Thursday, September 20, 2018

Chenin blanc Beach Party at Grand on the Beach, V&A Waterfront

Now this is what you’d call a good party! Held the day before Cape Wine 2018 began, the Chenin Blanc Association held their party on "the Beach" at the Grand Cafe next to the V&A Waterfront. We were invited to join the party, play and taste some of the best Chenins in the land. We were instructed to wear suitable beach attire and, in the grey and damp week leading up to the party, we wondered what woollen attire would be suitable (long johns with a snorkel were mentioned). But the Cape climate played ball and we had marvellous sunny and warm weather
Welcomed by a marimba band to get us into the mood. It worked.
Malu Lambert and Jan Sleet chatting
A friend with Ina Smith, Manager of the Chenin Blanc Association, which organised the great event
 What would they do without this wonderful woman who tirelessly promotes this versatile grape
A visiting foreign wine delegate tasting at Anthonij Rupert Wines' table 
Ken Forrester, Chairman of the SA Chenin Blanc Association, welcomes us all
David and Nicholas Trafford chat to a guest
Hannelize Mouton of Diemersfontein
Karen Steytler of Kaapzicht in conversation with Fleur du Cap winemaker Pieter Badenhorst
Alastair Rimmer, Cellarmaster at Kleine Zalze, tastes a Ken Forrester wine from a huge bottle
Some of Ken Forrester’s’ lovely Chenin Blancs, including the amazingly fresh 2007
Higgo Jacobs starts off the first Wine Olympics. The teams had to answer a series of questions about Chenin blanc and then participate in a competition to see who could sabrage a bottle of Ken Forrester’s Sparklehorse sparkling Chenin and send the decapitated top of the bottle through a hoop
Guy McDonald of Magic Radio was the MC and tried to keep the contestants under control
Pieter du Toit of Cederberg, aka King Neptune, was judge and jury of this hilarious competition
Attie Louw of Opstal, Sebastian Beaumont and Chris Boustred of Remhoogte
trying to get their answers straight
You can see it in their faces; they don't have a clue about the question. Not many of them did!
We got one right! Celebration. Sommeliers Neil Grant, Kim McBride and a British colleague; Winemakers Attie Louw, Sebastian Beaumont
Kimi Blackadder, Fiona McDonald, Martin Moran MW with those hoops that had to be rolled
Siobhan Thompson & Maryna Calow of WOSA, with Thea van der Merwe of Jordan,
taking a well deserved breather before Cape Wine begins
Guy MacDonald gives instructions about how the obstacle course is to be approached
Alastair Rimmer, Danie Steytler, Siobhan Thompson, Maryna Calow
Lynne enjoying the sun and the very funny entertainment
Next time we suggest flaming hoops for the dogs - oops, contestants to leap through
Pieter du Toit, aka King Neptune, watches the action
Judge Spencer Fondaumiere checking the answers! Sebastian has a problem with that answer...
The line up of warm wines for each team to "Find the Chenin"
Even the staff were amused
Such a laugh! Lynne with Jeff Grier and Lucille Botha
Chris Boustred gets tips from Sebastian Beaumont on finding the seam for Sabrage ...
... and sends that cork flying through the hoop
as does Attie Louw
David Clarke succeeds too
A tandem attempt by Kim McBride and Chris Boustred. They got a previous question wrong and had to go again. The ringed cork came from Chris, but it missed the ring
The teams having fun
MC Guy MacDonald with those really tricky questions about Chenin Blanc
Kimberly McBride, Manager at Salut Wines, Manchester serves us some of the Sabraged bubbles
Chris Boustred with their Remhoogte Chenins
The not-so-younger-generation; Graham Knox and Francois Naude having fun
Jeff Grier makes a very short speech while Anel Grobler listens in the background
Chris Boustred chatting to Jean Daneel. It was a very convivial occassion, very social with rather a lot of chenin consumed rather than tasted. Some of us had a rather tender time next day
Posted by MENU at 10:11 pm 0 comments

On the MENU this Week. Ginger Poached Pears in sweet white wine

This uses a Natural Sweet white wine. We used the Natural Sweet White from the Four Cousins range made by Van Loveren in Robertson. It is non vintage. You’ll find it in Checkers for R40 a bottle. While we sometimes enjoy a sticky, sweet wine after dinner, we do like cooking with it too. Lynne came up with the recipe for entertaining friends who will be coming back to our house after a Chinese meal together. The quantity of pears you use depends on two things: the size of the pears and how many people you are serving. A bottle of wine is enough for six pears with some syrup over for serving
4 or 6 nearly ripe firm pears – a bottle of sweet white wine, e.g. Van Loveren Natural Sweet White – a vanilla pod – 2.5cm piece of fresh ginger root – a pinch of salt – a squeeze of lemon if necessary – 1 spoonful of honey - a jar of maraschino cherries
Peel the pears. Remove the stalks, then halve them lengthways and scoop out the cores with a teaspoon. Arrange the pears, cut side up, in a circle inside a heavy bottomed frying pan with a lid, with the stalk end pointing inwards. Peel the ginger (easy to do with a teaspoon) and cut it into thin slices
Add enough of the wine to cover the pears and add the vanilla pod, the ginger slices and a pinch of salt. If your wine is not very sweet, add a dessertspoon or two of honey if necessary. Bring slowly to the boil, then turn down the heat and let it simmer gently for 15 minutes with the lid on. Then, carefully turn the pears over and continue cooking until the pears are just tender – about 15 more minutes. Check your syrup – it should be light, not reduced, and sticky; add more wine if it starts to become too thick. And taste and add more honey if it needs it. Add a dash of lemon if you find it is too sweet – sometimes the pears can add lots of sweetness. The pears will add their own beautiful flavour to the delicate syrup
When the pears are just tender, turn the heat off and, leaving the lid on, let the pears cool in the pan. They will continue cooking and give out more of their juices as they steam
Discard the ginger slices and the vanilla pod. Arrange the pears on a serving dish, cut side up. Put a maraschino cherry in the middle of each and surround them with some of the syrup. Serve chilled or at room temperature, accompanied by more syrup, whipped cream or thick Greek yoghurt
Posted by MENU at 9:54 pm 0 comments

MENU's Wine of the Week. Bellevue Estate Sauvignon blanc 2017

A classic Sauvignon Blanc with green peppers, elderflower  and some passion fruit on the nose.  Crisp and tangy, the flavours echo what is on the nose with the addition of some pineapple and litchi, cleansing the palate and adding enjoyment to food.  Long flavours, this wine is forward and easy drinking
R75 from the farm
Bellevue currently has a September Special for their 2018: Buy 5 Bellevue Sauvignon Blanc 2018 and get one bottle of Muscat d’Alexandrie 2018 added to fill your box! Was R430, now only R375. Check out their website https://bellevue.co.za/bellevue-shop/
Posted by MENU at 9:15 pm 0 comments

Sushi lunch at Fortune House, Sea Point

To our distress, our favourite Sea Point Chinese restaurant, Dynasty, has recently changed hands and has been re-named. We were looking for an alternative. Lynne found an offer on Hyperli that was hard to refuse, so we bought our coupon and headed to Fortune House for lunch this week. It is on Main Road, near the corner with Hall Road, on the beach side of the road
A bit dark inside, but there was a regular string of people ordering takeaways and several people eating in the restaurant. It is also on Mr Delivery. We asked a local what the sushi was like and she said "very good"; they order it almost weekly. Prices are reasonable
A bit night clubby, but clean and comfortable
We discovered that our waitress, Joyce, was previously employed at Dynasty
The owner is also the chef; he was very obliging and was busy making the sushi
They do not have a licence, so we took along our own wine, 
a 2015 Sea Salter Sauvignon blanc Semillon blend from Groote Post
It is crisp and full and has hints of the sea
It is a very good match to sushi
We had a plate of 30 pieces of sushi, all made there and then, with very fresh fish and excellent rice
The cost of the voucher for this was R110 and it certainly was enough for 2 people to share 
To Lynne's delight, they do not use cucumber. This offer is not on their regular menu,
but there are many different options to choose from, including several platters
We heard someone ordering dim sum dumplings, so we had to try them. You get 10 in a serving, according to the menu, but they brought us 11 with a good dipping sauce; you can have plain steamed or steamed and fried. These are the latter and the content was beef. They also have chicken. They are good and are nice and filling
A close up of a delicious dumpling
Our bill for the dumplings. We will be going back soon to try some of the other menu items
We were impressed
Posted by MENU at 6:39 pm 0 comments

Friday, September 14, 2018

This Week’s MENU. Pinotage on Tap, Spring and Summer tasting, Balducci vegan menu, Villiera Clan launch, Carrot & ginger soup, Kumusha blend

Winter beach walks

We’ve had a week of interesting events, food and wine and it has culminated in Cape Wine, the triennial exposition in which South Africa’s wines are on show to the world. It will end tomorrow and we will report next week on the show and on some wonderful recognition which has been given to this country’s wines. We’ve also had more lovely, gentle rain – the sort which would have had us cursing the cold and wet discomfort a few years ago, but is now a cause for celebration as we see the average level of our reservoirs reaching toward 70%; great happiness after a three year drought. Signs of spring are all around with lovely spring flowers appearing at the road sides. We’ve enjoyed them all and we hope you’ll enjoy seeing them here…
Pinotage on Tap 2018 at Diemersfontein Wine Estate    
This lovely festival at Diemersfontein was graced with beautiful weather in what had been a rather wet week. We hadn’t attended for a while so accepted the invitation with glee. We parked in a huge flower meadow which had some lovely spring flowers to admire

A tasting of wines for Spring and Summer
presented by Cabo Esperanca, Ex Animo and Raath Promotions. Four young wine Entrepreneurs got together last week and held a joint trade tasting of the wines they represent. It was a fun evening, with far too many wines to taste!

New Chef's Vegan Table at Balducci    
Balducci restaurant in the V&A Waterfront now has a Vegan menu, in addition to their normal menu, and we were invited to sample some of it at a media event last week. It seems that there is a growing demand for vegetarian and vegan food in the Cape and, when they introduced it after many requests, they were very encouraged by the uptake. We are not vegetarian or vegan, but we have friends who are and we do enjoy eating this sort of food if it is well made. We are a little anti vegan food masquerading as meat. Be true to yourself; if you crave it, eat it. We met three of the owners of the Slick restaurant group, who joined us for dinner. They also own Balducci Asian Noodle and Sushi Bar, Belthazar, Gibson’s and Walters Grill

Villiera Special Release Launch at The Stack     An elegant evening with the Grier family of Villiera, held to launch their new premium wine The Clan. It was held at The Stack in Gardens. We were welcomed with a glass of their Monro Brut
On the MENU this week. Carrot And Ginger Soup    
This week’s recipe is suitable for Vegans and Vegetarians, as well as the omnivores.  It has lovely flavours and is then made more exciting by the addition of the sushi ginger hidden in each bowl

MENU’S Wine of the Week. Kumusha 2017 Red blend,
The wine of renowned Sommelier Tinashe Nyamudoku. We tasted this wine for the first time today at Cape Wine, the wine exposition which is held by WOSA at the CTICC every three years. We learned from Tinashe that the two wines in the blend were made by Attie Louw on the farm Opstal in the Breedekoof Valley and then blended by Tinashe. He wanted a blend that would go with food and we think that he has achieved this very well. It is available…
14th 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

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
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