Michael Olivier
July 30, 2010
16:30
Waterblommetjie & green garlic Bredie
This recipe is a great tradition in the Cape where waterblommetjies, [Aponogeton distachys] also know as wateruintjies, fill the ponds and dams in the Western Cape with pretty white snowdroplike, strongly scented flowers. Louis Leipoldt, in his book on Cape Cookery, refers to them in English as Water Hawthorn and Myrna Robins, well known South Africa [...]
Categories: Food Blogs in English, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
June 21, 2010
16:54
Cape Winemakers Guild Wines
Tasting a selection of wines from Past Auctions of The Cape Winemakers Guild in the presence of three members, Johan Malan, Etienne le Riche and newboy Duncan Savage was an experience to be remembered for a long time. Not only were the wines utterly memorable, being in the company of these three gents and being fed [...]
Categories: Food Blogs in English, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
June 20, 2010
20:30
Avondale – an exercise in Bio-Logics
I have known the Grieve family since 1958. The current custodian’s grandmother Julie and my mother Dulce were the stalwarts of the National Council of Woman and the Black Sash and village municipal councillors and ultimately Julie became Mayor of Durbanville and my mother became Mayor of Gordon’s Bay In those early days, the Grieves ran [...]
Categories: Food Blogs in English, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
June 6, 2010
18:09
Quince & Lamb Knuckle Bredie
Quinces, which have been grown at the Cape for over 350 years, are back in season again. They were planted and mentioned in his diary by Jan van Riebeek’ s gardeners in the Company Gardens in Cape Town shortly after the settlement at the Cape by the Dutch to create a fuelling station for their ships [...]
Categories: Food Blogs in English, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
18:04
Creation Chardonnay
Carolyn Martin and her Winemaker husband JC have created a huge amount of publicity for their Creation wines which come from Hemel en Aarde Ridge, a relatively new appellation to the west of Hermanus. Situated up in the Hemel en Aarde Valley, clinging to a hillside, the cellar is all about gravity feeding and as [...]
Categories: Food Blogs in English, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
17:58
Durbanville Hills Pinotage
Ever thought of chilling a red wine? Looking for a more interesting wine to serve with your desserts? My friend Durbanville Hills cellarmaster Martin Moore suggests you serve his recently released 2008 Durbanville Hills Pinotage chilled. We chill red wines at home and they really work well, especially if the acidity is low and the tannins are soft [...]
Categories: Food Blogs in English, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
14:23
Hermanuspietersfontein Bloos
Hermanus Pieters was a man who taught Dutch to the children of farmers in the area and was at times paid in sheep which he grazed at a spring under Milkwood trees near the sea. In l855, long after his passing, the village Hermanuspietersfontein was founded in his honour. In the early 1900’s, I am sure [...]
Categories: Food Blogs in English, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
14:16
Le Riche Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Etienne le Riche has been making superb wine in Stellenbosch since the 1970s. First at Rustenberg Estate and since the late 1990s, he has made wine in his own small cellar up in the Jonkershoek Valley above Stellenbosch. A highly respected winemaker, he tends to shy away from too much publicity, but his talents have seen [...]
Categories: Food Blogs in English, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
14:08
Graham Beck Game Reserve Wines
Graham Beck wines have just released new vintages of two benchmark wines which were formerly called The Gamekeeper, a fabulous Chenin Blanc and a real stunner of a Cabernet Sauvignon. The Game Reserve Chenin Blanc 2009 really shows its pedigree as the fruit comes from old vines – some 40 to 50 years old, which is [...]
Categories: Food Blogs in English, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
14:01
Jacques Smit Roobernet Port
A unique Port from Jacques Smit Wines in Wellington. It is not oaked at all, and it is the first South African Port to be made from a grape variety called Roobernet, a 1960s local cross between Cabernet Sauvignon and Pontac. Although it is unoaked, there are some delicious spicy hints of cloves and cracked cardamom. [...]
Categories: Food Blogs in English, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
13:50
De Krans Cape Tawny Port NV
Made from the classical Portuguese Port varieties 50% Tinta Barocca, 45% Touriga Naçional and 5% Souzao. Boets uses unmatured brandy spirit for the fortification and then matures the wine for a year in oak casks. 50% of it in 500 litre barrels and the remainder in 4500 litre vats. So you land up with a [...]
Categories: Food Blogs in English, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
13:44
Zonnebloem Laureat 2007
With cold nights looming, not a bad idea to get in a bottle or two of the newly launched 2007 vintage of the well known and loved Zonnebloem Laureat. 2007 was Bonny van Niekerk’s first vintage as red wine maker at Zonnebloem and she has produced a stonker! This bottle is crammed with red and [...]
Categories: Food Blogs in English, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
13:40
Pour an AmaShibobo
Amarula – my most favourite of the “modern” liqueurs arrived at our front door recently with two “friends” a bottle of Nachtmusik and a bottle of traffic light green Oude Meester Peppermint liqueur. Love them all separately and thought that as the kind people from Amarula had sent us some ducky little Soccer Ball glasses, we’d [...]
Categories: Food Blogs in English, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
13:29
La Motte Pierneef Sauvignon Blanc
Going out to La Motte and tasting wines with winemaker Edmund Terblanche is a really sublime experience in wine. La Motte’s Nabot vineyard in Walker Bay, close to the town of Bot Rivier, is now 7 years in production and the 2009 La Motte Pierneef Organic Sauvignon Blanc produced from grapes grown there is an exceptional [...]
Categories: Food Blogs in English, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
13:14
Yotam Ottolenghi – Plenty
Yotam Ottolenghi is a London Restaurant Legend. I have been following him for ages on line in The Guardian where he has a fabulous column called The New Vegetarian. Initially Guardian readers were not happy with the fact that he was not a vegetarian at all – he would offer a salad recipe to serve with lamb [...]
Categories: Food Blogs in English, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
May 5, 2010
09:15
Zandvliet Kalkveld Shiraz 2005
Two things Paul and Dan de Wet do well is breed outstanding race horses – Pocket Power is one of their babies – and make simply great wine. The Zandvliet Shiraz was first bottled over 35 years ago and is made from the Shiraz vineyards growing on the alluvial soils of the river which runs through [...]
Categories: Food Blogs in English, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
May 2, 2010
12:57
Portugal 3 – Solar dos Presuntos
We dined twice at Solar dos Presuntos. The first time we were presented with a choice of fish by Agostinho which included a large turbot which we subsequently ordered. Sonia Fernandes of ViniPortugal and Anibal Coutinho look on. In the window were the Lampreys of which I have spoken and inside the front door lobsters in [...]
Categories: Food Blogs in English, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
May 1, 2010
18:46
Zandvliet Chardonnay – great flavours
Flying well below the radar, but so deserving of more limelight are the wines of Zandvliet. Zandvliet Chardonnay 2009 is a real gem. Beautiful straw gold in colour with whiffs of white flowers like frangipani and honeysuckle, the toasted hazelnuts and vanilla give evidence of the new 300 litre French oak barrels in which 30% of this [...]
Categories: Food Blogs in English, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
April 30, 2010
13:01
Monis Vintage Port 2006
Having just been to Portugal where I had the pleasure of tasting a large number of fabulous ports blind for the book, Guia Popular dos Vinhos with which Neil Pendock and I are assisting Anibal Coutinho, my palate is somewhat calibrated to the part made from the classical Portuguese varieties. It was also very clear that [...]
Categories: Food Blogs in English, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
April 29, 2010
11:15
Sparkling Simonsig, the Kaapse Vonkel
Had a retrospective tasting of Kaapse Vonkel with Johan and Francois Malan at Simonsig and lunch in their lovely Cuvee Restaurant, created for them by Neil Stemmet. Delicious little forkfuls of figs stuffed with Gorgonzola and wrapped in prosciutto were served as pre lunch appetizers – couldn’t get my mind round the poached oysters in white [...]
Categories: Food Blogs in English, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
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