handtomouth

Of all life’s great biological functions, the act of fermentation must rank number one. Sure, fornication’s a close contender, but the by-products of fermentation are not only legion and most useful, they are also the instigator for many biological functions, like what happens between the sheets (for you old-fashioned types) or in chatrooms (for you mods). Continue reading ‘Salute to ferment’

Most wine pundits are putting in some R&R in preparation for next week’s Cape Wine 2006 – the biggest expo for international guests in the Cape. Days of wine talk, wine tasting and wine business, I hope to find some wine fun to report on (or some interesting observations on the international wine club). With 350 wineries and over 4000 wines…

The theme is “diversity is in our nature” and the link is with the Cape’s immense bio-diversity, the idea being that if we can sustain so many plant species, imagine what diversity our vines can demonstrate. It’s beginning to happen, I think, now that the farmers are moving off the plains and proven soils of places like Stellenbosch. We may never replicate the monster vineyards of Australia (in case we had that weird vision), but we have pockets of fascinating sites. Small, but beautiful.

With so many places trying the wine and food match as a form of entertainment, it’s great that Joostenberg have got it right with their six course menu – food matched to the wines of the farm. And what a lovely collection they are, with the white blend, the Fairhead 2005 a very lovely wine indeed. Mostly chenin but with a good dollop of viognier and some chardonnay, it’s a wine that challenges my personal dislike for viognier – a blatant sugar-puff that’s used to sex-up shiraz and makes overblown single variety wines. Here it adds a lovely spice and fruit to a tangy and very food-friendly wine.

Bruce Robertson (previously at Cape Grace) is finally up and running with his new restaurant, The Showroom. Went to his dry run a few nights ago, and it’s very promising. One of Cape Town’s most minimalist spots, also unusual in terms of being right on a busy intersection, which gives it more of a city feel than most places in this city achieve. The theme to the menu looks like it will work – though it needs lots of explanation by the waiters: you order your food and then you order your choice of sauces from a list of 28 or so. From classics like red wine to salsas, you choose what goes with your food. Makes for some fun. And if you go, do try the Bruce Juice – it’s made by Bruce Jack of Flagstone, so it’s the Two Bruces.

First congratulations to Vergelegen, who have been named the “New World Winery of the Year” for 2005 by America’s Wine Enthusiast magazine. As these tributes go, it’s a note-worthy one, from a leading wine magazine with a very large readership.

At the announcement, Vergelegen put out their new release wines for tasting and they are a uniformly classy squad (with the Chardonnay Reserve being a real humdinger). Add to the fine wines the farm’s magnificent setting with its oodles of history, and Vergelegen really does a great job of being a flagship Cape winery.

On to another Cape banner-waver – or maybe not? Continue reading ‘is chenin a win?’

At the restaurant Aubergine a few nights ago, we chose a L’Avenir Chenin Blanc 1997 from the wine list. What a pleasure to be able to find something with some age and what a pleasant wine it was; the fruit still plush, with a touch of botrytis helping the full flavour profile. It was gratifying also because we were hosting a Spanish group who asked to taste some older wines – a wish that is not very easy to fulfill with almost all local wine lists. And yet they insist on charging very typical 300% mark-ups!

Well, pursuant my mixed comments on Anwilka, big Bob Parker has tasted it and pronounced it GOOD.

Incredibly, the first bottled white wine of the 2006 harvest has already passed my lips – this even as some cool-climate producers have only begun to harvest. Remember the days of the nouveau wines? Well, this was something similar; a very slight white called Light White made by those masters of value for money, Van Loveren. Continue reading ‘Anwilka’

Yes, the hint of flab in the Fortress Hill Chenin deteriorated into a full-on lack of intensity within a day. For me, one of the signs of a quality wine is when it remains intact over three days (left recorked in the fridge). Classy wines, wines with backbone and complexity, tend to undergo positive development in this time, poor wines simply fade away. This was one of those faders.

At a wine and food function for Beaumont wines last night, and encountered an unusual and unusually good wine-food combo: a cob terrine with a light sauerkraut “soup” paired to an unwooded Chenin Blanc. All the fruits stood proud, and the complexity of flavours was hightened. The kitchen was at a place called “Greyt-on-Main” in Greyton, where the old-fashioned patina covers some very competent cooking.

An unusual wine to get the first of my (hopefully regular) wine reviews, this Chenin is from a winery that I have not come across before. It’s a wooded wine, and carries a little weight around the jowls (a residual sugar approaching five g/l). Tropical fruits, vanilla and a mild demeanour. What it lacks in intensity it makes up for in round richness, its a plush baby allright and I tried it with some light Thai-curry chicken – worked a charm. So quite a beguiling wine, but carries a mild “Dolly Parton” warning: it’s a crowd pleaser.

Thirsty men don’t much like being caught outside; the one exception being the beer garden. There is positively nothing worse on earth than some onerous chore or worldly disaster pulling us out of the comforting shadows of the bar to stand blinking in the sun and have to pull ourselves together, the messiness of daily existence all around. Continue reading ’summer tippling’

I fear caffeine. Yet I love coffee, it’s most expressive and eloquent ambassador. I fear that roiling stomach, the clenched teeth and the feeling that something needs to be done but you’ve already run out of time to do it. You move forward – back – what are you doing? Tap-tap-tap. Continue reading ‘fear of caffeine’

You get many of these fish-on-a-skillet places. They tend to come with ropey (literally) décor and plasticated place mats. They tend to have blackboard menus with the dishes colourfully written in chalk. They tend to be tended by scampering students. Continue reading ‘Fishmonger, Stellenbosch. 7 March 2006′

Just the other night, one of my colleagues at the bar counter, the one we call The Professor for all his profound late night wisdom, remarked that it was hard to trust a man who doesn’t drink. He was talking about George Bush and we all nodded sagely. Continue reading ‘Trust a man who drinks’