Thursday, September 29, 2016

Franschhoek Uncorked

This annual celebration has Franschhoek's wine farms opening their doors to the public with special tastings and fun events over a weekend. The weather played along and we had a great time visiting several wine farms on Saturday. It was not as busy as we expected, but everyone we saw was having a super time. As it was the weekend after Heritage Day, there was a lot of braaiing going on
A tragic note after the weekend was hearing of the tragic loss of Jenny Prinsloo in  a collision on the Helshoogte Pass. Jenny was CEO of Franschhoek Tourism and played a most important role in taking Franschhoek to its very prominent place on the South African tourism map. We mourn her loss with all of Franschhoek and her family
We began at Boschendal. It has been rather a long time since we visited. This is the Rhone Homestead now a restaurant which is next to the wine cellar, the festival was being held on the lawn here
You walk down the oak avenue, now in beautiful new spring green leaf
They had this wagon with the working horses taking people on rides up and down the farm
The tasting desk under the trees. They only had the Chardonnay and Shiraz for tasting
The Rhone Restaurant was popular
There was a buffet lunch for about R280 a person
Lots of good food and dessert treats
Roasts under the hot lamps
We thought it looked lovely, but we wanted something light
Hamburgers on the grill. They had advertised sausages, but we saw none. Sadly, the burgers we saw (which had been discarded) were very brown on the outside and very raw on the inside. They did not tempt us
There was also one of two bubblies for tasting. If you wanted the other one there was a small charge
Some lively singing and dancing on the lawn by a local group of children and drummers
It certainly livened up the afternoon
Bud break has begun on the vines
Moody weather over the mountains, but it was warm and didn't rain although it had been forecast. Perhaps that is why numbers were rather low?
Off to GlenWood where we encountered Guy Kedian of Stellenbosch Vineyards with GlenWood's cellarmaster/general manager DP Burger, both old friends
Tables were being set up for the wine blending competition
We enjoyed some fun and Chardonnay with Guy and  and his partner Jackie Rabe, Sales and Marketing Director at Strandveld Wines,
Hands up or I'll shoot!
A good grey in the paddock
Hunger struck, so we had some of these kebabs. Steak or chicken? We went for the nice and tender steak with sweet barbecue sauce and a roosterbrood. Never quite sure if we trust chicken on the braai
Happy day
Spring green on the oaks
The blending competition starts. We can report that this team was the winner
Another enthusiastic team
Lots of fun and nonsense went on. Not all the blends were absolutely pristine!
Perhaps a little too much festival enthusiasm?
Then we went off to the other end of the valley to visit two farms we had not been to before. The first was Lynx, where we bumped into old Franschhoek friends whom we haven’t seen for a long time
They had a food truck
Hard to get to the tasting counter as it was busy
John peeked into the cellar
Serenaded by the Mexican duo
Down the road from Lynx, La Chataigne and Topiary had combined their celebrations on Topiary. La Chataigne is building a new tasting venue. Superb views of the Helshoogte pass to Stellenbosch and the Simonsberg Mountains across the vines
They had tables and chairs on their lawn
They had some good wines on special and a couple of boxes went home to our cellar. We bought the La Chataigne Kastanje 2013, made from Chenin blanc with a dash of Semillon, and Topiary Shiraz 2013
We chatted to co-owner winemaker Philippe Colin, who was serving the wine. It was a popular destination
and to owner of La Chataigne Richard Parkfelt, serving his wine
The sun is setting in the west
They do have some topiary at the entrance. It's time to head home
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016




© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

Shana Tovah

Shana Tovah

We wish you and your family a wonderful New Year
and well over the Fast


John & Lynne Ford

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

This Week's MENU. Nederburg Auction 2016, Amorim Cap Classique Challenge, 1821 Grand Constance comes home, Asian Style Beef salad, Durbanville Hills Rhinofields Sauvignon

A bee harvests the delights of an orange blossom
We wish all our Jewish readers Shanah Tovah and well over the Fast
Another great week of wine and some good food. Our car came back to us just in time for a period of intense travel. The festival season is beginning and we are having to visit Franschhoek, Stellenbosch, Durbanville, Darling and Robertson all in the next couple of weeks. Our petrol bill goes sky high and we really appreciate it when the event organisers arrange transport for us. This is the height of the media season and the diary is rather full, so we will have lots to tell you about

We are having a problem sending MENU by email. When we called our service provider, MWeb, to ask why we could only send out to about 20 addresses per hour, we were told that they have a new policy which means that bulk mailing is no longer possible from any account and that this applies to all service providers. They said that the only way round it is to re-jig our mailing list of over 5000 addresses into groups of 20 instead of the 250 or so we've used up to now. Eveb that isn’t working, so we are looking at alternative ways of sending the email version to you

What we need to ask of all our subscribers is to follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Google+, so that all our stories and MENU can be accessed as they are published, so that we can all get round this obstacle
The Nederburg Auction 2016      This year's Nederburg Auction had 146 items, 1034 lots, 10 506 litres of wine to auction and made a final total of R7 593 200 with total sales increasing by 23% over last year, in spite of a slightly lower volume on sale of 4% from the 2015. Tsogo Sun was the top buyer for 2016, with a total of just over R1 million, followed by the SPAR group and the Singita group of luxury lodges. We attended on Saturday and had an interesting and enjoyable day. We didnt buy anything this year, the high prices were daunting
A total of 18 lots were sold at the exciting annual Nederburg Charity Auction taken by Roland Peens during lunch, which raised just over R500 000 for two community-based organisations, the Breytenbach Centre in Wellington and the Hope Through Action project in Paarl. The highest price achieved was R70,000 paid for a single 750ml bottle of Petrus, 1988, signed by Christian Moueix that was donated by auctioneer Anthony Barne MW. If you would like the see the results in details go here https://www.nederburgauction.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/2016-Results.pdf
A Historical “Home Coming” at Groot Constantia     Groot Constantia brought home an 1821 bottle of its famed Grand Constance. Groot Constantia was the successful bidder recently in an overseas auction for a 195 year old bottle of Grand Constance 1821, a wine that was produced in the Groot Constantia Cloete Cellar. They were so delighted at acquiring the wine and returning it to its origin that they invited a group of us to celebrate its return last week. They also promised a surprise event during the day
The 15th year of the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge     The awards ceremony for this prestigious competition, sponsored by Portuguese cork producer Amorim, was held last Wednesday at the Twelve Apostles Hotel. There were 113 entries for the four categories: Blanc de Blancs, Rosé, Blended Brut and a Museum Class for wines including and before the 2008 vintage. And there were a few surprises this year. The labels usually at the top were not up there and two producers both took home two top awards. The wines are tasted blind by a panel of experienced judges and this year there was a change in judging procedures in that categories were narrowed, with judging no longer being done separately on vintage and non-vintage wines. And to promote inclusivity among producers, entries were open to non-members of the Cap Classique Producers Association. The winners are: Best Brut and Overall Competition Winner: Anura Brut 2011; Best Rosé: J.C. Le Roux Pinot Noir Rosé 2010; Best Blanc de Blanc: Colmant Brut Chardonnay NV; Best Museum Class: J.C. Le Roux Scintilla Vintage Reserve 2008; Frans Malan Legacy Award: John and Erica Platter
On the Wine Menu this week: Durbanville Hills Rhinofields Sauvignon blanc 2013     Lees and pears on the nose complemented with vanilla. Layers of crisp clean fruit delight in their complexity. Pears, apricots, pineapple add to the tingle. Such a good wine to pair with food
This is an easy to assemble salad using left over-beef. You can add lots of other different things like blanched mange tout peas, or thin beans, baby corn, bok choy, baby spinach, pea shoots, radishes or whatever edible items you have in the garden or in the fridge. Lynne used spekboom, nasturtium, and huge oxalis leaves
300g cooked beef from a roast, cut in thin slices - Sesame oil - Ponzu sauce - Tamari sauce - watercress - rocket - carrot strips - celery thinly sliced - one small bulb of fennel, thinly sliced - 8 baby tomatoes , sliced in half- herbs and assorted foraged leaves from your garden - basil leaves, torn - pumpkin seeds - sunflower seeds - black and white sesame seeds - light soy sauce - sweet chilli sauce - hot chilli sauce - soba noodles
Dress the beef with a dessert spoonful of both Ponzu and Tamari and set aside
Salad dressing
1T Ponzu - 1 T light soy sauce - 1 T sweet chilli sauce - 1t sesame oil - 1 t freshly grated ginger - 1 t hot chilli sauce
Cook the soba noodles, drain and while still hot pour over a teaspoonful of sesame oil, 1T sesame seeds - 1 T light soy. Allow to cool.
When the noodles are cool, put them into a wide dish. Mix up the salad ingredients and layer them on top of the noodles, arrange the beef slices on top and when ready to eat, pour over the dressing
1 T = 1 Tablespoon 1t = teaspoon




27th September 2016
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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. Our Avast! ® Anti-Virus software is updated at least daily and our system is scanned continually for viruses.
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Tuesday, September 27, 2016

What's on the Menu this week: Asian Style Beef salad with foraged garden herbs and leaves

This is an easy to assemble salad using left-over beef. You can add lots of other different things like blanched mange tout peas, or thin beans, baby corn, bok choy, baby spinach, pea shoots, radishes or whatever edible items you have in the garden or in the fridge. Lynne used spekboom, nasturtium, and huge oxalis leaves
300g cooked beef from a roast, cut in thin slices - Sesame oil - Ponzu sauce - Tamari sauce - watercress - rocket - carrot strips - celery thinly sliced - one small bulb of fennel, thinly sliced - 8 baby tomatoes , sliced in half- herbs and assorted foraged leaves from your garden - basil leaves, torn - pumpkin seeds - sunflower seeds - black and white sesame seeds - light soy sauce - sweet chilli sauce - hot chilli sauce - soba noodles
Dress the beef with a dessert spoonful of both Ponzu and Tamari and set aside
Salad dressing
1T Ponzu - 1 T light soy sauce - 1 T sweet chilli sauce - 1t sesame oil - 1 t freshly grated ginger - 1 t hot chilli sauce
Cook the soba noodles, drain and while still hot pour over a teaspoonful of sesame oil, 1T sesame seeds - 1 T light soy. Allow to cool.
When the noodles are cool, put them into a wide dish. Mix up the salad ingredients and layer them on top of the noodles, arrange the beef slices on top and when ready to eat, pour over the dressing

1 T = 1 Tablespoon 1t = teaspoon
Tamari and Ponzu are soy sauces
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

On the Wine Menu this week: Durbanville Hills Rhinofields Sauvignon blanc 2013

Lees and pears on the nose complemented with vanilla
Layers of crisp clean fruit delight in their complexity. Pears, apricots, pineapple add to the tingle. Such a good wine to pair with food
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Saturday at the 2016 Nederburg Auction


This year's Nederburg Auction had 146 items, 1034 lots, 10 506 litres of wine to auction and made a final total of R7 593 200 with total sales increasing by 23% over last year, in spite of a slightly lower volume on offer of 4% from the 2015. Tsogo Sun was the top buyer for 2016, with a total of just over R1 million, followed by the SPAR group and the Singita group of luxury lodges. We attended on Saturday and had an interesting and enjoyable day. We didnt buy anything this year, the high prices were daunting
The invitation asked us to be there at 9am so that registration could take place and people could collect their paddles for bidding in the auction
Then it’s time for a glass of bubbly, or a coffee and croissant for breakfast
Oh, there were some canapés as well
Fruit on a stick, oysters and some orange juice
The Sommeliers were out in force to keep us full of bubbly all day. On offer in the morning was Pongracz Brut and Rosé, others were there later. This is Ndaba Dube from the Vineyard Hotel with a colleague
Lynne had a word with Ewan MacKenzie Badge aka The Wine Thief
Mark Norrish of Ultra Liquors in his lucky patriotic tie with his pretty daughter Julia
A happy band of auction warriors: Judy Brower of Wine.co.za, Benny Howard CWM of Meerendal, who is also one of the organisers of the auction, with the two English auctioneers David Elswood, International Head of Wine for Christie’s, and Anthony Barne MW from Bonham’s
Prior to the auction, which begins with a keynote speaker, we were able to taste the wines which would be on auction. Here is Riana Hall of Rudera
Clark Truter of Morvino & Siris Vintners tasting the Seven Springs Chardonnay from the Hemel and Aarde valley with winemaker Riana van der Merwe
The Downes of Shannon vineyards in Elgin have their wine in the auction and were obviously planning to bid for others, L to R: Stuart, Elizabeth and James Downes
Jean Vincent Ridon of Signal Hill wines with his auction wine Eszencia, made in the style of Tokai from Furmint and Sauvignon blanc. It is the highest ever rated South African wine on the US market, awarded 96/100 by Steven Tanzer
Guy Webber of Stellenzicht with his Stellenzicht 1994
Johann de Wet and his wife had a very exciting day. Their De Wetshof Finesse Chardonnay 1993 was the top white wine of the day, making a record price of R2000 per 750 ml bottle
Jane Beaumont and her daughter-in-law Nadia Hope with their Chenin blanc auction wine Hope Marguerite 2008
Following the official auction, there is always the charity auction and these were the lots for bidding on. That auction too broke all records
With all the current interest in Cinsaut and its positive effect on wines when they age, this Stellenbosch Cinsaut 1974 was a very interesting lot
A bottle of Zonnebloem Pinotage 1986. Pinotage does age extremely well
11 o’clock time for Tim Atkin MW to give his keynote address. The theme he chose was titled Heritage: Boom or Burden?
In his 45 minute speech we were given a full history of South African wine and, at the end, some stern comments to the industry that our wines are too cheap, with the result that these excellent wines are not respected in international markets. How can you sell a 95 point wine for £10? We must build an international brand and we must work together. We have heard this several times before and we agree
Tim Atkin has recently come up with a 5 tier Cru rating of South African wines, it is quite contentious but this does deserve consideration, and possibly a bit of re-jigging – some of our top wines ended up on lower tiers than they deserve, in our opinion
The audience
Razvan Macici, Head Winemaker of Distell, listens with interest
Dalene Steyn of Nederburg presents Tim Atkin with a token of thanks while he refreshes his palate with an apple
Auctioneer Anthony Barne MW of Bonham’s gets the auction underway
Just in case we were still peckish and too weak to bid, we were each given this platter of canapés. A small fishcake, a jar of aioli with fresh vegetables and a tiny muffin stuffed with paté
Spot the bids!
Lots were going fast and furiously and the prices were good. To speed up the day as Friday had been slow, they combined each single lot with another, so the minimum bid was for 2 cases
Yes, they keep us well hydrated too. Here Angelo Casu of Grand Dedale and Michael Pownall enjoy some Desiderius MCC as they were so busy bidding
Pearl Oliver, Sommelier at the Taj Hotel, enjoying the sale with a glass of Rosé MCC
Natalie Opstaele of Almenkerk looking unusually serious as she waits for their wine to come up
And the auction ends with lot 1034 Nederburg Private Bin Edelkeur Noble Late Harvest which went for R8 500 for one lot of 6 x 375ml bottles. The final total for the auction is in the top right hand corner of the screen: R7 582 400. At ± £427 000, one has to conjecture what a similar auction at Bonham's or Christie's in the UK would bring
Time for lunch, which was very delayed due to the auction running over about an hour and a half
The starter was a plate of smoked yellowtail and fresh mussels with a Cape Malay curry emulsion. We had some of the wines from the auction with our lunch
The second course was beetroot done three ways with some goats cheese, a good refreshing dish. The chef was one of our top chefs, Bertus Basson. His menu was very clever and none of the food was affected by the long delay
Then between the second starter and the main course they held the charity auction. Everyone could bid and the 18 lots made R500 033. The 33 Rand was a bit of fun that auctioneer Roland Peens of The Wine Cellar added to the Château Petrus 1988, signed by Christian Moueix, donated by Anthony Barne MW as that was the duty he had to pay on the bottle he donated to the auction. In front Ross Sleet and his wife Jan are wondering whether to bid on the Petrus or not?
Greg Parton was the successful bidder for the 1988 Petrus for which he had to pay R70 000. A snip!
The auctioneers relaxing over lunch with Benny Howard after a very tiring two days
Time for the main course. It did look a little weary, (it wasn’t) but it tasted delicious. The carrot is an aged carrot. They are fashionable at the moment and the aging in a straw clamp (as our ancestors used to do before refrigeration) intensifies the flavours but dehydrates the carrot slightly,. which is why it looks so wrinkled. The rich deboned oxtail stew was wrapped in a crepinette parcel, it was on a base of samp (dried maize reconstituted) and peas and came with a jus made with rich meat juices and some NLH?
You know dessert is on the way when some Eminence 2010 NLH arrives on your table. This was the last wine in the auction. We had some blancmange, very sweet. And a cheese platter
Grangehurst Winemaker Jeremy Walker and his wife Mandy were obviously enjoying themselves. Their wine earned very good prices
We shared a table and some good wines with Gavin Ferreira and Greg Mutambe, Deputy General Manager and Head Sommelier of The Twelve Apostles Hotel
A tired chef Bertus Basson with Sommelier Higgo Jacobs, who was responsible for all the wines served that day
Some of the auction wines which were available for drinking with lunch
A final double espresso please before going home at 5.30. An enjoyable day
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016