Watching the winter waves
We wish all our Jewish friends everything of the best
for Rosh Hashanah and well over The Fast
The South African Young Wine Awards
were
presented in the Stellenbosch Town Hall this year. It is the oldest wine
competition in the world having been started in 1833. It is always interesting
to taste these wines in their very raw state and so, during the afternoon,
preceding the award gala, we were invited to a hall at The Markotter Sports Centre
at the Paul Roos Gymnasium in Stellenbosch to taste the finalists. It can be
quite heavy going as most of these are tank samples not yet ready for bottling.
The judges must be able to see where a wine might go and what it might become
at this early stage. You need a lot of experience in the industry to do this….
The Annual Trade tasting of John Collins’ list of wines,
held at a favourite venue, Den Anker restaurant in the V&A Waterfront. It
was a superb evening of good wines, John represents a very good list of producers….
This year’s Absa Cape Blend Competition Awards,
run by the Pinotage Association, were presented at a lunch at Lanzerac in
Stellenbosch. We were invited to taste the top 10 finalists first and then, at
lunch, the trophies for the top 5 winners were presented and certificates were
presented to the remaining five finalists. A Cape Blend has to contain a
minimum of 30% and no more than 70% Pinotage, the other grapes can be any the
farms select, which makes this competition very interesting. The event was held in Lanzerac's very smart Cellar Hall….
The launch of Duncan Savage's new Vintages
It’s
his 6th vintage release and we dropped in for a taste of them. Duncan already
had several trade and media people there when we arrived and the "open
door" policy meant the crowd kept changing. It was more formal the
following day, when people could make appointments, with a limit on the number
of guests. The cellar is not large. Duncan ably kept up the pace giving
different people tastings at the same time with
great explanations….
The annual Chenin Blanc Association Top 10 Challenge Awards
were presented at Ellerman House in their spectacular wine cellar. The
challenge drew 113 wooded and 46 unwooded entries, all tasted blind by the
five-member panel, with 27 wines shortlisted for the final top ten line-up. To
quote Ken Forrester, chairman of the Chenin Blanc Association: "Chenin
Blanc has come of age. The versatility of Chenin, its diversity of wine styles
and its great food-friendliness, all point towards its rising acceptance among
local consumers. This is in line with the growing international interest in the
grape, increasingly seen abroad as South Africa’s calling card”. South Africa has more Chenin Blanc under vine….
On the MENU this week. Onion Flan
Lynne needed something good to eat for our
Wine Club meeting this week, but didn’t have any time to go to the supermarket,
it has been so hectic. So it had to be from the store cupboard. There was a
roll of cheese and herb pastry in the freezer, she had cream from Sunday lunch.
We always have eggs and lots of onions. So this was easy and quick. See the whole recipe here
For a prettier photograph, Lynne scattered a sprinkling of rosemary flowers and thyme
MENU’S Wine of the Week. Villiera 2016 Monro Merlot
We tasted this again at a very special
dinner with the Grier family which we will write about next week and it so
impressed us, that it has to be our Wine of the Week. South Africa is not known
for its Merlots, we grow many in the wrong areas, we often pick the grapes too
early and the wines can be tough and harsh. But when they are made carefully
and well they are just beautiful. It is said to be a feminine grape and a wine
that women prefer. We think this will impress both sexes. Monro is their Prestige reserve wine label. More….
7th September 2018
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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2018
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
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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
