Thursday, April 04, 2019

MENU’s Wine of the Week. Creation Fine Cape Vintage 2017


This is a Port style wine made from Shiraz. We liked and enjoyed this so much when we were served it with dessert recently at Creation doing a pairing lunch, that we have made it our Wine of the Week. It is better than many of the young ports we taste in Portugal last year which lacked depth and complexity. This has concentration of flavour, sweetness and spice balanced with rich plums, black cherry and vanilla, good fruit acids, richness, and warmth from the KWV brandy added. It will age beautifully but is really drinking so well now.

Grown in 450-million-year-old clay derived Bokkeveld shale soils on the highest slopes of the estate. Only virus-free, lower yielding clones were chosen and planted at an altitude of some 290 m above sea level

The perfect match for rich chocolate and dark berry desserts. Limited bottling, R340 per bottle, presented in a black velvet bag, making it the perfect present for the port lover in your family

Posted by MENU at 10:53 pm 0 comments

Baked Toffee Quinces

Quinces are in season and so often we find them rotting under trees as not many seem to know what to do with these beautiful fruits. They do need to be cooked. (There are masochists who like to eat them raw with salt, but we won’t go there.) The flesh is relatively hard and they are not a picnic to peel, but persevere, it is worth it. You can just stew them gently in some water and sugar till soft, adding some cinnamon, star anise or fresh ginger, but the following recipe is one of our favourites and the hard work will pay such dividends


5 quinces – a litre of water – 1 kg caster sugar –double thick or clotted cream, to serve

First peel one quince. Cut it up into 5 cm pieces.  Make the syrup by adding the sugar to the water in a large wide saucepan on heat, and add the quince pieces. Keep stirring with a wooden spoon to dissolve the sugar and bring to a boil.  Let this boil until you have a thick viscous syrup – it can take an hour and you must watch it so that it doesn’t catch and burn. Strain off the quince pieces. They are edible

Heat your oven to 200°C. Peel and halve the remaining four quinces. You do not have to remove the pips. In a roasting tin, put the quinces cut face down and pour over the syrup. It needs to be about 1 cm in depth. Roast in the oven for an hour, then baste the quinces and turn the oven down to 160°C. Continue cooking for 2 to 3 hours, basting regularly with the syrup. Add more of the stock syrup if it starts to go dry. Turn the quinces as you baste them so that they take on the caramel colour on all sides. When they are ready and a good dark burgundy red colour, remove from the oven and put one into each dessert dish, with a bit of the sticky syrup. You serve these with a dollop or two of double thick cream. It is a very rich and sweet, so you only need one per person. The quince will be tender beneath the caramel and quite delicious

Posted by MENU at 10:36 pm 0 comments

Tasting the wines at Seven Springs, Hemel en Aarde

Seven Springs winery, up at the top of the valley, on the way to Caledon from the Hemel and Aarde has been inviting us to come for a long time and it was on our way as we headed home this week. They now have their own cellar and have done their first harvest in it and opened a tasting room. We received a warm welcome from Augustus Dale who has taken over from winemaker Riana van der Merwe, who has followed her heart to Australia. Gus, who is also a viticulturist, has had many years experience as a wine merchant in London and, after studying Viticulture and Oenology in Beaune, has worked in Burgundy, in St Emilion and in Bordeaux. He was one of the first to convert a French property in the region to an Organic culture. He is, like us, convinced that it is the future in wine
The small tasting room
We sat outside on the terrace as it was a lovely warm day
We were going to taste their current wines first and then do a barrel and tank tasting in the cellar with the new harvest’s wines that Gus has made. They do hold back their wines, so you taste older vintages. We tried their golden olive oil first, made from Frantoia olives, full and round, bitter on the end. The new vintage of oil is just being bottled. It is quite unusual to find a farm that holds back its wines and releases them when they are ready to drink; they have done the cellaring for you. The wines we tasted are the current vintages that are available

We began with the 2014 Sauvignon Blanc. Green herbal notes on the golden nose, showing some age, lovely fruit on the soft palate of lime and granadilla, some complexity with lees on the end. R100
The Unoaked 2014 Chardonnay has almost Riesling notes with some orange zest on the nose. Clean on the palate, with limes and lemons. The 2015 is classic Chardonnay on the nose, peaches and cream and citrus. A rounded palate with long flavours of citrus and lime, good acid balance and minerality. R110
This area of the farm is very neat with great plantings!
The 2015 Oaked Chardonnay (R230) is clear with glints of pale gold. Bready on the nose with golden fruit and some smoke. Very satisfying on the palate with lime and peach notes; wood supports but doesn’t overtake. Lots of length with lemon, lime and peach fruit. A feminine Chardonnay with a nice hint of salt on the end palate
The Rosé, made from Syrah grapes (R100), is a pretty, coppery colour, and has nutty sesame notes which follow through on the palate. It has the weight of a full blown shiraz, good berry fruit, freshness and it slips down very easily. Definitely a food wine, reminiscent of southern French Rosés
The 2014 Pinot Noir (R155) has Roses, raspberries and red cherries on the nose with some forest floor. Very pretty. Clean, good cherry/berry fruit; it is ageing well and has nice warmth with that hint of salt on the end. To us, this identifies clearly as a Hemel and Aarde style Pinot; even though they are next to Domaine des Dieux, they are just outside the ward. Definitely worth its 4 stars in Platter and one to buy
The 2014 Syrah is shy at first with rich red, blackberry and black cherry fruit on the nose. On the palate, it is soft and sweet cherry jam with firm tannins and then intensely fruity, with length and minerality and that characteristic hint of salt on the end. Delicious, a definite food wine
Renico Botes, Seven Springs’ Senior Cellar Assistant assisting a Scottish customer in the tasting room
Into the new cellar we go!... Tasting wines which are developing and still fermenting is such a great experience. They never taste as they will when ready for bottling, but you can see, smell and taste the building blocks. You need to ignore the fermentation products like yeast and off flavours; they are natural and will adjust in the tanks and barrels. And you do have to remember never to swallow the yeasty wine; it can bloat you and give you gas for several days!
We were invited to taste the new vintage wines, first from the tank. This was the 2019 unoaked Chardonnay, still lots of yeast, lees and good fruit, with pear notes, and a good balance of sugar and acid
We tasted the 2019 Sauvignon Blanc which has been racked and is on gross lees. Yeast and peas and elderflower on the nose and palate at the moment point to something good. The 2019 oaked Chardonnay has been naturally fermented and was singing in the barrels! Yeasty, lees, bready, with white plum, limes, lemon and white peach flavours and soft sweet fermenting fruit. A typical Chardonnay
Some concrete eggs busy fermenting Chenin blanc; they owned by and stored for another winemaker
We tasted the Rosé from the tank. It is a little agricultural at the moment with lots of yeastiness, but beneath is the raspberry and, on the palate, it’s a silky Cherryade! Can’t wait to taste this when it has finished fermenting

Then some reds from the barrel. The 2019 free run Pinot Noir has smoky oak from the barrel, and lots of strawberry and raspberry flavours with a hint of salty liquorice. Another barrel (4th fill) had less oak, more lees, coffee on the nose with mulberry and hints of the wind and sea. Quite sophisticated already, lovely palate of cherry/berry, this is really impressive. Lynne is convinced that it will win future awards. Then we tasted the pressed juice. As Gus says, this is the backbone wine; the wine to add the tannins, minerality and depth and help to make the wine last a long time
The 2019 Shiraz will also be a blend of free run and pressed grapes. Smoked pork or gammon on the new oak barrel, hints of penicillin tablets, rich ripe and smoky, mulberries and cherry. The Press was richer on the nose with yeast aromas, some fruit acidity, cleaner, fresher, chalky and dusty. The 3rd barrel was 5th fill with free run juice, as Gus says, the flesh of the wine. Blackberries, cassis and white pepper on the nose; intense cassis on the palate, a classic in development
This was another great lesson for us in winemaking and its results. We are so grateful to Gus for all the time he spent with us. As the Irish say, very good Crack too! Looks like you have some great wines coming from this vintage, which was smaller in quantity, but produced good quality grapes, as most of the area have experienced
Posted by MENU at 8:16 pm 1 comments

The Onion Shed - farm lunch in the Hemel en Aarde

Seven Springs Winery has a restaurant on site which has been open since December. It is called The Onion Shed and that is what it has been converted from. The chef /owner is Lois Braun and her boyfriend is the farmer who runs the organic pig farm. She is a trained pastry chef and is very proud that this is her own restaurant. And her first
The Onion Shack doesn't do parallel lines. They have some fresh produce - Lynne bought a kilo of good onions for R8, but you can buy the whole trusses on the pillars. They have lots of other items like bags, olive oil and preserves and even some beautifully upholstered ottomans. We saw one bought while we were there
The fresh produce racks, with biscuits and other treats
The menu is on the wall chalk board. Had we known about this we would have had breakfast here before our wine tasting at Seven Springs. Do go and try it if you are in the Hemel and Aarde area, it is on the way to Caledon. The platters look interesting. And customers who were leaving recommended the meat pies to us. Sadly they had sold out by 2 when we sat down to eat
And the brews on the counter with the cakes. They do not have a licence, so were happy for us to drink our own wine
You can buy some from Seven Springs tasting room and drink it here
We all had the same thing, the Brie BLT - Bacon Lettuce and Tomato with added Brie
The rolls were hot and fresh. It was very satisfying
After we'd tasted the excellent Seven Springs wines, we asked Gus Dale to join us for lunch
and suggested a cold wine we had in the car, a bottle of Org de Rac Roussanne and it went well with the generous rolls
The friendly farm cat who is 19 years old but looks much younger until you see her walk
It is a very happy place for young pigs who can roam around the dam and through the open fields
Soon they will have pork to sell
 Happy free range pigs, just 3 months old
As happy as a pig in...
...a river. Oh joy. A short life but a happy one
Posted by MENU at 5:49 pm 1 comments

Breakfast at the Kimberley Hotel, Cape Town

Digging deep at the Kimberley

Friends in the media had told us that this old Victorian Hotel in Buitenkant Street did a mean breakfast, so we decided to try it. It is no longer one of those old Commercial Travellers’ hotels, but has turned into a successful Back Packers Hotel
So the breakfasts are taken in a downstairs area which is open to the street; it looks just like a separate restaurant. It’s called The Kitchen. We arrived at 9.30 and there was only one person there. That soon changed
You can sit outside and eat at the pavement tables. The menus are on the doors
We chose to sit inside as it was a little chilly that morning
The menu. They do have specials, but those are early bird specials for travellers leaving before 8. The restaurant started to fill up with residents who seemed to get a fixed breakfast, possibly included in their room rate. We saw many of them eating the Full House, scrambled egg seemed to be the favourite
The menu for lunch and supper time. We watched and waited for our breakfast while the residents were served first. The restaurant filled up with them. The room rates we saw on line are from R150 in an 8 bedded dorm to R650 in a double room. Seems very popular with back packers. Very central
Beverages. Lynne had an orange juice from a box, John had an Americano. Acceptable but not great
The Americano looks like an Espresso which is, in fact as it should be, as it is officially a double Espresso topped up with hot water. R20. (If you want milk in it, ask for a White Coffee. Yes, they still make them...)
One cook with one helper in the kitchen, doing lots of short orders. The waitresses have to watch the pass to see if food is there; they aren’t told which customer placed the order. But they took the orders, so they probably know. At this stage, we were becoming a little anxious that they had actually put our order in the computer. We had been there nearly 45 minutes
Lynne's order of The Kitchen Breakfast at R39. The mushrooms were very overcooked and some tasted a bit musty. The eggs were fresh, but so under-cooked that she had to scrape off the uncooked slimy albumen which was inedible. They might have cooked a bit more under the pass lights. The smoked bacon was tasty, but tough and hard to cut. The thin toast was spread with Rama type margarine and we were not offered jam or marmalade. The juice was served with lots of ice and tasted vaguely of orange squash
John ordered the bacon and cheese 3 egg omelette - R55. It came with a token tomato slice and two slices of soggy brown toast with margarine. It didn't look great, a bit thrown down on the plate, made in a bit of haste, after our long wait. Tasted OK
That looks like good value with the beer included, but it depends so much on the quality of the meat in the burger
Our bill. Our waitress Laiza was lovely. We just wish that we had been served with a bit more sense of urgency. We are used to Spur and their 10 minute service when we are away travelling on business. They give better value and quality (the Spur bacon & very fresh eggs with toast, marmalade and butter for R40 is consistently good wherever we go) but then Spur does have about 10 times the number of customers and can tailor their prices accordingly
Posted by MENU at 4:23 pm 4 comments

Harvest lunch at Creation, Hemel en Aarde

We love what we do and we love the people who help us to do what we do. John mentioned that it has been a bit quiet in the wine and food world and immediately we got some great invitations. The first was from Carolyn Martin at Creation wines to come and enjoy their Harvest Lunch. And a friend saw the invitation and offered their cottage for an overnight stay. So off we went to the beautiful Hemel and Aarde valley again, on a sunny but slightly chilly day. We seem to have an early Autumn
They have new sculptures by Nanette Ranger adorning the gardens and the restaurant/tasting rooms. We wrote of her work when we visited earlier this year. These two next to the entrance are enchanting
We arrived earlier than expected, at midday, as the N2 National road from Cape Town was surprisingly quick and were seated on the VIP table. They know how to spoil us
Autumnal vineyards and the Babilonstoren Mountain; Jean Claude Martin, the Cellarmaster/owner, said they would finish picking the following day. In fine weather, the terrace is a great place on which to enjoy everything the estate offers
Out on the terrace, where staff were moving umbrellas for shade
We were so well looked after by Jo-Ann Corbett, who explained all the dishes and the wine pairings we were to have with them. The Harvest Menu will change to the new Winter Menu at the beginning of May, so do get there to try this extravaganza of flavours and wine pairings if you can. It costs only R579 per person for 5 courses, with 8 paired wines. Because we write about their wine and food, we were treated to a few more - they do spoil us
The wine prices on an order form on the table
The Harvest menu
You begin with Chapter 1: the Sensory Tasting: Creation 2018 Sauvignon Blanc and the 2017 Sauvignon Blanc & Semillon. Before we tasted the wine, we were persuaded to smell the cut granadilla and the salt. We found both those flavours in the wine. Both wines have classic Sauvignon pyrazines on the nose, with green pepper, herbs and tropical guava and granadilla on the palate. On the blend, the Semillon shows with grass on the nose and a much rounder palate with wood notes. Both are crisp and have minerality echoing the salt
Time for the bread course and it comes with a salsa of cucumber, melon, tomato, onion and pineapple to go with the puri bread and a whipped cream and goat cheese to go with the wine bread
The breads come to the table in a small sack and are served warm. You stuff the hollow puri with the salsa and eat it in one. It is black, as it is made with carbon powder
It tasted of good flour and goes well with the salsa
The wine bread is made with the grape must from the Shiraz and has a lovely sourdough texture, with some added crunch. John decided to put both on his bread. The cream cheese was light and fluffy and the goat flavour was gentle
This lovely pine tree caught the eye of the photographer. Lots of different green textures
JC Martin came to sit and chat, even though he was still busy with harvest. He said that his lads could cope without him for a while. We chatted about the wine, the harvest, the valley, the climate and put the world to rights politically. We are very grateful for his time. Carolyn is in Europe on a sales trip
He introduced us to his new 2018 Cool Climate Chenin Blanc, from grapes grown on another farm. They will be making this regularly and we can see why. It is very good. It has a classic dusty Chenin nose and is full of zingy granadilla and cooked apple
We were brought a course off another menu, one of the Small Plate pairings because it went so well with the Sauvignon Semillon and also the Chenin. Jo-Ann said that when she eats it, she thinks she is eating fish and chips. And, indeed, it does have that affect on the palate. Sous Vide tender sole fillet in a crisp potato and herb crust (the chips), served with minty mushy peas. The added lightly pickled cucumber and onion, caper berries, and lemon mayonnaise are the deconstructed tartar sauce! Very clever Chef!
Chapter 2: Creation Celebration pairs the 2018 Rose, a blend of Grenache and Viognier - fruity and crisp, notes of cranberry and a little white peach - with a small cup of cucumber and mint soup
Beautifully plated, topped with a sorrel leaf or two and served cold
Chapter 3 is Creation Inspiration which pairs the 2017 Creation Reserve Chardonnay with a Pork Fillet. We were lucky, we could pair the pork with all three of Creation's Chardonnays. The 2017 Estate and Reserve and The Art of Chardonnay 2017. All are very good and all three work with the dish, but the Reserve was the best match. The Art is still very young and will be singing in a few years time
The Pork fillet is served with a celeriac purée, charred fennel strips, and apple served three ways: pickled in cubes, an apple espuma and a crisp apple chip. All the flavours echo the wines. It is a satisfying dish, served with the absolutely correct wine
Chapter 4 Creation Ovation pairs Creation Reserve Pinot Noir 2017 with the Duck dish
Again, we were treated to not one Pinot Noir but also the 2018 Estate and 2017 The Art of Pinot Noir
Liver Mousse on top of a tender pulled confit Duck leg, separated by a slice of lightly pickled beetroot, fresh raspberries, a Thyme jus and some sorrel. We can say without any hesitation that this is the best pairing of Pinot Noir and Duck we have ever had. It was sublime. And while the dish was rich and creamy and meaty, it did not take away the taste of the wonderful Pinots which remained on the palate. If only we could get the aroma and taste into the picture for you. The fresh raspberry lit up the Pinot Noir as did the jus and the rich mousse. It brought out the herbal notes in the wines, violets, intense raspberry and soft wood notes. All three sang
Another table trying to decide
The Small Plate Pairing Menu on offer that day, paired with wines
Chapter 5: Creation Generations. Now this was fun, a great learning experience and a superb way to challenge your palate. On the left, powdered licorice root, on the right, sumac, a sour berry grown in the Mediterranean that adds zing to food. We used to sell both at Main Ingredient so are familiar with them, but pairing them with these three wines was such fun. We think the licorice root adds something to the wines, sweetness and saltiness and depth. The sumac less so, but both certainly make you want more wine and more food. The syrah is dark, with pepper and cassis and spice and some cherry on the palate with savouriness and some dark wood. the Syrah Grenache takes much from the Grenache with ripeness and good wild plummy notes; umami flavours complement the food. The Sumac Grenache was an extra, so we could taste it and it has the same wildness, slightly sweeter than the first two, full on fruit with a zing of acidity and umami. All went very well with the next dish
They were served with Sous Vide Rabbit loin with a Parsley farce, dots of carrot purée, and beetroot purée, slices of summer truffle and a rich smoked paprika jus. And with this dish we also sampled the first vintage of the Creation blend of Roussanne (80%) and Viognier (20%) which is also a very good match for this dish. Peaches and sesame notes on the nose, and quince on the palate, lots of wildness with layers of interest and complexity. A winner. It washed away the beetroot, but highlighted all the good meaty flavours of the dish. Suddenly South Africa is showing some great Roussannes
Vines turning colour with the onset of Autumn
You can also enjoy a Dessert pairing
Chapter 6: Creation Dedication. Presented with the Port style wine, called Creation Fine Cape Vintage 2017 made from Shiraz
We liked and enjoyed this so much that we have made it our Wine of the Week
It is better than many of the young Ports we tasted in Portugal last year, which lacked depth and complexity. This has concentration of flavour, sweetness and spice balanced with rich plums and vanilla, black cherry, good fruit acids, richness, and warmth from the KWV brandy added. The perfect match for rich chocolate and dark berry desserts
This is served with a Black Tea and chocolate ganache, on a pear purée, covered in a blackberry and Hazelnut dust with thyme. Topped with a pear crisp, it is rich and does echo some of the flavours of the rich port style wine. Dangerously, they left the bottle with us; we resisted but not for long
And then another special - an extra dessert, with drama. A black chocolate sponge, fresh figs, a raspberry coulis and a speculaas ice cream. The dish is hidden below large slices of good dark chocolate and the warm coulis is poured on top, so the chocolate melts revealing the contents, a blend of hot and cold delights
We took a video so that you could be part of the theatre
Totally decadent and absolutely a match, made to go with the Cape Vintage
Happiness is being at Creation enjoying wine and food pairings
Chef Francois Hugo
A double Espresso and cookies for John. Lynne had a pot of excellent Green tea, a great digestif
Posted by MENU at 2:25 pm 2 comments
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