Friday, October 12, 2018

The Veritas Awards 2018 at the CTICC

The annual Veritas Awards, which is the longest running and most prestigious wine and brandy competition in South Africa, dating back to 1991, and is said by Bennie Howard CWM, who is the MC of the evening, to be the "Oscars of the South African Wine World". It is indeed always a very glamorous, formal black tie affair. The Awards Ceremony this year was held in the Ballroom of the Cape Town International Convention Centre in Cape Town. There is a formal dinner, served with winning wines and, this year, we were very excited to hear that the dishes would be by some of our top chefs. The Gold and Double Gold Medals are presented during dinner and afterwards there is coffee and a selection of winning brandy entries. The full list of this year’s awards can be viewed on the Veritas website https://cld.bz/NSgFkua
Small pastry bits with chicken, raw onion and cucumber
Some more canapés - smoked salmon mousse on mini blinis
The rugby test match between the All Blacks and the Springboks was due to finish at 7 pm, so it was being shown in the coffee shop of the CTICC when we arrived. Not a good result this time, with a narrow, last minute loss, but South Africans are passionate about their rugby and a good number of eminent members of the wine industry have been rugby Springboks
The crowd of invited guests and contestants gathering in the foyer with glasses of MCC bubbles
while we meet and greet and wait for the doors of the ballroom to open
Two top chefs, whom we have known and appreciated for several years, Craig Cormack of The Goose Roasters and SALT at Paul Cluver and Rudi Liebenberg of the Mount Nelson. They were responsible for the main course (Craig) and the dessert (Rudi)
La Motte winemaker Michael Langenhoven with De Wetshof's Bennie Stipp and Johann de Wet
Glenelly winemaker Luke O'Cuinneagain in his mini kilt. We suspect that his Irish one was at the cleaners. Very dapper Luke, but just dip, don’t bend when accepting your awards please
Master of Ceremonies Bennie Howard CWM
 Veritas Chairman Christo Pienaar gave the guests the industry background
This year’s recipients of Living Legends honorary scrolls for their services to the wine industry were Albert EksteenChristine Rudman, Melvyn Minnaar, Pierre Marais and Martin van der Merwe
Two people we see rather a lot of at media events were deserving winners of their awards:
Christine Rudman CWM and Journalist Melvin Minnaar. Well done guys!
The sensational starter made by CTICC's Executive Chef Roberto de Carvalho, It was a tour de force of seafood, well prepared. and very pretty to look at. Smoked salmon, cold or smoked and gravadlax, on a runner of salmon carpaccio, a delicious poached prawn stack, a black squid ink stained panko crumb coating on a large peeled prawn, a light bacalhau fritter, salmon roe and chopped capers, picked sushi ginger, crème fraiche, Japanese yuzu dressing and two roundels of parmesan crisps. Yes we know you are not supposed to do cheese with sea food, but this added good umami savouriness to the dish. Chef Roberto is to be loudly and roundly applauded as his kitchen prepared all the dishes and there were more than 600 guests. The food was consistent in presentation and quality too. And served hot where appropriate. That is some organisation. The food came out quickly and the waiting staff were superbly efficient and just plain nice
Wines we enjoyed at our table with dinner
The waiters would bring a selection and we could choose within reason
Cellarmaster Morné Vrey from Delaire. Note the chic dinner suit worn with veldskoen!
Proud recipients of gold medals were the team at our table from Distell's Spirits division
Those gold medals
The main course was conceived by seasoned Chef Craig Cormack of The Goose Roasters and SALT Restaurant at Paul Cluver wine estate. Rich and satisfying slow braised Brisket on Denningvleis purée (Denningvleis is a South African lamb stew with a mixed spice marinade from Cape Malay influence, here used as a sauce). It also had an apricot atjar (spicy chutney) and was served with brocolli, baby carrots, turmeric arancini (rice balls) and the natural jus
This beautiful floral bouquet of local proteas and fynbos was the centre piece of every table
The cheese course, floodlit by the roaming coloured floodlights. Tiny delicate warm cheese beignets at the top and slices of the winner of the Qualité awards 2018. Made by Parmelat South Africa, their Mature 18 month Cheddar cheese
The dessert was by celebrated Executive Chef Rudi Liebenberg of the Belmont Mount Nelson. It was a poem of flavour, delicacy and pure joy. Described as a Vanilla and white chocolate crunch beside a layered Delice of raspberry mousse, and chocolate crème topped with raspberry jelly, raspberry paté de fruit, macerated raspberries and a lime salsa with a vanilla bean ice cream. We felt we were having tea at the Nellie!
The final awards are completed, and now the dancing can commence
The valiant organisers, Elsabe Ferreira and Bennie Howard CWM
The food was the best we've had at Veritas to date, Thank You!
The Distell team with their brandies and their gold medals
The De Wetshof family men: Viticulturalist and Marketer Johann, father Danie de Wet and Winemaker Peter

MENU's Wine of the Week. Constantia Royale Sauvignon blanc 2016


This is from Nova Zonnestraal, a Constantia vineyard which is believed to be one of the oldest in the Cape, but which has only been producing its own wines in the last five years. It is made from the farm’s own Sauvignon blanc, with an addition of 15% Semillon which is bought in, as their own Semillon vines are too young to be harvested. Herbaceous passion fruit and a very light pyrazine hint on the nose and the palate, with crisp varietal acidity, good mineral structure and a long finish. It will be a good match for dishes with a creamy base or sauce


One of the top 20 Sauvignons in this year’s FNB Sauvignon Top10 challenge, it was made by Roger Burton, well-known as winemaker for Tierhoek in the Piekenierskloof area. Roger has Constantia roots and a good understanding of the terroir, as he worked under Hermann Kirschbaum at Buitenverwachting in the early part of his career. It was awarded 4½ stars in Platter. Sadly, the 2016 is sold out, but the 2018 vintage is available from Wade Bales at R99

Tuesday, October 09, 2018

Wine tasting at Yonder Hill, lunch at Cuccina di Giovanni, Eikendal

We visited Yonder Hill in the Helderberg ward of Stellenbosch on Saturday with our wine club. The Cellarmaster here is Abé Beukes
They made room for our large party in their tasting room and we had a wonderful time tasting the wines. They had also laid on a lovely cheese platter for us and we were given gifts of their olive oil from the farm owner, Mr Naude, who has recently sold his Olyfberg farm, whiuch has always produced a great oil. A lovely warm welcome
We loved the 2018 Rosé made from Merlot and Grenache, juicy, elegant and dry, R75. The crisp Sauvignon blanc is a typical one from Stellenbosch; lots of tropical fruit with some crispness, R70. The Merlot 2013 is a big wine with lots of tannins for ageability, R200. Warm and complex on the palate, layered, with some green cassis leaves on the end. The 2014 is lighter, less grippy with some chalk on the end. The Inanda blend 2014 is soft and sweet on entry, dark liquorice, burnt caramel wood in the middle, toast on the end, R130. The 2015 is light and sweet with green leaves and berry fruit. The Nicola 2015 is the star of the show: Rich on the nose, lovely sweet ripe fruit, layered, dark berries, licorice, salt, dark toast on the end. Scored 18/20, R400. And the 2016 is a very close second, with violets and vanilla on the nose, again sweet berry fruit, long flavours, some gentle chalky tannins
Some beautiful pincushion proteas in the garden
We needed lunch, so a booking had been made at nearby Eikendal
Giovanni’s Restaurant
Lots of tables, many people, long waits and lovely sunshine
Often
Inside the restaurant
Inside the Eikendal tasting room
A family favourite
We had a very long table
And an extra guest below, at his Mum's feet
Some enjoyed a bottle of the Rosé. It did take nearly an hour and a half for our food to arrive, but they were very, very busy. We had a helpful waiter. We got it just in time, as we had to rush of home to meet friends who were coming to stay for the night after we had all attended the Veritas Awards dinner
Lynne chose the Avocado, bacon and mozzarella salad
John a Quattro Stagione Pizza (no mushrooms)
and enchanting little people were very happy playing in the sandpit

Thursday, October 04, 2018

This Week’s MENU. Amorim MCC Challenge Awards, CWG Auction, Bistro and Vine at Harrington's, Spicy Spanish Tortilla, Domaine des Dieux Claudia Brut

A sign of spring. Pincushion proteas (leucospermum)
This was a week in which we attended two prestigious wine events and were able to taste appropriately wonderful wines. Méthode Cap Classique may never earn the reputation which Champagne has achieved after a couple of hundred years of dominating the world of sparkling wines, but the improvement in quality of these wines since Frans Malan of Simonsig bottled his first MCC forty years ago is gaining recognition internationally and they are competing very well on the international stage. Similarly, wines we tasted at the Cape Winemakers Guild Auction and its tasting a few weeks ago have reached unprecedented levels of quality and renowned judges have given some of them scores equal to any of the great names from other continents. South African wines are showing their Championship quality, and now we just need the Springboks to repeat their performance of a couple of weeks ago and beat the All Blacks again on the rugby field….
The Amorim Cork MCC Challenge Awards 2018 at The Twelve Apostles    
This annual event is one of our favourites, we love bubbles and we always know we are going to be tasting and drinking some of the best. The only competition committed exclusively to the Cap Classique category, the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge is sponsored by Portugal-based cork producer Amorim. This was the 17th year of this prestigious competition and there were 127 entries, a record. It was held this year (as it has been for several years) at The Twelve Apostles Hotel on the road from Bakoven to Llandudno…
The 2018 Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild Auction at Spier, Stellenbosch    
This annual action took place last Saturday at Spier Wine Estate in Stellenbosch. We love going; it is fast and furious and it is so good to see good wines getting great prices. And to see the happy faces of the winemakers. Once we had registered, there was a choice of good Guild members’ bubblies to start the day…
Wednesday Bistro and Vine at Harrington's Cocktail Lounge      
One of our Media colleagues found a Wednesday special at Harrington’s Wine and Vine Cocktail lounge in central Cape Town, just down the road from Dias Taven, one of our favourite and recently visited destinations, so we decided to go and check it out
On the MENU this week. Spicy Spanish Tortilla with chicken    
What to do with left over chicken? Neither of us has been very well this busy week, John had a root canal filling and is on antibiotics; Lynne has them for a chest infection, so cooking has not been a priority. We bought a ready cooked chicken from Checkers for one meal and had the rest in the fridge for another. This is what Lynne came up with

MENU’s Wine of the Week. Domaine des Dieux Claudia Brut 2012  
This wine was the Overall winner of the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge for 2018. It has also been included among the Top 10 bubblies in the SA Wine Classification, and was awarded a gold medal at the Sparkling Wine World Championships in the UK. The 2011 was awarded four stars in the 2018 Platter; it will be interesting to see how this 2012 fares there…
4th October 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

MENU’s Wine of the Week. Domaine des Dieux Claudia Brut 2012

This wine was the Overall winner of the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge for 2018. It has also been included among the Top 10 bubblies in the SA Wine Classification, and was awarded a gold medal at the Sparkling Wine World Championships in the UK. This wine was the Overall winner of the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge for 2018. It has also been included among the Top 10 bubblies in the SA Wine Classification, and was awarded a gold medal at the Sparkling Wine World Championships in the UK. The 2011 was awarded four stars in the 2018 Platter; it will be interesting to see how this 2012 fares there

Made in the Hemel en Aarde Valley from 90% Chardonnay and 10% Pinot noir, it spent four years on the lees, which accounts for its mature autolytic flavour and bready nose over ripe Granny Smith apple with a dash of lemon and a buttery hint from a little barrel contact. We enjoyed it at the Awards lunch where its complex, mature flavours paired very well with the main course of very good tender beef fillet, cooked sous vide, accompanied by a crisp Yorkshire pudding filled with braised brisket, beef fat roasted potatoes, baby carrots, broccoli puree and a good red wine jus. It is named for Domaine des Dieux owner Sharon Parnell's daughter


Expect to pay between R220 and R250 per bottle