Every week OpenWine Taste Pair Shop hosts a wine tasting of one of the wine brands which they stock in their Wale Street tasting venue. The tasting is short and sweet, lasting one hour. This week I attended the tasting of Arendsig Hand Crafted Wines, my first exposure to its wines.
Tag Archives: Platter’s
One Ingredient magical mushroom dinner by Chef Matt Manning, paired with Vondeling wines!
On Saturday evening I was invited by Chef Matt Manning to attend the One Ingredient dinner, each of the magical five courses containing mushrooms, and each course paired with Vondeling wines. The highlight was the use of porcini in the dessert! Continue reading →
WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 10 February
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* The Los Angeles Times recommends the One&Only Cape Town as one of ‘Five fabulous, flirty retreats for Valentine’s Day’. It describes Cape Town as the ‘…continent’s hottest happening city, and One & Only is the place to be for luxurious lodging‘, with three restaurants, including Nobu, the Neo boutique selling ‘South Africa’s hippest designer fashions‘, and an award-winning spa. It recommends eating at The Test Kitchen, Kalk Bay, Robben Island, and an art tour with gallery owner João Ferreira.
* It is rare to be able to read a story by UK wine journalist and judge Jancis Robinson without subscribing to her website or to that of the Financial Times. However she has graciously shared details of her trip to the North West Cape, in the Olifants River area, where they viewed 40 – Continue reading →
WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 13/14 December
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* Newton Johnson Cellarmaster Gordon Newton Johnson has been admitted to the Cape Winemakers’ Guild as its 46th member. It recognises his achievements as winemaker of Pinot Noir in particular, and winning this year’s Platter’s Red Wine of The Year. Membership is by invitation only. (received via media release from GC Communications)
* ‘Festive Franschhoek’ runs until Tuesday, and is intended to attract Capetonians and tourists to come and do their Christmas shopping in Franschhoek rather than in manic Cape Town. Shops such as Peacock Blue, Indian Summer, Masquerade Antiques & Things, and Troll Beads will stay open until 20h00, misleadingly marketed as ‘late night shopping’! Misleading too is the invitation to ‘Enjoy a five-star meal at Reuben’s...’, the restaurant only having made a 4-star rating in the Diners Club Rossouw’s Restaurant Guide this year, irresponsible overmarketing by Mariette du Toit-Helmbold of Destinate, running the promotion! One suspects that all participants had to pay her company for the promotion!
* Miss South Africa, Rolene Strauss, has won Miss World 2014, a wonderful marketing opportunity for our country!
* Wesgro and Happy Snappy are jointly developing a mobile campaign to inform visitors to Cape Town and the Western Cape Continue reading →
Bye Bye Brucie Baby: a tribute to Chef Bruce Robertson
Today we celebrated the life of one of our country’s most creative and maverick chefs, Bruce Robertson having passed away suddenly of leukemia on Monday, only four days after he received the diagnosis. Hundreds of restaurant industry friends, family, and past patrons gathered at the False Bay Rugby Club in Constantia, to pay tribute to the happy-go-lucky man.
A special marquee had been erected, with benches, a table with eats brought along by the 
foodies, and lots of wines supplied by Cederberg (he only served this brand ‘with altitude and attitude‘ at his former The Boat House, and most recent The Flagship), Spier (where his close friend Tony Romer-Lee is involved), Villiera MCC, and Flagstone (winemaker Bruce Jack and Chef Bruce jointly made a wine called Bruce’s Juice at one stage). On the marquee walls were blown up black and white photographs of Chef Bruce, including one of him dressed in drag! There were so many familiar Continue reading →
Blaauwklippen’s 31st Blending Competition makes history!
Friday’s 31st Blaauwklippen Blending Competition event was not only a celebration of the enthusiasm and skills of wine clubs around the country, but also of the rejuvenation of Blaauwklippen, with a number of changes made with a new Tasting Room venue, the addition of a new Bistro with a new champion for it, a new Spirits Room, and a redecorated entrance and cellar function room. The Blending Competition made history with its most unusual outcome.
We were welcomed on a perfect function weather day on the lawn between the Tasting Room and the Manor House and Jonkershuis, a space I had never seen before. We were served Blaauwklippen’s Ons Sprankel wine, and canapés made by new Blaauwklippen Bistro owner and charcutier Steve Jeffery. They were served by dapper looking waitresses, wearing Bistro black outfits and cheeky hats, looking smarter than most restaurant staff I have seen
in a long time. They offered platters of spinach and feta phyllo pastry parcels, and mozzarella pesto roulades, which doubled up as the starters (I did not see the third canapé specified on the menu). Natalie Campbell told me that the Manor House is used for conferences and weddings, while the Jonkershuis is used for staff accommodation.
I had a chance to chat to Steve before we sat down, and he told me that he has been at the Old Biscuit Mill for the past nine years, selling his charcuterie products, having had a stand at Blaauwklippen’s Market at one stage too. Rolf and Steve had been talking for about two years about doing something jointly, and Continue reading →
WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 8 September
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* Platter’s is evaluating its 5 star wines differently this year, already tasted blind by its panel of wine evaluators. Tim James, one of the Platter’s tasters, has explained in his blog today what changes publisher JP Rossouw has introduced, the selection of the more than 200 potential 5-star wines taking place today. The potential 5-star wines are nominated by the tasters. For the evaluation, additional tasters will be used, who were not used for the sighted tastings due to their commercial links to some wines. Seven panels with three tasters each will blind taste about 30 wines, scored in silence, and discussed thereafter, one by one.
* Dame Helen Mirren was seen arriving at Cape Town International this morning, to star in a film with actors Colin Firth and Aaron Paul, in Gavin Hood’s ‘Eye in the Sky‘.
* Chef and MasterChef SA judge Pete Goffe-Wood is a new SecretEATS chef, having recently cooked at the by-invitation- Continue reading →
Waterford and Rustenberg top Christian Eedes Top 10 Cabernet Sauvignons!
Earlier this week Christian Eedes presented the results of his third annual Christian Eedes Cabernet Sauvignon Report, sponsored by Sanlam Private Investments, at a lunch-time function held at Burrata. A number of the Top 10 winemakers have collected Top 10 awards in the past three years, reflecting the consistency of the results for South Africa’s second largest varietal. Eight of the Top 10 Cabernet Sauvignon winners are from Stellenbosch this year.
Eedes explained that sixty Cabernet Sauvignon producers were invited, on the basis of their performance in Platter’s, at Veritas, and other wine awards, to submit their wines for evaluation for his Top 10 Cabernet Sauvignon Report. Roland Peens and James Pietersen, both from Wine Cellar (James was formerly with Belthazar) were his fellow judges, as has been the case in the first two years. The standard is higher every year, Eedes said, making it more difficult to judge than before. He thanked Social Media writers for assisting him in spreading the results of his Reports. Continue reading →
WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 13 March
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* Cape Town will be jazzing it up on the last weekend of the month, with not only the sold-out Cape Town International Jazz Festival taking place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from 28 – 30 March, but the inaugural Sounds Fringe Festival will offer 60 performances between 27 – 30 March. The list of performers includes The Rudimentals, Spencer Mbadu, Dan Shout, Gerald Clark, Beatenberg, Sterling EQ, Saudiq Khan, Blackie Tempi, and Touchwood. Norwegian trumpeter Arne Hiorth will perform with a choir of 100 singers. Venues are concentrated around Wale Street, at Mandela Rhodes Place, The Twankey Bar, The Reserve at The Taj, Motherland Coffee Company, The Crypt Jazz Restaurant, the Iziko Slave Lodge, and Inn on the Square. The goal of Festival founder Frank Gormley is to position Cape Town as a city of musical note.
* Anna Trapido has been appointed as Editor of Rossouw’s Restaurants, the guide started by JP Rossouw but which he cannot continue with due to his duties as recently appointed Publisher of Platter’s wine guide, and will also handle this role for Rossouw’s Restaurants. Diners Club bought both the Platter’s and Rossouw’s Restaurants guides last year. Trapido is a former Eat Out Top 10 Restaurant judge, and wrote ‘Hunger for Freedom’ about the food which the late Nelson Mandela liked to eat. (received via media release from Africa Sky)
* Cape Town restaurant prices are not increasing because there are more tourists in town, but because food prices Continue reading →
2013: looking back on a tough year, with some highlights!
Today ends one of the less nice years, and the number 13 in it should have been a warning of how bad it could become. While it has many negative associations, it also was a year of highlights, from our perspective.
For me personally the year was overshadowed by the passing of my father, and while I was lucky to have him in my life for such a long time, reaching the ripe old age of 97, it still was a shock when he went in April. He brought our family to South Africa, and specifically to the Cape, for which I will be eternally grateful. He helped shape my interest in the business world, and took a keen interest in my Market Research, Public Relations, and hospitality careers. Added to this was the further loss of our beloved Madiba, who passed away on 5 December, a shock when it happened, despite one knowing that it was just a matter of time. It felt like a double whammy loss year. Heaven has gained two truly great gentlemen.
2013 has had some positive aspects: we celebrated the fifth anniversary of our Blog, well established and with more than 30000 unique readers per month. We thank our loyal readers and commenters, as well as the Public Relations companies which feed us with up to date information and invite us to launches, particularly in the wine industry. We particularly commend Waterford Communications for its professionalism in dealing with us as friends as well as writers, never taking any coverage for granted, always being willing to assist with more information, having a knack for choosing excellent weather days for client functions, and saying ‘thank you‘ for coverage received, a rare treat! The PR company leads an industry plagued by poor writers, who bombard one with media releases (often being irrelevant), repeating information already written about, and demanding proof of coverage granted to the client brand! Continue reading →