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Monday, September 28, 2020

Artichoke Festival at Ayama, Voor Paardeberg

The view from Ayama wine estate across the Voor Paardeberg valley
We had been invited to visit and enjoy their annual Artichoke Festival

The old barn has now been converted into a large tasting room and function venue.

In front of the tasting room is a huge field of artichokes, in season now, hence the timing of the Artichoke festival. The owners, Ottilio and Michela Dalpiaz, are Italian from the North of Italy and they have planted all the things they love on the farm, from these artichokes, to olives, almonds - yes, they say they do want to make Amaretto in future - and some Italian grape varietals. Both are trained wine makers. When they came to South Africa in 2004, they fell in love with the Cape and bought a wine farm called Slent which grew very good Chenin Blanc

We bought a 2 kilo bag of artichokes for R140 from their shop and have been enjoying them all week

We are sure that they still have a good supply, should you want to go and get some

As you can see in the photo, there are lots still on the plants

Wille and Tania de Waal of nearby Scali wine estate were at the festival

We have known these two for many years. We met when we were studying wine in the 1990s

The tables had been very carefully arranged with good social distancing and the staff were very vigilant for any misdemeanors. Lynne had her mask half off as she was enjoying a glass of the excellent Ayama 2017 Vermintino, planted in 2014. We and other media members were invited to a planting party and we each planted 5 vines in the vineyard. It was really good to taste the wine

We helped to plant the vineyard, the first Vermentino vineyard in South Africa in 2014

A nice credit

John planting his 5 vines, we each planted 5

It looks very different now with mature vines

Registration and wine buying on this table at the entrance

Another view of the venue

Outside, children were having fun with one of the farm's dogs, who was jumping over the low fence with them

Michela Dalpiaz

Red examples of their range of wines. Have a look on their website for details and prices: https://www.ayama.co.za/our-wines/

They are open Monday to Friday 10am – 4pm,

weekends by appointment

Like the mask! And the branded staff uniform is very smart

We were thrilled to have a chance to enjoy the first vintage, 2017, of Ayama Vermentino. It has almost a nose which reminded us of Riesling with its hint of terpene, richness, peaches and yellow oak. On the palate, full and crisp with layers of lovely ripe yellow stone fruit, good structure, with some grip from expected tannin, long flavours. It was absolutely perfect with the artichokes and, we suspect, will also match with lots of different foods. Ottilio told us that they entered it into a blind tasting competition in Sicily, where the judges described it as a perfect example of Italian Vermentino, not knowing it was from South Africa. And it won!

They also gave us a bottle of the 2017 Carignan which is as wild as hell, almost running away from the bottle, as Carignan can be. Violets, dark cherry and green leaves on the nose. On the palate, mulberry, cherry and plum flavours with tight tannins, good acidity, some leathery dark wood on the end. Great with food

Happy, smiling Ottilio Dalpiaz

We all had to fill in Covid declaration forms as we entered and these were then put into a lucky draw

for prizes of wine, their great olive oil and some of their Limoncello

The first lucky dip prize of Limoncello went to Tania de Waal of Scali wine estate

All ages were there. This lady was celebrating her 97th birthday

This one has a long way to go

Tania and Willie were celebrating their 28th Anniversary

Time for lunch and the first course was a good focaccia topped with a delicate artichoke mousse, flavoured with lemon

We added some of the Ayama olive oil on the table and it was so good that Lynne bought a litre tin of the unfiltered for our home use. Very reasonable at R120

Michela telling us about the menu and the food

Woodstock Italian Seafood restaurant Pesce Azzurro prepared the food. The chef described it to us

The menu came with a recipe

About the festival

The wines with their prices

The team from Pesce Assurro talking about the food

Picking the winner...

of the second lucky dip prize, a magnum of Ayama Vermentino

The second course was a small Torta Pasqualina (Easter in Italian) made with artichokes

It is a traditional Easter dish in Italy and often contains eggs

Crisp pastry filled with artichokes, ricotta cheese, eggs and thyme. Good flavours but a little under seasoned

Love the clever graphics on the Olive Oil tin label

Course number 3 was Lasagne alla Vignarola, another classic Italian dish of braised spring vegetables

Here layered between the finest pasta sheets were artichokes, peas and new season broad beans in a good lemon Béchamel sauce

Lovely flavours and textures and it sang with the Vermentino

The 4th course: Lamb, Feta and Mint meatballs with sautéed artichokes

A little dry; it could have benefited from a sauce but had very good flavours

The Carignan shone with the lamb

Every wine farmer should have a Lamborghini. This one was originally owned by Michela's father

There was some music in and people got up and danced; this couple was outstanding

We made a video of the Jerusalema Challenge performance by the farm's workers

Click on the picture to see it on YouTube

And some of the guests joined in

Everyone was having a lot of fun.

These two fellows dancing together

And everyone could join in

Back to eat our dessert

Dessert was a Pannacotta flavoured with Cynar, an Italian bitter liqueur made from Artichokes and candied orange. We wondered how they were going to do five courses of Artichoke and they so succeeded

Michela and Ottilio Dalpiaz at the end of a very successful festival. Although Michela confessed that her legs were wooden in the evening after so much standing

Time to head home after a really great day. Thank you to all at Ayama

And the cloud and mountainscapes were superb. You can see another Table mountain in the background

These are the high mountains near Ceres on which we see snow almost every year. We had to keep stopping to take photos

Bud break on the vineyards in the area, and, after our wet winter, so much good green

See John's photographs and follow us on YouPic

Friday, September 25, 2020

This Week's MENU. A Walk in the Park, tasting Woolworths Spier wines, Heritage Day wines

A Common Dotted Border butterfly (Mylothris agathina agathina) on a pink daisy

A quiet week which started with lovely warm sunshine and has ended with very cold, wet weather. The upside of the rain we have had this year is that all the dams which supply Cape Town are full. The biggest, Theewaterskloof, is near 100% full for the first time in years. So we started with a walk in our lovely Green Point park and ended with a small braai for just ourselves to celebrate Heritage Day, with the help of two wonderful wines, all described below.

A walk in our local park, the Green Point Urban Park

It was such a lovely day last Saturday and we decided to go to our local park for a walk. The park on Green Point common was created after the new Green Point stadium (now called the Cape Town Stadium) was built, in time for the Soccer World Cup in 2010. As vested land, the Green Point Common was granted to the Cape Town City Council in 1923 by the Union Government as Commonage for general public recreation and sports fields. It looked as though the Metropolitan Golf Club was going to get all the land, but our then Councillor JP Smith insisted that some of the land be given to the people for recreation and the 18 hole golf course was reduced to 9 holes. Read on…

Zoom tasting with Woolworths of Spier wines

We observed an online webinar this week with Woolworths WCellar, entitled "WCellar: The Braai Episode with Spier". Frans Smit, Cellarmaster of Spier Wine Estate took part with the staff of Woolworths Wine. The Zoom meeting was ably chaired by Rebecca Constable. Frans talked about his wines, his philosophy and his methods while he braaied in the background on his indoor fireplace. It was great fun and good to see the crew on line, many are old friends. And Chef Anda Dlepu, Protein Product Developer at Woolworths, who showed us what he was cooking on the braai, made us very hungry. He gave us advice and recipes for Heritage Day on Thursday, a day when many South Africans do braai. Some of the webcams' quality left a lot a to be desired and the photographs do not flatter the subjects. Read on…

Heritage Day wines

Many people hold that Chenin blanc and Pinotage are South Africa’s signature red and white varietals. We chose two sensational Heritage wines from our cellar. The Beaumont Hope Marguerite Chenin Blanc is a wine we love and buy when we can - it sells out quickly. We drink some new and fresh and keep some in the cellar as we know it ages well. This was a 2010 and quite magnificent. The 10 years in cellar had made it creamy with crisp apple and honeyed caramel flavours, rich pastry wood; so a good example of a wine to pair with Tart Tatin.

The 2011 L'Avenir Pinotage is quite Burgundian in style. As Pinotage ages we find that the character of its Pinot Noir parent does tend to come to the fore. Fresh red plums, prunes, strawberries on both nose and palate, with long flavours, and a background structure from well handled wood. One of the few Pinotages Lynne enjoys

See John's photographs and follow us on YouPic

Heritage Day wines

Many people hold that Chenin blanc and Pinotage are South Africa’s signature varietals. We chose two sensational Heritage wines from our cellar. The Beaumont Hope Marguerite Chenin Blanc is a wine we love and buy when we can - it sells out quickly. We drink some new and fresh and keep some in the cellar as we know it ages well. This was a 2010 and quite magnificent. The 10 years in cellar had made it creamy with crisp apple and honeyed caramel flavours, rich pastry wood; so a good example of a wine to pair with Tart Tatin.

See John's photographs and follow us on YouPic

Zoom tasting with Woolworths of Spier wines

The Woolworths Wine team. Rebecca Constable, Allan Mullins, Chef Anda Dlepu (Woolworths Protein Product Developer), Rob Gower and Christy Wren and, of course, Frans Smit, Cellarmaster at Spier Wine Estate in Stellenbosch

We heard from Chef Anda Dlepu , while he cooked delicious mouth watering things on his braai, like marinated ribs. He is the Protein Product Developer at Woolworths

After graduating from the South African Chefs Academy, Anda joined Woolworths’ culinary centre before moving into product development. He worked in several teams before joining the meat department. “I’ve always seen myself as the guy looking after the meat on the grill,” he says, “so I’m exactly where I always thought I’d be!”

So good to see Allan Mullins looking so fit. He is part of the Woolworths wine buying team. He talked about how he consulted with Frans and Spier to create the wines they sell in Woolworths, most especially the Signature Collection Merlot

There were other media and members of the Woolworths Wine Club watching on line

and we could post questions to Rebecca, which the team then answered

Rebecca showing us one of the Spier wines sold at Woolworths. there are several: Spier Creative Block 5, Private Collection Cabernet Sauvignon, Spier Merlot, Spier Cabernet Sauvignon, Spier Private Collection Chenin Blanc, Spier Peachy Chenin Blanc, Spier Chardonnay, Spier Chardonnay Pinot Noir, Spier Vintage Selection Sauvignon Blanc , a range of Light wines, white and red varietals for those of you wanting not much alcohol and two Natural Sweet wines, as in the photo, a red and a white

Rob Gower was also contributing to the discussion

He seems to have been in the Knysna area and sitting in full sun on what looked like a really great terrace

“Respect what the vineyard hands you,” is Frans’s mantra. This passion for creating wines that authentically express their terroir has seen him amass an impressive list of awards. Under his guidance, the Spier team earned six double gold and nine gold awards at the 2017 Veritas Awards. They score very highly each year in Platter's wine guide and in many competitions, like the old Mutual Trophy. He spoke about his wines and cooked some skilpadjies on the fire behind him. And several are favourites in our house, such as the Cabernet and the complex 21 Gables Chenin Blanc. Skilpadjies are a traditional South African delicacy. They are sheep liver wrapped in a sheer layer of caul fat – the fatty layer that surrounds the kidneys. The liver minced and mixed with chopped onions, coriander, seasonings and Worcestershire Sauce (every chef has his or her own recipe) before being wrapped in the fat and grilled over the coals

We had two bottles of Spier wine open to taste during the webinar, the Spier Peachy Chenin Blanc which we buy from Woolworths and is one of our favourite summer refreshers. It is a good fruity chenin blanc, with lovely rich peach flavours, good acidity and goes very well with fish and seafood dishes and with spicy food. And from our cellar a 2009 Spier Inspire Cabernet Sauvignon which was magnificent. This wine has aged really well. It is a fruit forward wine, cassis, raspberry, cherry and strawberry on the nose and palate, silky on the palate, the fruit delights and stays. There is some warmth from the 14% alcohol and it ends with salty licorice wood. Not a fault in sight and showing no age at all. And 2 days later, even better. We have a couple of bottles left and will probably drink one on Christmas day with our dinner. Yes, it is that good. It is impossible to watch others drink good wine and not join in

See John's photographs and follow us on YouPic

About us

MENU, our weekly email newsletter, started as an advertising medium for Main Ingredient, our specialist retail grocery business. We opened our Sea Point shop in December 2002 because realised that there was a place in South Africa for a grocer catering to people with sophisticated tastes and needs. We moved the shop on line in 2010, but discontinued it in 2015, having decided that it is time to “retire” and concentrate on our writing, photography and tour guiding. MENU has a wide circulation and is read nationally and internationally.

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