Luke Dale Roberts needs no introduction on these pages; we’ve written about the near-legendary chef twice and the accolades keep rolling in for him and his Test Kitchen.  He could have spent December basking in the afterglow of his Chef of the Year award; instead he was putting the finishing touches to his brand new venture situated right next to the existing restaurant, The Pot Luck Club.

We were a group of 5 lucky friends visiting the restaurant recently; all huge fans of The Test Kitchen.  We could order almost all the dishes on the small menu; we were not missing out on a single plate!

This is no ordinary plate of food served to the unexpected visitor, or food just anyone can  contribute to a pot luck club; Chef Luke’s small plates are carefully developed by him and his team – individual dishes are even named after them: “Ash’s Tuna Tartare” (R60) was one of our favourites along with “Ivor’s crispy duck spring roll” (R30).  “Ash” is of course Sunday Times Young Chef of the Year for 2011; attesting to the calibre of staff in Luke’s kitchen.

The crispy curried celery leaves (R20) were eaten with gusto by The Navigator.  Yes, he ate leaves and he loved it!  The leaves were crispy, not overly spiced and not oily at all, just incredibly fragrant, even refreshing on the palate.

There were firm favourites among us:  we all agreed the steamed scallops with grapefruit (R60) were simply exquisite; with the grapefruit adding a most interesting zing to the dish.  I thought (at that moment) that it would be my dish of the evening…then the Pork Rib (R60) made Chinese style with dark beer and doenjang glaze arrived: a triumph of balance between sweet and meaty had us licking our fingers.  The crispy pork belly (R45) with Luke’s XO dressing had The Navigator smiling from ear to ear and five of us all reaching for the last morsel on that plate.

I can write a whole paragraph about the smoked beef fillet (R80); you know it’s smoked, so it will be fantastic but noooo, they added the most elegant, rich and decadent black pepper and truffle “café au lait” sauce (take note “sauce” is far too common a word to describe it).  I will eat that fillet 7 days a week and still lick the plate, every time.

There’s also dessert: Wesley’s tapioca, passion fruit sorbet and toasted coconut (R45) and Fresh summer berries with fig leaf ice cream (R50).  The cocktails are different and wonderful;  the wine list hip and happening – all not outrageously priced.

Décor is clean and understated , service is efficient and Chef Luke wanders out from behind the kitchen counter chatting about the food.  This is the pot at the end of the rainbow and it’s filled with plates of heaven.

www.thepotluckclub.co.za

021 – 447 2337

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Sounds rather obscene that title, doesn’t it?  Well, there’s nothing obscene about this little hole in the wall burger joint in Gardens.  Its the sort of place you’ll never find on your own, you need someone to tell you about it, and where it is.

The Dog’s Bollocks is an industrial looking eatery in a side street of Gardens.  Just off Hope Street, lies Roodehek Street.  Its a narrow one way with industrial looking garages and the odd business.  At 17:00 in the afternoon, one of those industrial looking garages are opened up, and the Dog’s Bollocks opens.  If you’re looking for silver service and white linen you’re going to be seriously out of luck.  The decor is wire outdoor furniture (so you can play noughts and crosses on your bum when you get up), there’s no cutlery or crockery, and the only washable item around (other than your hands) is the glass tumbler you are given if you order wine.

There’s only one thing on the menu – hamburgers.  No fries, just hamburgers.  And the winelist?  3 options. Dry Red, a lighter Dry Red and Dry White.  It comes in a papsak and the cardboard outer making it look like olive oil.  You get 1.5 liters for R50 and (this coming from someone who’s rather particular about what wine he drinks) the wine is actually rather palatable – at least the lighter style Dry Red was – a 2011 Shiraz/Cabernet blend.

There’s a burger for everyone, from 1950′s style Sliders to Cheese Burgers.  Various styles of chili sauces are also available.  The price?  R50 to R55.  All burgers are prepared to order by Nigel (the owner and only employee), so you wait a few minutes.  It’s worth it though.  The burgers are huge, there’s loads of flavour (the patties are cooked on coals, so you get that barbecue smokiness and char on the patties) and the ingredients are fresh.  The meat quality is good, and the patties are not dense (a pet hate of mine).

We went on a very quiet Thursday evening, the first week of the new year.  The place was dead and we were the only patrons there. However, once everyone is back at work the place apparently pumps, and you can wait quite a while for your burger.  So be warned – get there early.  It is a rather nondescript place, but that hammie might just blow your mind.

The Dog’s Bollocks
6 Roodehek Street
Gardens

We can hardly believe the year is done.  Another week or so and we are going to be forced to think consciously about getting the year right when we write a date down.  It’s therefore time for a recap of a few of the things we discovered and enjoyed in 2011.

Where we’ll always feel at home

The Vineyard Hotel in Newlands, Cape Town hosts regular wine events, some of the coolest in the Cape.  During the winter months The Vineyard gives you the following for R550:  Entrance to the wine event, a 3 course dinner at The Square Restaurant, a room for the night and a full buffet breakfast the following morning.  You can’t make this up – it really is as good as it sounds.

Dining out – with all guns blazing

We dine out often.  A LOT actually.  But we don’t fine dine as often as you might think – firstly because the prices are prohibitive for regular feeding and secondly because if you do something too often, it takes some of the pleasure away from doing it as a special treat.  2 of the highlights of our culinary year was the Gourmand Menu at Luke Dale Roberts’ Test Kitchen and lunch at Waterkloof Restaurant under Gregory Czarnecki. What stood out for us of Luke’s menu is the perfect marriage of fusion cuisine with our local ingredients and the excellent wine pairings.  We had Diemersfontein Pinotage (we HATE coffee Pinotage) with gammon and it was a triumph.  Gregory plated us dishes that was so pretty we didn’t want to eat it, with flavours that just boggled our minds.  Both venues are also remarkable, with us always making sure we were seated at the kitchen counter in The Test Kitchen in order the see the action.  Waterkloof Restaurant is of course known as the glass box – views of the their amazing vineyards and a hint of ocean.  We cannot wait for Luke’s new Pot Luck Club to open – we already have reservations!

Of Bacchus and his favourite tipple

Glen Carlou has been producing two of our favourite wooded Chardonnays for more than 20 years and with the release of their new unwooded Chardonnay they’ve firmly entrenched themselves on our Top 3 Unwooded Chardonnays list.  This is the ideal summer wine: delivering bags of flavour without that heartburn-inducing acidity.  Lovers of both wooded and unwooded Chardonnay will enjoy glass after glass!  Available only from Glen Carlou Estate at R78 per bottle.  This is, without a doubt, our Wine of the Year.

The most overused phraze in consumer driven writing is probably “value for money”; a difficult concept when describing wine , as it is such a personal experience.  Vondeling is one of those estates where you can heartily throw the term “value for money” at them and it will always be true.  A small winery from the Voor Paardeberg area, they produce 6 white wines, 3 red wines and a sweet wine.  The wines are all great, with our favourites being the 2 Mediterranean blends, the unwooded Petit Blanc (blend of Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay and Viognier) and the wooded Babiana (the same as the Petit Blanc but with a dash of Grenache Blanc added).  They retail for R39 and R95 respectively and over deliver at the price.

See if you can lay your hands on a bottle of Jean Daneel 2003 Signature Chenin Blanc; Wine of the Year in the 2005 Platter Guide.  You will be amazed by the enduring freshness of an 8 year old wine that has developed remarkable complexity over time.  For anyone who thinks South African White Wines cannot age we say you’ll drink your own words!

Our Favourite Wine Events

If you’re a wine geek, like we are, look no further than The Swartland Revolution.  In actual fact, if you are a human being, look no further than The Swartland Revolution.  It is by far the best wine event you can attend – 2 days of intensive wine tasting, partying, eating and socialising.  There’s something for everyone – the wine geek, the wine novice, the party animal and the wallflower.  It truly is a fantastic event – you can read about the 2011 event day 1 here and day 2 here

There’s also the Franschhoek Champagne and MCC Festival (unsurprisingly also organised by DnA Events, the same organisers of the abovementioned Swartland Revolution) Taste your way through the best MCC’s produced in South Africa and some of the greatest Champagnes in the world, all in a classy setting over 3 days in November.

Sticking to the bubbly theme, there’s also the Wine Concepts Finer Things in Life Champagne Festival held at the above mentioned Vineyard Hotel.  You get to taste some of the best Champagnes available in South Africa all under one roof, whilst swallowing oysters the size of your fist.  We had an amazing evening here, and can’t wait for the next one.

What is in a word?  Waiter, waitron and service ambassadors

We’re both extremely focused on quality service, be it in a retail environment, hotel or restaurant.  We are forever looking for service experiences where we will be wowed (alliteration not intended!) We frequent a few places regularly, and the main reason for it (other than a good quality product) is the exceptional service we receive whenever we are there.  The 3 stand out venues for service in Cape Town is most certainly in our book Societi Bistro, La Mouette Restaurant and the Planet Restaurant at the Mount Nelson.

Home is where the heart (and the stove) is

We do occasionally eat at home and we do prepare our own meals, with The Navigator perfecting home made pasta – not a feat to attempt at the height of summer as all that turning-of-the-handle can be pretty sweat inducing.  Our favourite pasta dish is a simple one: Richard Bosman chorizo sliced and pan fried (to release all the oil), add a few cherry tomatoes and add the freshly cooked pasta to the pan.  Garnish with rocket or basil leaves – easy and incredibly fragrant.

We now source most of our meat products (including Richard Bosman’s bacon and other charcuterie) from Frankie Fenner; so easy, just order and collect.  When in Napier, we buy mutton (not lamb but stuff that actually taste like meat) from the local butcher.  Fresh produce from the Hope Street Neighbourhood Goods’ Market is a requirement for people like us who do not cook much – the potatoes stay fresh for weeks and taste like proper potatoes.  In view of the latest (in a long line) of trust abuses by Woolworths, we’ve decided to (try to) avoid shopping there; let’s see how long our resolve (and disgust) lasts.  We prefer to purchase wine directly from the Estates but in cases of emergency (and to buy champagne) we love the selection offered by Sue and Neil Proudfoot at Wine Concepts on Kloof Street.  They stock CWG wines at reasonable prices, are always ready with advice and will even order your favourite tipple when requested.  It is no surprise that their sister outlet, Wine Concepts in Newlands, hosts our favourite tasting event of the year: The Finer things in Life Champagne Festival.

Easy living and lazy days

Beautiful Cape Town makes it easy to forget you have to work for a living with ample opportunities to play tourist in your own city.  We rediscovered the Red Open Top Bus Tours (they’ve even added a canal tour by boat to their 2 existing routes).  The Table Mountain Cable Car now offers pre-booking of tickets online.  Living in the CBD and walking everywhere gives you a unique perspective on our City and leads to interesting discoveries.

Places where we’ve been known to laze our days away at are amongst others Brewers and Union with their delicious craft beers and pulled pork sandwiches. These guys do not allow an inferior product to enter their premises and have lately added a sommelier who has “beefed” up their wine list offering.  The stoep at El Burro in Green Point is ideal for lazy summer afternoons whiled away with good Mexican Food (no oily Mariachis or oily food allowed) and decent tequila cocktails.  The Long Table Restaurant at Dombeya/Haskell Wines offers dining under generations-old trees with an incredible view of the Golden Triangle of Stellenbosch’s vineyards.  Add exquisite Reds from Haskell and imports at reasonable prices from New Zealand and Australia and you have to call a taxi when the sun has set.

There has, of course, been many more wines we’ve savoured and restaurants we’ve enjoyed visiting and will continue to do so.  We are lucky to be living in the Cape Winelands, where good wine and good food go hand-in-hand.

As the sun sets on another year we’re excited about 2012 ahead, we’re looking forward to the new year and everything she has in store for us.  We’ll be keeping you updated on our progress as we continue our intrepid journey honouring Bibesia and Edesia; the Roman godesses of Food and Drink.

Tammy Botbyl and Peter Weetman of Societi Bistro, in conjunction with their partner at Jonkershuis at Groot Constantia, Chris Coetzee, have opened Societi Brasserie on the border of Tokai and Constantia in Forest Glade House.

Inspired by classic Brasseries this unpretentious space includes a huge bar, kitchen counter dining, al fresco dining in the walled garden and an intimate bar. Retaining the ethos of Societi Bistro, seasonal products are locally sourced and much emphasis is placed on small local artisanal producers.  The chicken and eggs are free range and pork is sourced from Happy Hogs as at Societi Bistro.

We had the pleasure of having breakfast at the newly opened Brasserie last week and yes, we were impressed. The space is beautiful and continues the welcoming embrace of Societi Bistro.  We felt right at home, making the trek from the City Bowl absolutely worthwhile.

The Navigator was very impressed with his Eggs Benedict (R68) – a huge portion with two of everything –  and my Bacon & Egg Chiabatta (R50) was a stand out with the bun being soft and not chewy (a pet hate). The menu also includes Eggs in any style with toast (R36), Croquet Monsieur (R65) and a myriad other options including pastries and cereals (R28 – R54 for home-made granola with fresh fruit and yogurt)

Service is of the usual high standard we’ve come to expect from Societi Bistro: warm, friendly and efficient.  The Brasserie is open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 9pm.  Please make a reservation as they are full already!

We’ll be dining at the Brasserie soon – more feedback to follow.

www.societi.co.za

021 712 1363

Shop 1, Forest Glade House, Tokai Road, Constantia.

Last night saw the second annual South African Box Wine Awards hosted by www.winetimes.co.za and www.spitorswallow.co.za at the Penthouse on Long.  The weather played along to make this an event to remember as we all donned our Magnum PI outfits in aid of the MOvember initiative.  This year the likes of Vital Health Foods provided much appreciated liver rescue remedies, The Wood Stock had delicious snacks on their beautifully crafted wooden chopping boards and Rikki’s Taxis gave a discount on all trips to and from the venue – what more do you want?  Box wine of course!

The scoring system was interactive this year, with 406 Media doing the clever geeky things behind the scenes.  We simply tweeted our score for each box and it magically transformed itself into a self-updating score sheet that we could all track online.

A lovely time was had as we all took our tasting jobs quite seriously (at first) and there were more than a few palatable wines out there.

The winner of the White Wine Category was Box 11: Robertson Winery Sauvignon Blanc and the best Red Box Wine was Box 36: Drostdy-Hof Merlot 2010.  Drostdy-Hof was a worthy winner in 2010 as well!

Congratulations to the winners!  You have done the remarkable: making Box Wine palatable and (yes) quite drinkable.

Waterkloof: say the name out loud and anyone in the vicinity will immediately start talking about nouveau riche from Pretoria or that High School being in the news for all the wrong reasons…now there is a new Waterkloof on the block, on the slopes of the Schaapenberg, embraced by the Hottentots-Holland and Helderberg Mountains.

You won’t find any nouveau riche on this farm; it’s not one of those pretty lifestyle farms that so many foreign investors set up in SA.  This is a proper farm, with chickens, sheep and of course, vineyards.

When the friendly folks at Waterkloof invited us around for a visit, we never thought it would be a 5 hour marathon…and we enjoyed every second of it!  The enthusiastic and extremely knowledgeable Farm Manager (Christiaan) took us on a tour of the farm; a “tour” is the wrong description; it was more of an eye-opening experience: Waterkloof is farmed according to biodynamic principles by people who care and know what they’re doing.

The fancy definition of Biodynamic Agriculture is: a method of organic farming that emphasizes the holistic development and interrelationships of the soil, plants and animals as a self-sustaining system. Biodynamic farming has much in common with other organic approaches, such as emphasizing the use of manures and composts and excluding of the use of artificial chemicals on soil and plants. Biodynamics was one of the first modern ecological farming systems and is considered to be one of the most sustainable.

All the scientific wording in the word does not prepare you for Waterkloof’s approach: we’re talking having chickens scratch around in the vineyards to ensure the soil is loose and aerated while their poop adds vital nitrogen to the soil.  They’re using horses (yes, the four-legged working horse kind) to work in their vineyards to avoid the inevitable soil compaction caused by tractors and other heavy machinery.  The aim is to have a tractor-free farm in the near future!  Sheep roam freely in the vineyards, keeping the cover crop short and adding their vital nitrogen contribution to the soil.  Speaking of cover crop: it’s planted to keep the insects (and possible pests) off the vines.  We spotted a raptor perch for birds of prey who hunt burrowing rodents…and the list goes on.

Christiaan showed us his planned earthworm farm for the vegetable garden he is planning with Chef Gregori Czarnecki for the fabulous Waterkloof Restaurant.  They’re taking the idea of sustainability one step further with the garden on the farm.  The newly acquired calves will also be raised to provide milk while the sheep well, they will make a vital contribution to the restaurant menu.

Speaking of Chef Gregori: what a guy! What a Chef!  Born and trained in France, he has worked all over the world in Michelin-Star restaurants as a chef and consultant.  He was finally lured to SA by a woman in 2008 – we shall forever be thankful to her…  Chef Gregori was involved in the Waterkloof project from inception; he designed the kitchen and decided from the beginning to use local produce where possible.  Salmon trout is sourced from Lourensford just around the corner; while a very special matured cheddar cheese is made by James Healey, especially for the restaurant.

Chef Gregori sent us food that he believed showcased the restaurant and the wines; we were blown away by the beautiful presentation that was only exceeded by the incredible flavours on our plates.  The Navigator said that it was the best “fine dining” food he’s had in South Africa!  Flavours from all over the world were in perfect synergy on our plates – a feast for the eye and taste buds.  We’re talking roasted cucumber, monk fish, ginger infused fresh apples…Go eat there, experience the food for yourself; you will be making the trek out to Somerset West again and again.  Prices are reasonable for the excellent food: 2 courses R190 and 3 courses R230 or try the 6 course Degustation Menu at R490 including wine pairing.

Waterkloof makes wine too!  With a philosophy that the wine must be a reflection of the farm, they have a few wine collections: The flagship Waterkloof Sauvignon Blanc (R155) made from a single situated at the highest point on the farm (300m above sea level); Circumstance (R85 – R155) also from higher elevation vineyards but generally with more fruit expression; Peacock Ridge (R70 – R90), mainly produced from the vineyards on the lower, more protected slopes.  The Circle of Life Range (White and Red blends both R120) are remarkable as they tell the tale of the circle of production and plant life on the farm.  I loved the Circle of Life White Blend and the Circumstance Sauvignon Blanc (R90); coming from a person not known for her love of Sauvignon Blanc, this is high praise indeed!  The Navigator enjoyed the Circumstance 2008 Chardonnay (lightly wooded R90) and the Circumstance 2009 Chenin Blanc (saw a spot of new oak R90) and they both paired exceptionally well with the food of Chef Gregori.  There is also a Peacock Ridge and False Bay range to complete the beautiful collection.

One thing that struck me about Waterkloof was that all the staff we spoke to, have been employed at Waterkloof since Paul Boutinot re-developed it in 2008.  This is the real deal: a farming enterprise that doesn’t just give lip service and practices what they preach. What is good for the farm, is good for the restaurant, is good for the wine and it is good for the people…it will be good for you too.

 www.waterkloofwines.co.za

Sir Lowry’s Pass Road, Somerset West

021 – 8581292

I love Chardonnay.  I love it when it is lean and minerally.  I love it when it is fat and oaky.  I love it when it hasn’t been near a barrel or has never seen the inside of a steel tank.  I love it when it was fermented in Nomblot… In fact, I get blotty about it.  I love the stuff. Luckily we have a forward thinking chap like Christian Eedes involved in the wine industry.  Christian’s launched the first of his Chardonnay reports at Torro Wine Bar on the 15th of November and we were lucky enough to attend.

Christian, along with James Pietersen from Belthazar and Roland Peens from The Wine Cellar tasted 50 current release South African Chardonnays to come up with a top 10.  The top 10 are as follows:

Five stars:

Ataraxia 2009
Hamilton Russell Vineyards 2009
Oak Valley Elgin 2010
Tokara Reserve Collection Stellenbosch 2010
Tokara  Reserve Collection Walker Bay 2009

Four and a half stars:

Glen Carlou 2010
Glen Carlou Quartz Stone 2009
Julien Schaal Mountain Vineyards 2010
Laborie Limited Collection 2010
Mulderbosch Barrel Fermented 2009

Interesting to note that 3 of the top 5 wines are from Walker Bay fruit (long touted as a local equivalent of Burgundy).  The rest of the wines are from Elgin (2), Stellenbosch (2) and Paarl (3).  I was personally pleased to see Glen Carlou do so well, as they have long been a favourite producer of ours.  Notable absentees are big guns like Jordan, Bouchard Finlayson, Uva Mira, De Wetshof, Springfield, Chamonix, Vergelegen and Paul Cluver to name but a few.  They were all close, I was told.

Look out for the public tasting of the top 10 at the Vineyard Hotel.  It is being held on the 2nd of December and the start is 18.30 sharp. Make sure you book in advance and early, as tickets are limited.  You can get yours for R120 –  a bargain considering what you are going to taste.  Book by calling 083 324 6855 or by sending an email to widlnevents@gmail.com

Dessert wine: that decadent yet often forgone after-dinner treat has grown up.  Gone are the sickly sweet, sticky almost syrup-in-a-glass offerings so often darkening our headaches and memories the morning after…replaced by Platter 5-star offerings (no less than 6 sweet  wines received the coveted 5 star award in the 2012 edition with another 5 being “highly recommended”).  The wall flowers have finally been asked to dance and they have a few hidden moves that we have not seen in years.

Unfortified dessert wine in South Africa can be broken down into 3 categories:  Natural Sweet (sometimes fortification can happen, but in general not) where the grapes are simply left on the vine to raisin and are then picked and vinified normally.  The ratio of sugar and water would lean heavily towards sugar, and the residual sugar in the final product is high.  Another way of making natural sweet wines is to stop fermentation and simply not let the wine ferment dry.

The 2nd catagory – straw wine – works on a similar principal, but the difference is that the grapes are picked and laid out to raisin, away from the parent vine.  In the old days it was put down on straw mats, hence the name.  Its a slow, risky business, and straw wines tend to fetch relatively high prices.

The last catagory is noble late harvest.  During the ripening period of the grapes, a very specific set of weather patterns needs to exist over the vineyard being used.  Cool, misty mornings, and warm, dry afternoons.  This causes a spore to develop on the skins of the grapes called Botrytis Cynerea.  This spore effectively punctures the skin of the grape and removes the water content, thereby concentrating sugars.  The grapes are then harvested (they look terrible, and one always has to wonder who had the guts first time round to make wine from it!) and vinified as per normal.

We recently had the pleasure of tasting most of the vintages released by Ken Forrester (from 2000 to the most recent 2009) of his “T” Noble Late Harvest.  The classy Mount Nelson Hotel was the fitting venue for this occasion – yes, it was an “occasion” as we tasted some of the last bottles in Ken’s personal stash.  Ken made the Noble Late as the ultimate expression of the varietal he is passionate about: Chenin Blanc and he named it after another passion: his fabulous wife, Teresa.

Dessert wines are not made from the last dredges of the harvest, it is not grapes forgotten on the vines, and it is a careful process of managing and making a conscious decision to do something special with your grapes.  Ageing is also an important factor to ensure that the wine is balanced; thus requiring 2 important wine making ingredients: patience and capital.

The Noble Late “T” is made predominantly from Ken’s prize vineyard at the lowest point of the property, a 37 year old block of bush vine Chenin Blanc.  He says that they carefully manage the vineyard to keep yields around 3 to 4 tons per hectare so that each bunch is left with 16-18 leaves for ripening. The vineyard is picked a minimum of eight times during harvest, only when ready to be picked, ensuring optimal ripeness.  The property is located near False Bay, a mere 6 km from the Atlantic Ocean, enjoying a moderate, cool climate; perfect to create that magic balance of sugar and acidity in symmetry with the botrytis (or “noble rot”) on the vines.

The juice is fermented in new French oak barrels with natural yeast for 18 months.  This produces pure gold in a glass; clean yet unctuously sweet.  Initially tangy with a sweet and sour zip at the end, the “T” ages beautifully, darkens in colour and reaches that special place few wines ever reach: perfect balance.  While the 2009 (R195) is still young yet elegant in a fresher, lighter style – more Emma Watson than Paris Hilton; the 2000 has reached the poise and presence of Sofia Loren…and, like the iconic actress, is quite unattainable, too.

The Ken Forrester Noble Late “T” has been joined by the Mullineux Straw Wine and Glen Carlou’s  The Welder (a natural sweet) on my “must-have” list: must have some in the cupboard, in the fridge and most of all, I must have some of that wine in my glass.  We are lucky to have such a fabulous range of quality dessert wines to choose from – as Chris Mullineux says: “It’s like tasting the sun in your mouth”.  I agree with the wine writer that said the “T” should stand for “Temptation” as it tempts you into another sip, another glass and another bottle…

 www.kenforresterwines.com

021 – 8552374

Plenty of bleak looking revolutionaries awaited us at breakfast on Saturday morning. We ducked out at 12 the night before, but others decided it’s a good idea to go into day 2 with only 2 or 3 hours’ worth of sleep and a hangover. (Read about Day 1 here) The breakfast burgers and coffee sorted everyone out quickly, however, and we stepped into the 1st seminar of the day – Mullineux Magic. The Mullineux’s are having a great time of it, with 3 five star wines and 2 four star wines in the 2012 Platter. Whatever your feelings are of the Platter’s ratings, the wines speak for themselves.

The seminar was hosted by Tim James – a big supporter of the Swartland – who wasted no time in telling us how the Mullineux’s (Chris and Andrea) brought respectability to the area (and the 1st woman!), after party animals Eben Sadie and Adi Badenhorst settled there. He referred to Charles Back’s Spice Route as the first of the new wave of producers to enter the Swartland in 1997, who employed Eben as his wine maker. Eben escaped and the rest is history. Chris Mullineux made wine at Tulbagh Mountain Vineyards before moving to the Swartland, with wife Andrea, a Californian export, joining him to establish the Mullineux brand.

We tasted the components of the Mullineux White – Chenin Blanc from 2 different soil types (decomposed granite and schist), Viognier and Clairette Blanche. Each brought something unique to the blend. Decomposed granite is a very sandy soil type, but about one and a half meters deep a layer of clay is found, acting like a big sponge and supplying water to the vines. The Chenin Blanc grown on it gives the blend richness and texture. Schist is a type of slate, so the soil is quite rocky. The Chenin Blanc grown on the schist adds phenolics to the blend. Viognier adds a fruity edge, but can be so dominant that it never makes up more than 10% of the final blend. The Clairette Blanche is a pretty neutral wine, but Andrea referred to it as adding a waxy texture to the final product. Tasting the final product one could see how each component adds its worth, creating synergy and making the blend better than the sum of its parts.

Moving onto the reds, we tasted the 2009 Syrah, a 100% Syrah from 3 different soil types (schist, granite and red clay). Schist gave the final product texture and structure, the granite added perfume and femininity and finally, the red clay adds mid palate and weight. Chris said that in the past they crowed about how blending of reds is the way to go in the Swartland, but have since realized that it might not in fact be the case, with only the maiden 2008 having a dash of Mourvedre. They had been searching for single vineyards that they could bottle as a separate label, but found it difficult as often they were missing something (a mid-palate for instance). The search is however over. We were introduced to 2 single soil type bottlings, one from granite soils (named unsurprisingly the Granite Syrah) and the other from Schist soils (ahem.. the Schist Syrah). As with the blended Syrah, the Granite is quite feminine and perfumed, while the Schist is dense and brooding. These 2 wines are not single vineyards, but are single terroir wines, most definitely creating a serious talking point for wine geeks. The one thing that stood out for me about the reds is the level of freshness they showed. I am not a fan of warm climate reds as they tend to be jammy. The new wave producers of the Swartland pick earlier and on taste, not necessarily at phenolic ripeness, and it totally removes that jam.

We ended the seminar with a quick tasting of the Mullineux Straw Wine. Made from 2 Chenin vineyards, the same grapes that are used for the White is simply put down to dry under the trees. Freshness is very important for this sticky, so the 2 vineyards used are the ones with the best acidity. The wine is 30% sugar, but with the acidity in place, it is not cloying. We did indeed taste the sun.

A quick break for pizza and beer (we chased those with a bottle of bubbly at the Royal Hotel) was followed by the Expert Opinions seminar. Jorg Pfutzner, Michael Friedjhon and British wine writer Jamie Goode showed us a few of the wines they think would inspire us. I am not going to bore you with tasting notes, but here’s the line-up of wines – put this in your pipe and smoke it, counter Swartland revolutionaries and non-believers!

Jorg’s selection:

Matassa Blanc 2008 from Cotes Catalanes, Roussillon in France
Terroir Al Limit L’Arbossar 2007 from Priorat in Spain (Eben Sadie’s other venture)
Niepoort Batuta 2007 from Douro in Portugal

Jamie’s selection:
Le Soula Blanc 2006 from Cote de Fenoullides, Roussillon in France
Domaine Romaneaux-Destezet Syrah 2010 from Arlebosc, Northern Rhone in France
Arianna Occhipitini Frappato 2009 from Vittoria, Sicily in Italy

MF’s selection:

Domaine Gayda Chemin de Moscou 2008 from Brugairolles in France
Domaine Mathieu Cuvee Marquis Vignes Centenaires 2007 from Chateauneuf du Pape in France
Chateau Beaucastel 2005 from Chatexuneuf du Pape in France

Quite a selection and some very interesting wines for us wine geeks to get excited about. The theme that ran through this tasting was how fresh these warm climate wines all are. The Sicilian and Roussillon wines were firsts for me (even though MF thought the Sicilian was so full of brett (it was!) that it smelled like a dead rat (it didn’t!). Read about Brettanomyces here

We ended off the 2011 Revolution with a feast at Bar Bar Black Sheep (lamb on a spit and some other healthier goodies) and the wine flowed like… well… we felt like proper revolutionaries. The street party (open to the public) followed, and one could taste wine from all the members of the Swartland Independent. There are some fantastic artisan wines out there and your eyes will be opened when you taste them. Live a little; don’t keep drinking the same tried and tested wines you know well – introduce your palate to something different from the Swartland.

That was that for us for another year. This is by far the best wine event on the calendar. It caters for the wine geek, the party animal, the amateur wino, the expert wino and everyone in between. All you need is an open mind, a willing liver and an appetite. We made new friends, caught up with old ones, and partied up a storm. The only criticism that I can level at the 2011 event is that it was slightly over subscribed and that caused long, slow queues at the first night’s braai and the mid-morning beer and pizza break. I can understand the need to grow the event, but I hope the organisers resist the urge to grow more. I reckon 200 tickets should be the limit. That said, I wouldn’t miss the 2012 edition for the world!

www.theswartlandrevolution.com

Right… We waited a year for this.  Literally scheming about how we’re going to pay for THE event of the year on the wine calendar.  We scraped, begged, borrowed and … well you get the drift, and we’re here in Riebeek Kasteel on 11.11.11 (the hippies get quite excited about the date, I get excited because the date means the Swartland Revolution!)

The afternoon kicked off with a nice relaxed bottle of Bosman Chenin Blanc Sur Lie 2009 at the Royal Hotel.  If there’s one weak point of the Revolution, then it’s the fact that the Royal Hotel is the venue for the event.  Nothing wrong with how things look, but the hotel’s arrogance is beyond compare.  We drank a Wellington Chenin Blanc, because the hotel says they don’t stock local wine as they cater for an international clientele…  Have you ever heard bigger horseshit than that?  The Chenin went down like a homesick mole however, and we moved on to some Pongracz (sadly the only MCC on the mediocre wine list of the hotel).  By the time registration for the event was finished, and things were starting to move along we were 100% oiled for a proper Northern Rhone tasting.

Domain Clape in Cornas is a family run operation that is considered a bench mark of the Cornas appellation.  Cornas is a small appellation, with only about 120 ha under vine.  No other varietal, other than Syrah, is allowed to be labelled as Cornas, so strict control is in place.  The farm has been in the Clape family for over 200 years and was for many years run by the women of the family.  Currently the operation is run by Olivier, who hosted the tasting for us, and his father.

And what a tasting it was!  The wines of Domain Clape of Cornas in the Northern Rhône show why the top end producers in France are so highly regarded in the rest of the world.  The wines were an absolute triumph.  We tasted 3 flights of 2 wines, all 100% Syrah, and each flight from the same vintage.  Starting with 2009, we tasted the Renaissance and Domaine Clape of the vintage.  The Renaissance label is something of a second label, it seems, but the quality shows only that it is slightly less complex to the Domaine Clape, but barely so.  The Renaissance is made from slightly younger vines (12, 16, and 25 years old) while the Cornas (Domaine) is made from vines 30 to 80 years old.  The other difference is the different blocks (parcels) that are used.  Renaissance comes from 4 different parcels, while the Domaine is sourced from 12 different vineyard parcels.  I did a quick research of the Renaissance on the net, and found it to retail for roughly $63 a bottle in the US.  Not exactly 2nd label prices!  I found the 2009 wines to be too young, and the consensus at the tasting was that it needs a good few years still before it is ready.  2009 was also a particularly difficult vintage in Cornas, and Olivier mentioned something about them not being too happy with the quality.  I also felt both wines were a little jammy.

We tasted 2008 and there was a marked improvement on the 09, but the real jump in quality (and age) came when we tasted the 2001.  My first impression of the 2001 Renaissance was minty toothpaste, with a herbaceous note.  Only thereafter came the much restrained fruit.  The 2001 Domaine Clape showed an incredible purity of fruit.  I made copious notes on the tasting, but won’t bore you with too much detail, other than to say… if you have an issue with paying the price to attend the event… the Domaine Clape Cornas 2001 sells for roughly $140 a bottle.  Now tell me again the Swartland Revolution is expensive!

The Bollinger Exceptional Service Award

We ended off the tasting in the Royal Hotel’s amphitheatre with the announcement of the Bollinger Exceptional Service Award for the best local sommelier.  The award was given to Joachim Hansi Blackadder (I shit you not – I thought only James Bond villains were given names like that) from The Roundhouse.  A glass of Bollinger was shared in congratulations.  See a nifty video clip of the process here.

The After Party – Reuben Riffel’s famous Braai.

We made it across the road to the big braai.  Last year we froze our nuts off, and this year planning was obviously done to counter act the cold.  A more sheltered venue was chosen and loads of braziers were put out to supply plenty of heat.  As previously, copious amounts of the locally produced wines were available for us to help ourselves, and the Baardskeerdersbos Orkes was there to supply the tunage.  You can eat yourself to a standstill and drink yourself into a coma at this braai – I saw a few who tried.  We headed home at 23:00 as tomorrow is going to be another HECTIC wine drinking day.  Catch up with you all later.