It should have been the opposite, with some moderation to precede the Christmas excess, but my week leading up to the day was probably the most calorific of any of the last year. The eating was a happy overlap of two briefs – the restaurant guide and a story I am writing for the April issue of the American Express magazine, Food & Wine. The result was a blitz on the better restaurants of the winelands.
The start was inauspicious, a late breakfast at Fairview’s Goatshed where the home-baked breads are great and the cheeses are even better. Plus they make some of the Cape’s best wines, with the Caldera 2004 one of my personal “best of” picks of 2006. Then an unexpected lunch at De Leuwen Jagt, at Seidelberg estate, which was average – just clean and simple food (a fenugreek veg curry) in plain surroundings (but with a setting that has great views).
Our first round for dinner was at Bouillabaisse in Franschhoek. Continue reading ‘The pinnacle’
Check this out if you are thinking about toxins and how to manage them…
A doc I visited a few years ago explained the same to me, that the body as more intelligence than the latest cereal packet’s banner claims. It’s in the gut and in the occasional waddle of the legs…
Just a quick pinch. Popped in today, quite impromptu and it was a delightful result. The rather charming but completely dated Ambassador (famous for its views and Irish coffees) has been revamped with panache and great vigour – now its a chic, modern space, still with the same views, but now you can also look inwards… big glass panes, brown and white tones, a slightly baroque lounge area, it’s all restful and sophisticated.
Friendly service (except for the exit, when our extravagant leave-taking merited no good-bye), a great winelist (all wines by the glass and an intelligent list) and a modern menu with a leaning to light meals and mix and match plates. Crayfish club sandwich for the show-offs, otherwise a good tempura calamari, competent but not stellar gnocchi, great pork belly. Classics like rib-eye steak bearnaise will get me back, as will the superb look and feel of the place
Substance to style – gotta love it. And the prices are fair.
A little while ago there was some discussion on the site about blind vs sighted tastings, here and here. Then the other day I was greeted with: “have you heard the latest gossip?” from a wine writer from Johannesburg.
He had been approached by a rather miffed Alan Pick of the well-known Butcher’s Grill in Sandton whose Pick’s Pick Merlot had been awarded two and a half stars in the latest John Platter Guide – while the same wine, in its full livery as Jordan’s Merlot, had received four stars. The allegation is that it is one and the same wine, in which case the sighted nature of the tasting had a very deliterious effect on Pick’s wine.
In the Platter guide, they do announce that this merlot comes from Jordan, so one would have thought they’d cross reference or establish that this was perhaps a separate batch, and not as high in quality… I wonder where the truth lies: if it is the same wine, then this gap in star ratings is alarming.
Meanwhile, I have just written up the “chef’s chootout” for Wine Magazine’s Chenin Blanc Challenge, the results due in late January edition. We tasted the winning wine and both fellow judge Pete Goffe-Wood and myself were quite mystified as to its winning status – at least on current form. It showed as a very short and rather flat wine. But I will likely have to eat my words…
Diving for crayfish this Saturday and Sunday, under the canopy of kelp forests. Into pot and then the question of what to drink – sauvignon blanc certainly, but I also had a desire to pair the dense, sweet meat with a bubbly, and thought a rosé bubbly would be ideal.
Twee Jongegezellen out in Tulbagh have made bubbly for many years under the Krone Borealis name. Recently they added a well-lees rested rosé to the brut and it was this 2000 wine that we opened… to find it was corked.
Unfortunately, the incidence of corked bubblies is greater than with still wines, the CO2 seems to activate or interact with the TCA and that nasty wet cardboard smell pretty much ruined the Krone Rosé, so it was back to some Newton Johnson Sauvignon Blanc 2006 (still quiet and restrained, but creamy).
Unexpectedly called to tasting duties on the family farm yesterday: all morning on chenin blancs and all afternoon on shiraz.
Chenin is, in my opinion, South Africa’s great white hope – if we manage its image successfully. It is versatile and delicious with its array of delicious fruit flavours, the only problem with its perception is that it is unknown for many, while others think it makes only cheap wine. On top of this, it comes in various guises, from sweet to dry and the punter is not always sure what he or she will get.
Aside from small plantings in the Loire, we have the world’s monopoly on the grape, and at this year’s big chenin tasting in France (Le Rendez-vous de Fontevraud) we really cleaned up in most categories, especially the dry and off-dry styles.
Of the 15 local and international wines we tasted yesterday, there were few duds. When wine-makers manage to curb the over-ripe melon flavours and keep the freshness of the variety’s natural acids, the results are also age-worthy as a 2001 Beaumont Chenin proved. It had only become richer and more complex, still with a zing. Other lovelies included De Trafford 2006, Chateau de Fesles “La Chapelle” 2002, and Jean Daneel Signature 2005.
On to the afternoon’s shiraz tasting. What can I say? Again, I am seriously underwhelmed by SA shiraz. Over-ripe, simple fruit and walls of oak. This is not the saviour it was hyped to be. Maybe once we have older vines and once makers blend with a few other grapes like mourvedre we will begin to see some elegance and length, not just power and ham-fistedness. We tasted 12 locals, and only a minority of these were wines as opposed to show-ponies. Columella, Luddite, Beaumont (with my declared interests) are on the right track.
Last night I held a final “wine and food” show at Caveau for the year – it was a corporate gig and the room had a real mix of people who know wine and people who probably hardly drink it. “Drink More Wine” was of course my primary message, and inevitably the conversation turned to where the best value lies. It’s interesting that at this time of industry crunch, with the bulk prices of wine coming down fast, the public don’t necessarily feel that wine is cheaper. This may be because most commentators (and I am also guilty) continually write and talk about the glamour wines, those with status (and attendant prices).
But the prices have come down on the shelf: witness Chateau Libertas’ lower sticker price. You can’t really expect the prices of the prestige names to drop – what good such a brand if it rapidly discounts? The most you can expect for here is a stable price.
It’s made from mourvedre grapes and comes rather handsomely packaged in a flint bottle. Goes by the romantic name of Circumstance (which probably explains how it got to be made). The producer is Waterkloof, pretty unknown to me and closed to the public. I tried it after Faisal mentioned it was the most expensive rosé he had come across… attractive nose, but short and rather hard. I still think rosés should have some element of seduction: either a fruit charm or tangy layers of earth and spice.
Caveau have some of this wine by the glass this week, and if you can get down there, have a taste. It is still in fine shape with alluring tertiary notes and a lively palate. One suspects that acid was added (this was, and still is, common practise) because there is a hint of naked freshness – but in this case it all hangs together wonderfully. Once more, a white wine that really impresses, perhaps because there is not so much pressure to perform, as on the reds? Or do we make better white wines?
On the subject of added acid, Mocke, the winemaker at Chamonix who has just been hansomely awarded for his chardonnays, believes that natural acids are key to ensuring longevity in the bottle. This is of course a great viticultural challenge in our climate, where the heat strips acids out to replace with rampant sugars.
Also tasted this weekend: Graham Beck Blanc de Blancs 1997, and a delicious creamy mouthful that was, mousse still vibrant.
In what could be one of the most obstruse exercises in sauvignon blanc exploration (or is it marketing?), Durbanville Hills have released two Rhinofields Sauvignon Blanc 2006s – Inner Valley and Outer Valley. Rhinofields is a premium label.
Inner Valley is, according to the notes, “selected from a single vineyard which is trellised to protect the fruit from direct sunlight. The soft, radiated heat allowed for the gradual ripening of the fruit, which meant flavour components could be developed to the full.” Furthermore, the wine is described as “robust” – even though it carries an alcohol of 11.9%. This is alarmingly low for a Cape wine, even for tasters like me who dislike over-alcoholic wines. Can this wine have all its flavours fully developed?
The Outer Valley 2006 which is in its turn described as “full-bodied” sits at an even slighter 11.09% alcohol. Both wines’ acidities are around 6.7, and with these figures they certainly are refreshing – but not robust, full-bodied or, in fact, particularly complex. They are both light and lean, with fleeting palate weight.
These wines do have something of a reputation for developing in the bottle, so I would be interested to track their development, but I have to wonder if these grapes had reached fruit ripeness. And then there is the price, R55 from the farm, which unfortunately does not let then slip down as fast as they probably should.
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