Thursday, November 22, 2018

The 2018 Elim Wine Festival

We were glad we could get to the annual Elim Wine Festival this year; it was it was an easy detour on our way home from Robertson. We love the area, but it is rather far from Cape Town. The day, thankfully, began with a bit of cloud, which kept the temperature down. The weather forecasts had been promising temperatures in the 40s; it stayed comfortable all day. It was held at Black Oystercatcher winery, which has a great spacious venue
They had lots of canopies for shade and quite a lot of seating and tables
Inside the restaurant, we tried some Sijnn wine from Malgas, owned by David Trafford,
and chatted to the winemaker Charla Haasbroek
And then to the Black Oystercatcher stand to taste the wines and chat to Annemie Adriaanse
The seating inside the restaurant was popular
Time to attend the Master class tasting of some older wines from the area. This was held in the wine cellar. And gave us some more "Wines we wish we had bought then and kept". As we keep thumping on our drum, South African white wines do need time and are worth keeping. This tasting certainly showed us some beauties. We were so impressed with the Adamastor 2008 that we made it our wine of the week last week, alongside its younger 2016 sibling. A blockbuster of a nose with tinned asparagus, this is a BIG wine. Golden fruit with soft warm alcohol, nice minerality and long flavours. A complex food wine. Still fresh, too. Amazing for a 10 year old white wine The Ghost Corner Wild Ferment 2013 was full of Asparagus and fynbos clean and crisp with lovely fruit, long flavours and a winner of awards. The Black Oystercatcher 2008 Sauvignon Blanc with its green pepper and asparagus nose, still had some honey and lime on the palate. The reds were also excellent. Two particularly impressed. The Strandveld Syrah 2006 has 7% viognier which softens it. Some tomato cocktail, balsamic aromatic nose, soft sweet berry fruit, chalky tannins, lots of fruit; silky soft with a shake of black pepper on the end. And finally, the pinnacle was the Sijnn Red 2008, a blend of Shiraz, Mourvedre, Touriga and Trincadeira, which we confess we did not understand when we first tasted it on release. Now it has spice, red berries; complex and foreign on the nose with violets and perfume. Superb flavours of perfumed red and black berries; so full and elegant, so amazing, so delicious
The line up of bottles
Going through the wines with Conrad Vlok of Strandveld Wines
Jean Daneel also had two of his wines in the tasting. First, the 2012 Signature Chenin, from 66 year old bush vines in Paardeberg, the wine is dusty with wood smoke, melon peaches and herbs on the nose, Peaches apricots and nuts on the full warm palate. And then his 2009 Signature Cabernet Merlot Cab Franc Shiraz red blend. This was so fruity and layered with chalky tannins. It tastes like a classic Bordeaux, despite the addition of the shiraz. A food wine. Next to Jean is Hannes Meyer, winemaker at Lomond and Pierre Rabie of The Giant Periwinkle, whose Blanc Fume 2013 also impressed. Slight smoke, very elegant nose, round on the palate layers of golden fruit then smoke
The tasting sheet
Hannes Meyer talks about his wine
Strandveld’s Jackie Rabe who organises the festival PR
Pierre Rabie of The Giant Periwinkle. He is an Advocate who loves of wine, so he made his own
Lads together, Hannes Meyer and Conrad Vlok
Outside, the sun was out and people were heading for shade
Elim is the most southerly wine growing area in Africa and it is classified as a cool area
Over the kitchen garden the food tents with lots of seating
and live music
Even some dancing
On the terrace lunch was being eaten with good wine
Wine or Beer?
Pizza?
Lots of food trucks
John went for the beef burger, Lynne had some calamari
All yours sir!
The Ice house. And as shadows lengthened, it was time to drive home to Cape Town,
it took us a little under three hours
L'Agulhas is the southern tip of Africa and is the approximate point
at which the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet

Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon Blend & Wooded Sauvignon Blanc Report 2018

An invitation to attend the WineMag awards for the sixth annual Sauvignon-Semillon Blend & Wooded Sauvignon Blanc Report, now sponsored by precision agriculture service provider Aerobotics. The awards were held at Uitkyk. It is always a joy to visit this marvellous example of Cape Georgian architecture, which is unique
Uitkyk has been bought, with Warwick estate across the road, by Eileses Capital, a San Francisco investment firm, Eileses Capital was founded in 2016 by Kishore Bopardikar and Charles Marston, the two having worked together since 1991 and possessing extensive experience in the technology space. According to the official media releases, additional acquisitions in SA are planned. WineMag.co.za has also been acquired by Eileses Capital
We gathered on the lawn in front of the house with glasses of MCC bubbly and there was a chance to go into the house (see photos at the end of this story)
Then we decamped to the tasting room for the awards
Christian Eedes, Winemag Editor, told us that entries were up this year. There were 41 blends entered from 37 producers while, for the second time, Wooded Sauvignon Blanc was included and there were 19 examples from 16 producers. Jacqueline Lahoud is alongside him
Andrew Burdock, CEO of Aerobotics gave us a slide show of what the services they provide for farmers: "Tree top protection for Farmers." Using drones, they can closely examine crops, orchards and vineyards from the air and then analyse the data and show where the problems are beginning to occur. This can save farmers a great deal of money, time and trouble before it gets started. Some of the top scorers at the awards received free trials
The judges were Christian, James Petersen and Roland Peens. One white Bordeaux among the blends and two Austrian examples of Wooded Sauvignon Blanc as ringers. As Christian says, these are not swimming pool wines; they need time to mature. The average price is R254 a bottle. Some of the wines entered are too green and grassy and they cannot be sold as premium wines. Some are overrich, thick in texture. The most successful wines have great freshness, are carefully structured with some richness. And wooding, where used, is subtle
The top Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon Blends
The Top Wooded Sauvignons Blanc
Winemakers Riandri Visser and Adriaan Jacobs who made the overall winner, Cape Point Vineyards Isliedh 2016, receiving their certificate from Christian Eedes and Andrew Burdock
Jean Daneel, who represents Sylvain cooperage, hands over the prize of a 225 litre barrel
to Riandrie Visser and Adriaan Jacobs of Cape Point Vineyards
Green pepper pyrazines and some green leaves. Full on Sauvignon Blanc,
juicy, very long and deep and satisfying. Wood?
A classic pyrazine Sauvignon Blanc nose, with a little added Chanel perfume to splash behind your ears. With tangy crisp fruit, this has lots of potential to age. Deep, rich and long flavours with the wood hinting and floating in and out of the glass
Shy on the nose, with a whiff of smoke. Then a blockbuster wine in the glass, it shouts "I am Here!"
Some semillon richness, complexity with English gooseberries, citrus freshness and wood support
67% Semillon and 33 % Sauvignon; this reverses the normal blend. A classic dusty semillon nose with some floral notes, then green pepper speaks for the Sauvignon. Crisp clean zingy good flavours; some Hungarian oak is used. Hazendal has decided to use what we would normally call a Muscat bottle on all of their wines. These are imported from Italy
From what is acknowledged as one of South Africa's best Sauvignon vineyards, the Suider Terras (Southern Terrace). Green pepper and wood smoke, then asparagus and peas on the nose.
It has clean, crisp long integrated flavours, quite French in style
A coastal Blanc Fume grown on the Outeniqua Mountains, with smoke, citrus, clean minerality
and sea air. Lemon lime citrus some good wood mid palate, long flavours with cream or fatness
perhaps from a little semillon?
Green pepper and smoke on the nose. Rich with creaminess, deep and concentrated citrus flavours, and a distinct tingle on the tongue
Faint smoke, elegance, stone fruit, rich clean with minerality and length
A classic noseful of Elgin Pyrazines, At first, some sweetness then a good balance of fruit acidity,
long flavours, some oak wood, minerality and length. They also scored 92 with their Sauvignon Blanc,
with its classic green leaf nose, rich and full, with good acid balance, long flavours
with some chalk on the end and a hint of wood
Our wine of the week last week, with whiffs of smoke, It brings out the best in both grapes,
dusty and fresh with green pepper and asparagus notes, full on the palate,
advancing in layers of fruit and elegance
With its classic nose of green pepper and kelp.it is full of crisp, lean pyrazines and citrus,
long flavours, complexity and minerality.
The wine was best overall in the Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon Blends category.
It also won a R25000 Aerobotics voucher & the 225 litre Sylvain barrel, presented by Jean Daneel
Conrad Vlok, winemaker at Strandveld Vineyards with his Adamastor white blend and its certificate
Jonathan Snashall pours a glass of Highland Road for Michael White
Michael White and Vanessa Simkiss of Highland Road
Uitkyk is tastefully furnished with beautiful examples of Cape furniture and some imports,
with original frescos on the walls. We do hope that these will be retained by the new owners
Wow, one of the longest tables we have ever seen, made from Yellowwood, an
indigenous hardwood tree, the national tree of South Africa, as is the large Armoire behind it
Elegant proportions and wooden ceilings and floors
A side sitting room with a beautiful mantle mirror
and another dining room

Friday, November 16, 2018

This Week’s MENU. Keermont Single Vineyard wines, 2019 Platter's South African Wine Guide, Paserene, Franschhoek, De Wetshof Celebration of Chardonnay, Almond Marzipan, Strandveld Adamastor White Blend

A flight of blue cranes, near Bredasdorp, Southern Cape
The buzz continues. Robertson twice in a week. Last week, we told you about our time at Wine on the River and our visits to some wine estates. This week, we were back for De Wetshof’s Celebration of Chardonnay, one of those “Don’t Miss It” events of the year. Plus the full story of the Platter launch and some other events you can look at, below this. Pressure of time has meant that, yet again, we’ve held some over till next week.

An invitation last week to visit Keermont owner Mark Wraith's Cape Town offices in Kloof Street to taste the new release of the Single Vineyard Series. We used to sell these wines in our shop, so we know the quality they produce on the farm in the high Helderberg mountains…
The 2019 Platter Wine Guide by Diners Club was released last week at the Table Bay Hotel. There is always great excitement in the wine trade when this occurs with producers hoping that a wine has been awarded 5 stars. We love going to the presentation; there is so much energy and joy in the room…
We were invited by PRO Caroline van Schalkwyk to visit Paserene wine farm in Franschhoek. Owned by Cellarmaster Viticulturist Martin Smith and his business partner Ndube Mareda, who say that their aim is to produce world-class wines with creativity and passion. They are close friends. And, at Paserene, there is Martin's passion for making the wine. A passerine is any bird of the order Passeriformes, the order of "travelling and free" birds which includes swifts and swallows. it gets its name from the Latin passer, which refers to sparrows and similar small birds…
This celebration is held every two years at De Wetshof in Robertson and it is one of those events to which members of the industry fervently hope to receive an invitation. There is certainly a lot of celebration in our house. This year, De Wetshof paid homage to icons and legends. We tasted the wines made by the people who have played leading rôles in pushing Chardonnay forward as a serious South African wine varietal, both locally and internationally. Chardonnay was only established here just four decades ago and it has certainly garnered a reputation for excellence in that short time…

If you are making Christmas cakes you might want to know how to make proper Marzipan. No cooking required and it makes all the difference to that awful bought stuff that puts children off until they are 40! And now that ground almonds are so popular because of Banting, they are no longer difficult to find…
Our Wine of the Week was tasted at the Elim Wine festival and has since won another award. You will read about both of these events next week. From Strandveld Winery in Elim, it is a good blend of Sauvignon and Semillon grapes…

16th November 2018


© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2018
PS If a word or name is in bold type and underlined, click on it for more information

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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 our website and ancillary works are © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus. Our restaurant reviews are often 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

MENU’s Wine of the Week. Strandveld Adamastor White Blend

Our Wine of the Week was tasted at the Elim Wine festival and has since won another award. You will read about both of these events next week. From Strandveld Winery in Elim, it is a good blend of Sauvignon and Semillon grapes. It brings out the best in both grapes, dusty and fresh with green pepper and asparagus notes, full on the palate, advancing in layers of fruit and elegance. R165 from the farm

We also had a taste of a 2008 Strandveld Adamastor in a master class at the festival and this is a lesson about waiting a while before you drink good white blends. A blockbuster of a nose with tinned asparagus, this is a BIG wine. Golden fruit with soft warm alcohol, nice minerality and long flavours. A complex food wine. Still fresh, too. Amazing for a 10 year old white wine
and
We almost have a new category this week: Wines we WISH we had bought earlier. At the same master class at the festival, we tasted the first Sijnn wine, a 2008 red blend of Shiraz, Mourvedre, Touriga and Trincadeira and it quite near blew us away. We have to confess that, when we first tasted in years ago, we were not that enthusiastic, but this is a real lesson: if a wine is made by one of your favourite winemakers, pay attention, buy some and keep it. Thank you David Trafford. We scored it 19 points. We do have some of the Adamastor in our Cellar and may just forget about it for a year or two

On the MENU this week. Almond Marzipan


If you are making Christmas cakes you might want to know how to make proper Marzipan. No cooking required and it makes all the difference, compared to that awful bought ersatz stuff that puts children off until they are 40! And now that ground almonds are so popular because of Banting, they are no longer difficult to find

100g icing sugar - 100 g caster sugar - 200g ground almonds - 1 t lemon juice - a few drops Almond extract - 1 beaten egg
Sift the icing sugar and caster sugar into a bowl, add the almonds. Then stir in the lemon juice, the almond extract and the egg using your hands or a wooden spoon until you have a firm but workable dough. You could do this in a food processor. Knead lightly then roll out. This is enough to cover a 7 inch/18cm cake. Make double if you have a larger Christmas cake. You can also use the marzipan for confectionery - roll out and use to stuff dates, or make small rounds or squares and enrobe in dark chocolate for that ultimate Christmas gift.