Tag Archives: Guilio Bertrand

First Guide to Extra Virgin Olive Oil in South Africa launched!

Olive Oil Guide Whale Cottage PortfolioAn unique ‘The Guide to Extra Virgin Olive Oil in South Africa‘ has been published, the first of its kind, providing an overview of olive oil production in our country, and providing details of the top quality olive oil producers.

Olives were first brought to South Africa from California by Piet Cillie in 1893.    A mere 14 years later Jan Minnaar from De Hoop farm in Paarl won  the prize for the best olive oil produced in the British Empire at the 1907 London Show!   Reni Hildenbrand now owns the farm in Wellington on which Piet Cillie farmed, and she has written a book ‘Olives and Olive Oils in South Africa‘.  Ferdinando Costa arrived from Genoa in Italy a few years later, and brought in Italian plants, grafting them on the local Olienhout rootstock.  He planted large numbers of olive trees in Paarl in 1925, and pressed his first olive oil in 1935.   The Costa name is synonymous with olives and olive oil, and his relative Linda runs SA Olive, a quality standards body for the industry.   Italian Baron Andreis began planting olive trees in the ‘Fifties, using Carlo Castiglione to make olive oil from 1972, under the Vesuvio brand.  Its Extra Virgin Olive Oil won four awards in Italy for the first time, and regularly wins international awards.  Italian Guilio Bertrand bought Morgenster next door to Vergelegen just over twenty years ago, and saw the potential to produce quality wines and olive oils.  He now runs an olive oil nursery, and won the SA Olive Lifetime Achievement Award last year.

The quality of olive oil quality is influenced by the terroir, cultivar, climate, and the oil maker, similar to wines.  The biggest threat to good quality local Extra Virgin Olive Oils is inferior olive oils which are  imported, and bought by consumers in the belief that the imported products should be of a better quality. Extra Virgin Olive Oil is extracted from the olives at a temperature below 30° C, Continue reading →

Morgenster Wine & Olive Estate: a superlative restaurant star to watch!

Morgenster Restaurant, ex Sofia's Whale Cottage PortfolioIf what we have heard is correct,  Morgenster Wine and Olive Estate in Somerset West is set to become a restaurant star next year, with a Michelin star or two Chef and TV star getting involved in the development of a fine dining restaurant, part of a redevelopment of the property taking place over the next thirteen months.  It would be South Africa’s first restaurant with an involvement of such a high calibre chef and restaurant owner.

Recently appointed Morgenster Managing Director Judi Dyer would not confirm the name of the chef, and said that the project is in its development phase.  The chef’s media consultant has not yet responded to our request for confirmation of his involvement in the new Morgenster restaurant.

A media release issued by Morgenster owner Giulio Bertrand announced the commencement of his long planned hospitality phase for the more than 300 year old property, which will see Morgenster offering accommodation, fine dining, and a Café and Deli experience to visitors.  ‘After I bought Morgenster in 1992 as a retirement home and had restored the historical buildings, I realised that I owned a wine farm with magnificent terroir. I put retirement on hold and went to France to judge whether Morgenster could produce wines in line with the best from Bordeaux. There I was introduced to Pierre Lurton of Chateau Cheval Blanc who I invited to Morgenster. He was as inspired as I was about the farm’s potential and we began establishing vineyards of Bordeaux varieties and building a cellar. After 15 years of Pierre consulting to our local winemaking team and being on our Board of Directors, Morgenster’s cellar of marvellously aging Bordeaux styled red wines has earned acclaim internationally and locally’.   Continue reading →

Restaurant Review: Sofia’s at Morgenster set to become a star!

Sofia’s at Morgenster in Somerset West opened a month ago, and has been named after the star that Morgenster owner Guilio Bertrand admires most, being Sophia Loren.   When one enters the restaurant, photographs of the Italian actress welcome one.   Sofia’s adds cuisine class to Somerset West, a town that has not been blessed with good restaurants (The Restaurant at Waterkloof being an exception), but has some service problems to address.

We had to go to Somerset West, and made a last-minute decision to call for a table.  Manager Michelle did not hesitate in saying yes, despite a full restaurant as a result of a birthday celebration by guests, for which we were grateful.  We arrived a little later than planned, but were happy to be given a table just to ourselves outside under the trees.  

Sofia’s at Morgenster is run by chef Craig Cormack, a partner of Bertus Basson of Overture, on the Morgenster estate, probably better known for its olives and olive oils than it is for its wines.   One drives through the estate, seeing the olive orchards on the hill, past the winery and tasting room, to get to Sofia’s. The rustic thatch-roofed building has a grape trellis, offering the perfect shade for sitting outside on a hot summer’s day.  The building has a number of rooms, not making it feel as large as it is.

The Fortis Hotelware cutlery design is contemporary, and I was delighted that I was offered a fish knife for the kingklip, something I missed at Aubergine at our dinner a few days prior.  We did not receive serviettes, and had to ask for them.  The menu changes weekly, and the week number is specified on the menu.   The waitress looking after us was very willing to check when she did not know something, which was quite often.  She brought the menu, a thin strip on a dark plastic clipboard, and talked us through the menu, describing every item.  She got stuck with the difficult words, and tried her best to come up with definitions (e.g. ‘parmentier’ she described as ‘shredded’, when it means that it is potato-based).  She did admit that she was new to the hospitality industry, having worked in the cosmetics industry before.  Every starter she described to us with warts and all of how chef Craig and his team prepares it (I would have preferred to not have known so much detail), and described every dish as “very delicious”.  I felt sorry for her, as she was out of her depth in taking orders and in talking through the menu – some names she mentioned I asked her to spell.  She told me that they are just taught the words, without the spelling!   

Chef Craig sent an antipasto platter of olive-based treats to the table, to demonstrate the partnership with Morgenster.  I loved the tapenade, and the marinaded black olives, but did not eat the mini-pizza slices, as they were topped with anchovies, a personal dislike.

The menu is compact, with four options each per starter, main course and dessert.  A two-course meal costs R155 and 3-courses R220.  Despite the restricted choice, it was hard to choose what to order, it all sounded so “very delicious”.   I chose the chicken liver parfait as a starter, which was served with a peach chutney, as well as a light and fluffy brioche.   Other starter options are smoked snoek parmentier, Asian squid salad and onion tarte tartin.  The main course was ordered as a “parma ham wrapped over roasted fish” on the menu, but there was no parma ham when it was served.   It was served with a vanilla risotto, an unusual taste, and a truffle froth.  My partner’s beef stroganoff was tasty, but not exceptional.   Other main courses choices were pork fillet and braised lamb shoulder.  The dessert choice was a difficult one, all four sounding wonderful – chocolate royaltine and vanilla ice cream; watermelon soup; crème brule (sic); and the most interesting sounding beetroot ice cream, beetroot cheese and smoked and pickled beetroots.   A cute touch was a small Father Christmas gingerbread biscuit that came with the cappuccino served in an unusual glass cup with silver handle. 

We ordered the Graham Beck Brut Rosé by the glass (R45), only listed on the winelist per bottle (R130).   The Graham Beck Brut is charged at the same price, which is unusual, given that the Rosé bubbly usually is more expensive.    The white house wine is the Collaboration chenin blanc, a collaboration between chefs Craig and Bertus, as well as the Hidden Valley winemaker Louis Nel.   Wine vintages are specified, and the price spectrum fair.  White wines start at R30/R150 for Lands End Sauvignon Blanc and Kleine Zalze Barrel Fermented Chenin Blanc (R150), up to R250 for Rustenburg Wooded Chardonnay and Radford Dale Viognier.  The red wine selection is restricted, at R30/R105 for Sofia’s 2002 vintage house wine made by Morgenster – R 300 for Catherine Marshall Pinot Noir 2009 and Annandale Shiraz 2003, to allow the presentation of Morgenster’s Bordeaux Blend wines.  The flagship Morgenster range is priced per vintage (R350 – R460), as is their Louren’s River Valley range (R160 – R185).  The Morgenster Tosca, Nabucco and Caruso wines are also available.   The Morgenster wines have a small mark-up of about R30 per bottle for the Lourens River valley wines, and of R60 for the Morgenster range.

I liked the peaceful country farm setting, the character renovated thatched roof building, the hand-picked ingredients where possible from the Morgenster gardens, and chef Craig’s creativity and weekly menu changes.  Staff training needs attention.  The hardest challenge for chef Craig is to use culinary terms which the staff can pronounce and explain correctly.    The starter arrived almost too quickly after placing the order, while the second course dishes took too long.   I will be back, to try more of chef Craig’s creativity.  Sofia’s is a star in the making, but the restaurant still needs time to settle in.

POSTSCRIPT 22/4: Returned to Sofia’s for a food and wine appreciation society. In a cosy room with fireplace.  Evening started with a tasting of Morgenster wines: Caruso Rosé, Tosca (60 % Sangiovese), Nabucco, Lourens River Valley, and the Platter 5-star Morgenster Bordeaux blend.  Two canapés were served: Ham hock terrine and pea spoom, and chicken liver parfait with brioche and green fig, both excellent.  The Calamari and coconut curry starter was accompanied by a 2010 Doolhof Sauvignon Blanc, with a very sharp chilli taste, and the least successful dish of the evening.   The main course of pork neck, prune and almanad jus was paired with the Sofia’s red blend.   Lovely dessert of chocolate truffle cake with raspberry compote and raspberry ice cream.

Chef Craig Cormack is an avid salt collector, and he sent around six of the 42 salts he has (there are 129 kinds of salt in total): Black Hawaiian Lava, Red Lava, Cervia, Bolivian Rose, Pakistani Volcanic, and Persian Blue Crystal.

Sofia’s at Morgenster, off Vergelegen entrance, Lourensford Road, Somerset West.  Tel (021) 847-1993.  http://www.facebook.com/Sofias.at.morgenster (No website, which is hopefully being worked on, to allow a professional profile of the restaurant, without the grammatical errors on the Facebook page, and photographs of the beautiful plating in an Image Gallery).  Open Mondays, Wednesdays – Sundays for lunch, and Wednesdays and Saturdays for dinner.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com   Twitter: @WhaleCottage