in spring, just breaking into bud

Murals with the story of sherry

An illuminated glass fronted barrel where you can see the flor yeast floating on top of the sherry. It is this yeast which gives sherry its special character

A Criadera or Solera system of sherry. The top barrels are the youngest wines; a portion of wine is drawn from the oldest barrel at the bottom, replaced from the younger barrel above and that replaced from the younger barrel above that. So there will never be a vintage sherry; they are all made from a combination of vintages. There can be many layers of barrels

We had a tasting, of course. It costs €15. First a three year Fino, grapey, nutty, dry, soft and crisp. Then a 5 year dry Fino which had more maturity and was warmer and nutty. Then a medium dry, complex Amontillado, shy with nuts and spice on the nose, richness and layers of warm flavour. A 3 year old Oloroso sherry followed with a sweet nose with notes of wood and nice warmth on the palate with nut and apricot flavours; full on the palate, more nuts and Christmas mince pies. Next, a 5 year old Oloroso, raisins, dried fruit, & nuts. Sticky and thick on palate, a dessert wine, with an amaretto biscuit character, to pair with blue cheese, cheese cake and Christmas pudding. And, finally, Pedro Ximenez with raisins, brandy plums, nuts, sweet, velvety rich, perfect for desserts or to add and marinate strawberries or whip into cream (rather like an aged red Muscadel). We bought a bottle of the young Fino because we love it and it is very difficult to find in Cape Town. Sherry has been rather in the shadows and out of fashion in SA. Perhaps we should take another look at it - and do try the real thing

Our companion tasters, Janet and John, were British. They added tapas for another €8 each

The two younger sherries

We were hungry and needed a good lunch rather than Tapas so we stopped for lunch at a bar across the street from Sandeman

Beer is always a good refreshment after sherry, or any other wine tasting

Simple menus like this can deter one as you don't know what the quality will be like

Really good olives and bread came first

Volaores Rellenos - It doesn't look too appetising, but the flavours are great. Squid stuffed with more squid, onions, herbs lemon was quite sour and came with chips

And the herbs were a little bitter

Somehow, Gambas al Aillo sounds more exotic and romantic than Shrimp scampi. Becoming a favourite, shrimps rather than prawns in olive oil and lots of garlic. So good to use the bread to soak up the juices. Lunch with a beer and a tonic cost about €14

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Siris Vintners Trade tasting at the Mount Nelson

Once a year, Siris Vintners holds a trade tasting for their commercial customers. This year it was held in the Ballroom at the Mount Nelson so there was plenty of space for the many brands they represent

Megan Parnell and Shane Mullis showing their Claudia Brut from Domaine des Dieux, best bubble of the evening

Also of special note and top marks was the Groote Post Darling Hills Shiraz; sweet fruit, a full, rounded palate, spice and salty licorice on the end

David Nieuwoudt showing the wines he makes for The Berrio to Mark Herd of Sunset Beach Wines. The Sauvignon Blanc knocked our socks off. One for the summer

Fanus Bruwer of Quando has such a good selection. If you have a small list, these wines would fit perfectly

A top Sauvignon Blanc, a versatile Chenin Viognier blend that is magic with food, a lovely cherry berry Mourvèdre rosé just asking for a summer lunch and a Pinot Noir of note. His Mourvèdre rosé is currently sold out, but more will be coming soon, hopefully

Pete de Bruin of The Food Barn with broadcaster Jon Meinking

The shiny crew. Ad and Johan Wegner of GetWine with Pete de Bruin

Maia Bezuidenhout was showing the revived Lievland estate's wines. They had a horror: just as Maia was about to pour some of their Cabernet for John, someone used the just-filled decanter as a spittoon. It held their last bottle

We think the labels need a little more love on them. Hearts and flowers

Linda and Lydia Nobrega of the Chapman's Peak Hotel with fellow wine merchants Vaughan Johnson, famous in the V&A Waterfront for 30 years, and Mario de Biasio of Norman Goodfellow's

Wynand Grobler and Duncan Stuart of Rickety Bridge. Their "The Road to Santiago" Semillon really impressed as did the Cabernet Sauvignon. And no, we have no idea why the Semillon has that name. Wynand also makes the Landau de Val Semillon for Basil Landau - another benchmark wine in the Cape

Some snacks that went very quickly

Doolhof’s wines from Wellington. The Malbec has been a favourite of ours for a long time

The Mullineux table is always popular. The Old Vine white is complex and herbal, The Syrah intense. The Straw wine is pure honey with cherries, the Chenin classic with a dry finish. Their Swartland rouge is complex, fruity, soft and layered, definitely a food wine and very reasonably priced

Nico and Petra van der Merwe's daughter pours her father's wine. The Syrah is complex with sweet fruit and licorice

The Nicolas MCC

Anura has a good selection and a 2013 MCC in their reserve range. The excellent sauvignon blanc has incorporated Darling fruit for years but, we were told, now has Stellenbosch fruit as well, from vineyards high on the hill

Colyn Truter was showing Lourens van der Westhuizen’s Arendsig wines

The Arendsig Chenin blanc is awesome, full rounded and delicious. The Grenache is chewy and correct, very true to the varietal

Lynne and an old friend, Victor Mangala, now working at the Bay Hotel in Camps Bay

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