handtomouth

On the weekend, a snapshot of the recent ages of South African wine from the early 1990s through to the current vintages. The change in style is so stark – from lean and European in nature to big and bold – that you can easily call it a revolution in form. Continue reading ‘Decades of Cape wines’

Today there was a great deal that was discussed “off the record”. But I can tell you that the Hungry Man declared that he does not like balsamic reduction. Regrettably, he forgot this detail, remembering only after his order of guinea fowl with said reduction on mash arrived as his main course. Given this global dislike (it’s too sweet he says) I would have preferred to have his main course in front of me instead of my happiness-threatening eland potjie.

It’s only a few days later, as I write this, that I realise our meal resembled some butcher’s sampling of the ark. Continue reading ‘96 Winery Road. 26 April 2006′

Last night saw the first in this year’s series of wine and food evenings that I host at the wine bar Caveau in Cape Town. A worthwhile spot, if you haven’t been there yet, with great food and a decent wine list (yes, I did help with it, so I would think so). The theme was sparkling wines and we tasted a number of Cape stalwarts and one fine novelty. Of the wines tasted, one was from Constantia (Steenberg Brut), two from Franschhoek (Pierre Jourdan’s Brut and Blanc de Blancs 2004) and two from Robertson (Bon Courage Blanc de Blanc 2002 and Graham Beck Brut Rose 2004). I was again struck by how much more complexity the bubblies from Robertson displayed, something one must attribute to the lime-rich soils in these parts. The Franschhoek and Constantia wines were lovely and fresh, but did not give the impression of living a full and long life. Then the curiousity: another Franschhoek wine, Moreson Cuvee Cape (please excuse the lack of accents above, due to a lack of technical expertise on insertion). This is a sparkler made from pinotage and chenin blanc – the two “true” Cape grapes. It isn’t a blush, but it has a helluva lot of structure and considerably more sugar than the rest have, it also has abundant fruit and noteworthy tannins. A very surprising drink, good for later, when the palate needs some refreshing fun, or with something like carpacchio due to the sappy tannin that the pinotage bequeaths.

Red wines are king. They hold the high ground as the serious contender, the one to move on to and stay with after a few glasses of white. They command higher prices and they’re usually better suited to cellaring, which means they are given more consideration. Continue reading ‘Exciting whites’

When I last ate with the Hungry Man, he was a wan specimen. Worn and worked by the voracious demands of his employer, he sat in front of me, visibly struggling to muster the strength to explain the many reasons for his exhaustion.

It was therefore a very good thing that we were sitting at one of the better restaurants in Stellenbosch, with a very attentive waiter and some victuals only a few syllables away. Continue reading ‘Terroir 13 April 2006′

The other day I went to see my doc. There was something amiss with my old reliable – body – that is. It was not enjoying the merry life quite as much as I was, and I knew I should intervene before it got out of hand. You see, I’ve done my share of philosophy (as you should know by now) and I do not subscribe to that business about your body being “all in the mind”. Rather, I think the mind is all in the body. I put everything else there, so why should it not be? Continue reading ‘Health drinks’

But still have aspirations to cooking a few meals that require some decent ingredients, ones not on offer from the take-away menu of your nearest pizzeria? Then take a look at platinum produce. A great idea. For luxury lazy asses.

More than any other spirit, whisky is the mainstay of the bar counter. There are exceptions, like if you are living in Yakutsk, Siberia where your bar serves only family draughts of pull-tap vodka. Or if you live your life like a bad ad and your mainstay is Mainstay. Continue reading ‘Whisky 101′

Congratulations to the miracle workers who not only manage to run a good restaurant but also up the quality to the point that they are voted one of the world’s 50 best. A closer look at the dedication, grind, mayhem and skill it takes to run a good establishment makes this recognition very sweet. And in this case the awards were judged by foodies around the globe, so there could be some legitimacy to the list… anyway, two South African places made it onto a list that is headed by El Bulli. La Colombe at Constantia Uitsig – consistently one (if not the best) in South Africa; and Le Quartier Francais, the friendly place in Franschhoek. But a question pops to mind: what is the Le Quartier restaurant? If a visitor now arrives to sample this top 50 ranker, where does he go? For at least a year ago, Le Quartier, which used to be one restaurant, spilt into The Tasting Room, a fine diner where you choose a six or eight course dinner, and Ici, a bistro. The former is precise and poised, but with a poor wine match to the courses; the latter a relaxed and colourful eaterie with good food but lacklustre service at times. For the top 50, one assumes they mean Tasting Room, so why not name it so?

One of a handful of wineries that sent out email diaries of the 2006 harvest was Jordan. An account by Gary Jordan, all the ups and downs and power load shedding was entertainingly detailed.

Then, soon after harvest, the Jordans invited some of us journalists to visit the farm and engage in some wine-related activity: this year we were all given representative bottles of the constituent parts of the flagship red blend and asked to blend our own 2005 version. Continue reading ‘Jordan’

Michel Rolland’s Cape flagship, this wine is interesting even before you uncork it. Firstly for it’s idiosyncratic label (a postage stamp) that makes it look like a cheap and cheerful nouveau-style wine rather than a serious red, and secondly for its near 20% pinotage component.

Famous for his technique of softening wines by micro-oxygenation, Rolland is also accused of flattening the wine world by advocating and helping to make wines that would appeal to his personal friend, Robert Parker. In other words, big, bold and ripe wines. He would defend by saying that he wants to make sound and age-able wines from properly ripe grapes with full soft tannins. Wines in a modern style.

The Bonne Nouvelle is certainly plush, with bold fruits and a full, rich body. It also has quite noticeable tannins, almost dusty, that suggest the wine spent a good sojourn in new French oak. Not my style of wine, it’s chunky form blunders rather than cajoles, though it may improve with age. Having said this, at least all the parts are equally powerful, so lovers of heady wines will consider it in balance. Of the pinotage, no evil can be said.

Part of the concept of Bruce Robertson’s new restaurant, The Showroom, is explained by the name – everything is on show, including and especially himself. The pan-frying, the searing and the grilling, along with the final touches (the number of time food is handled in any good restaurant is remarkable) happens in front of the diners and adds a real sense of action and drama.

This weekend we went around after ten-thirty pm to say hello and have a glass, thinking that the main action would be over and the chef would have a chance to talk. Very wrong we were. The pass was mayhem, the chefs mono-syllabic when they spoke at all. A few bigger tables had booked for similar dining times and the kitchen was going for broke to accommodate. The reality of staggered booking times hits home – when restaurants tell you that you can eat either at seven or nine, there is a real and valid reason, because many kitchens simply cannot cope with orders that exceed three tables of four or so at once. Each place has its tolerances, and they have to work within these if they want to give you food that lives up to their expectations (and hopefully your pleasure).

I am still perplexed at the popularity of this poser called viognier in the Cape. Just today I tried it again in the guise of the Graham Beck and am continually disappointed. Sure, it’s bold and fruity, sure it has big florals, but what else? It’s a real tease, and I am even more opposed to it in all its shiraz marriages. It’s a cheap frillip, used to lift the red fruit in the face of what must be a lack of good shiraz. It dilutes the primal flavours, replacing with soft, peachy, easy notes. Part of the problem is that we seem to use it at full and pretty alcoholic ripeness, winemakers tell me this is when it’s at its best. I say it’s at its best as a minute part of a blend, or not at all. (Try Joostenberg’s Fairhead, or the new Scali White.)

Lunch at Emily’s in the Cape Town Waterfront. That most Boere-baroque of places (“Boere” being the Afrikaans farmer, this term referring to an ornate and florid taste in décor as practised by certain Afrikaners). So many textures and colours fighting to co-exist. It’s like a Roman bath fantasy in decline, huge urns sprouting in most corners. The music is soothing, and the waiter was eccentric but friendly and efficient, and the food was good – plated with flagrant flair. The wine we drank was a 2002 Overgaauw Sylvaner. A winelands curiosity (which seemed to fit the occasion), sylvaner is only made by Overgaauw locally, and it’s a great wine to drink with some rollmops and pickled calamari, bobotie with date sambal and yellowtail fish with pomegranate and saffron. With its oxidised nose, it’s not going to impress the modern sniffer, but there’s lovely spice and lemon there too. It’s the palate that counts, however, a lovely dusty endurance here, with the most remarkable ability to fit in with diverse dishes. And low in alcohol. On this restaurant’s very pricy wine list, a soothing R90.

Met a good few interesting people at Cape Wine, foremost being Garrett Oliver, a brewer from Brooklyn, New York. With a brewery that runs solely on wind power, he’s a proponent of change and also prominent in the American Slow Food movement. Had this to say: “the great thing that a small producer has going for him is reality”. Describing himself horrified by the idea of stuff being added to wine, he hoped that the small guy can keep things pure and traditional, and that the consumer will always return to the real. I like that. Also saw Matthew Jukes for a chat, as entertaining as ever, he feels that South African wine is slipping ever further into the bargain basin depths of the UK market – which is worrying. We can’t compete here at the price to value ratio that other producing countries offer, and need to sell our uniqueness – turn this into mid to upper prices. To get this right, the wines do need to be real.