The Sweet Service Award goes to the Kokkedoor team of Errieda du Toit, who conceptualised and publicised the Afrikaans cooking reality TV show, flighted on KykNET, the production company Home Brew Film Company, the presenter Marietta Kruger, the judges Chef Nic van Wyk of Diemersdal Farm Eatery and Hetta van Deventer-Terblanche who consults to La Motte, and the twenty contestants, who gave up their home and business lives to participate in the show, at sometimes unbearable temperatures of up to 45°C in Prince Albert. Being busy most Thursday evenings, I was unable to see most episodes, but did watch the final one last night. The production values were fantastic, especially the food shots at the start to the show, equalling or bettering the quality of the Woolworths TV commercials made for MasterChef SA. Kokkedoor has made our country’s ‘erfeniskos’ (heritage food) and cooking ‘sexy’ again, as columnist Martie Retief-Meiring wrote in Die Burger yesterday. Congratulations to Mynhardt Joubert and Tiaan Langenegger, who are the Kokkedoor 2013 winning team, winning R250000 and a cookbook contract. Continue reading →
Tag Archives: Nouvelle Mushrooms
Sage Restaurant sauces sparkle at Chabivin Champagne and MCC House!
I would not have known about Sage restaurant at Chabivin Champagne and MCC House on the Blaauwklippen Road in Stellenbosch had I not received an e-mail from its Chef Jan Kruger, alerting me to their move to their new home. The restaurant also manages the tasting of the Chabivin Methode Cap Classique (MCC) wines, and its imported French champagne Guy Charbaut range, a sparkling pairing.
I arrived on a chilly and grey autumn day, but chose to sit outside to enjoy the peaceful garden with a view onto the Helderberg mountains. The garden is surrounded by bluegums, and has as its centrepiece a most unusual wire ‘tree’ which has bottles attached to it. Bistro style chairs at wooden tables reinforce the Bistro nature of this eatery, being a small restaurant with a MCC and champagne bar, its modest prices, and its French style cuisine. The restaurant is named after sage, one of the oldest culinary and medicinal herbs.
I met the owner Alison Cronje and Chef Jan in the lounge section inside the restaurant, with three comfy couches and a massive fireplace for the cold winter to come. They moved Sage to Chabivin a month ago, having experienced some problems from the authorities with their previous venue at Sweetwell Farm, which belongs to Alison’s husband Hendrik, who has been running a piggery at the R44 smallholding for 27 years, and supplies Sage with pork and beef. The predecessor to Sage at Sweetwell Farm was Nice, which was run by the very nice Anne and her late husband Chef Chris de Jager. To accommodate Sage, the Chabivin tasting room was transformed into a restaurant, and sommelier Justin does the Chabivin MCC and Guy Charbaut champagne tasting at the tables of their Sage guests, to bring out the 
pairing between the Sage dishes and the sparkling wines and champagnes. Justin was once a construction worker, became a barrista at the previous Sage, and completed his sommelier course at the Cape Wine Academy last year. Chef Jan started his cooking career at a kibbutz after school, returning to Johannesburg to work at Ile de France with Chef Marc Guebert (he now owns Le Souffle), who taught Jan to cook in the French style, and the importance of sauces. In the Cape he worked at 96 Winery Road and Eatwell in Stellenbosch, before joining Sage three years ago. I liked Chef Jan’s explanation of the restaurant operating seven days a week, saying that he did not want to confuse his diners in having to remember on which days they are open, a problem diners face with most restaurants! His policy is to offer ‘quality finer dining‘. He will be starting a vegetable and herb garden at Chabivin. Currently he sources from Wild Peacock, Nouvelle Mushrooms, and Steve the Magic Man. While the menu is changed regularly, some standards are never removed, so that the diners referred by others will get to try the favourite dishes.
The restaurant interior is painted purple, perhaps a colour symbolising sage. A parrot in a cage 
and dried flowers in the lounge section jarred in what could become a popular restaurant, given its excellent cuisine, and MCCs and champagnes. The restaurant seats 45 inside and 30 outside. Tables are laid with table cloths and material serviettes inside, while there are no tablecloths outside.
Bread is brought to the table in a woven basket, both unexciting. The menus and the winelist are typed on cream paper, and laminated. The Breakfast menu sounds delicious, with dishes costing R60 – R70, and including rosti, egg and bacon; a poached Frankfurter and eggs; Eggs Benedict; and Français Pain Grillé, with smoked bacon, avocado and honey. The A3 lunch menu is sectioned as ‘start…’, ‘inspired’, and ‘end…‘. Starters cost R45 – R55, and include ostrich carpaccio, Tunisian pork on bruschetta, Cape Malay curried yellowtail, and crumbed calamari. None of the main courses cost more than R120, and a mix of fish, meat, and vegetarian dishes are offered. Two pork dishes are available, the meat coming from Sweetwell
Farm. The tender pale pink pork fillet I ordered was delicious, made so by the unusual brandy, cream and raisin sauce in which it was poached, topped with pea shoots, and I requested a spoon to finish every last drop. The shoestring fries were not fully cooked and were too strongly drizzled with truffle oil for my taste. Pork belly is served with a sundried tomato cream served with basil pesto couscous, which sounds delicious too. Other main courses are seared tuna, lamb burger on brioche, kingklip, chicken, duck, and rib eye steak. The apple flan
dessert was made with the lightest pastry and sliced apples, dusted with castor sugar and sprinkled with almond flakes, was served with an unusual basil ice cream. Being a cold day, the ice cream could have been replaced with cream, to make the flan the hero, as the basil was fighting with it. Crème brûlée, chocolate fondant, meringue, and a cheese board are other dessert options, costing R50.
The Chabivin vines were planted two years ago. The estate currently buys in grapes locally, and its sister Guy Charbaut champagnes are made from grapes from three farms in France. Guy Charbaut’s sister Brigitte and her husband Jean-Pierre Abiven are the local owners, and the name of the wine estate came from an amalgamation of the two surnames. The prices of the Chabivin MCC and Guy Charbaut champagnes are the same in the restaurant as they are for sales via the Tasting room, a commendable pricing policy. Most of the wines are available per glass too. The Chabivin bubbles ‘linger for longer’, Chef Jan said. There are three Chabivin MCCs: The Mademoiselle Megane NV is made from 100% Chardonnay grapes,
is bottle fermented, matured for 48 months, has a light sweet taste, and costs R30/R120. The Jean-Michel 2008 costs R35/R150, and is made from equal quantities of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, on the lees for 48 months. The Acléméé Semillon 2005 is unusual in being made from Semillon grapes only, and is bottle fermented and matured before degorgement for 72 months (R45/R210). There are five Guy Charbaut champagnes: Selection Brut NV is made from Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay, lying on the lees for 36 months (R60/R380); Rose Premier Cru NV is 100% Pinot Noir lying on the lees for 36 months (R70/R410);
Blanc de Blancs Premier Cru NV is 100% Chardonnay, and is aged on yeast for 48 months (R70/R440); Millesime 2000 Premier Cru, with 67% Pinot Noir and 34% Chardonnay, is left on the yeast for 48 months (R80/R500); and Memory 1998 Premier Cru is made from 100% hand selected Chardonnay grapes (R1000). The Blanc de Blancs and Millesime are available in a 375 ml bottle too, costing about R200, and as magnums. Commendable is that ‘Chabivin friendly‘ wines from the neighbourhood are also offered on the wine list, including Meinert, Guardian Peak, Ernie Els, Peter Falke, and Waterford Estate. Winemaker Hendrik Snyman came to say hello. He has worked for the family business since 2007, first in France, and now locally.
Sage is well hidden, creating peaceful country bliss with heavenly French-influenced cuisine and a good MCC and champagne range at affordable prices. I will go back to Sage, as Chef Jan is clearly a talented saucier!
POSTSCRIPT 25/4: We received this refreshing e-mail from Chef Jan in response to our blogpost about sage: ‘I just want to say A HUGE THANK YOU for the wonderful article you wrote & posted on Whale Cottage Blog. I saw it Tuesday morning and I was blown away by the in-depth writing and analysis. It was a true pleasure to have met you and I hope we cross paths in the continuous future. Thank you for honest comments; both the critical and the complimentary. Kind Regards. Jan Kruger. Sage Restaurant’
Disclosure: Chef Jan refused to accept payment for my meal and the MCC tasting.
Sage Restaurant, Chabivin Champagne and MCC House, Blaauwklippen Road, Stellenbosch. Tel (021) 880-1643. Sage Facebook page www.chabivin.co.za Twitter:@Chabivin No Twitter page for Sage. Breakfast and Lunch Mondays – Sundays, dinner by appointment.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage
Hermanus Wine Route is heaven on earth in Hemel en Aarde valley!
I had the most heavenly experience, visiting the little-known and relatively new Hermanus Wine Route with outstanding wine estates located in the beautiful Hemel en Aarde Valley outside Hermanus recently, on a perfect warm winter’s day.
As a guest house owner in Hermanus, I stopped at the Hermanus Tourism Bureau and at the Village Wine Shop, in search of a map of the wine estates in the area. I was most surprised that both stops could only offer me the ‘2011 Overberg Wine: Cape South Coast’ booklet, which lists wine estates in the broader Overberg district, including Hermanus. Our experience is that a wine map, such as that of Franschhoek, is a handy way to explore a wine route. I drove to the furthest wine estate on the Hemel en Aarde Road, to start my winetasting journey at Creation, of which I have heard such good things, and then made my way back towards Hermanus. It was at Creation that I received a number of A4 copies of the brand new Hermanus Wine Route map. I did not manage to visit all 17 wine estates, as my stay in Hermanus was cut short due to an emergency which necessitated my return to Cape Town. I have provided contact details, and impressions of the estates which I visited:
* Creation: Dynamic husband-and-wife team Swiss-born JC and Carolyn Martin (daughter of Walter Finlayson) are producing excellent artisanal, terroir-driven wines at the foot of the Babylons Toren mountain range, on 22 ha, 350 meters above sea level, 7 km from the Atlantic Ocean, in conjunction with Swiss winemaker Christoph Kaser. The last 7 km is on gravel road, and the province has promised to prioritise the tarring of this road connecting Caledon and Hermanus. The tasting room staff is headed by Joanne Kuhn, who used to be the Manager of the Hermanus Tourism Bureau. She is a friendly, chatty and informative hostess, supported by Pamela. The tasting room is also the restaurant, with an interesting collection of tables (made from wine crates, and some from floorboards) and Biedermeier chairs, in different colours. I loved the chandelier made from sparkling wine glasses. Works of art (e.g. by Jaco Sieberhagen, Jeanette Unite, Leon Müller) are an interesting part of the tasting room, and are for sale. The view onto the mountain range is amazing, and Joanne told me that it is 80 meters higher than Table Mountain. The wine estate uses Social Media actively, being on Twitter, Facebook, and having a Blog. Its range of wines includes Creation (Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon, Viognier, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon/Petit Verdot, Syrah, and Syrah/Grenache), Whale Pod (which we stock in our Honesty Bar), and Shark Alley (created in conjunction with White Shark Projects). Creation is part of the Biodiversity & Wine Initiative, and its A3 information sheet printed on recycled paper says the wine estate stands for ‘Original, distinctive flavours. Exceptional, harmonious matches’. Creation has teamed up with chefs Anli and Andre van Vuuren of Season restaurant in Hermanus, to offer a small menu. A wine pairing menu is offered at R90, consisting of Asian salmon dumpling with aubergine and goat’s milk cheese canneloni, paired with Creation Sauvignon Blanc; spicy chicken and apricot satay is paired with Creation Viognier; cauliflower soup is paired with Creation Merlot; springbok rillete with cherry jelly is paired with Creation Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon/Petit Verdot blend; chorizo espanadita with duck and sour cherry pie is paired with Creation Syrah; and bobotie spring roll, beef carpaccio, and prune chutney is paired with Creation Syrah/Grenache blend. Should one just wish to taste wines, there is no charge. One can order Creation wines with a meal, at R 20,50 – R 40 per glass, or R79,50 – R159 per bottle. The information sheet details the food suppliers used, including Nouvelle Mushrooms, Chocolates by Tomes, Richard Bosman’s cured meats, Adamskloof olive oil from the same property, and Camphill Bakery. Monday – Saturday 10h00 – 17h00, Sunday 10h00 – 16h00. Tel (028) 212-1107. www.creationwines.com
* Jakob’s Vineyards – Cabernet Sauvignon, Bordeaux blend. ‘Passion, excellence and simplicity’ form the foundation of this wine estate. Located next door to Creation, tastings by appointment only. Tel (028) 371-5686. www.jakobsvineyards.co.za
* Domaine des Dieux – located next door to Creation, tasting by appointment and at La Vierge restaurant. Tel (028) 313-2126. www.domainedesdieux.co.za
* Mount Babylon – SMV (Shiraz, Mourvedre, Viognier blend). Located next door to Creation, tastings by appointment. Tel 084 511 8180. www.mountbabylon.co.za
* Ataraxia – Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Serenity. Located just before Creation. Wine tasting Monday – Friday 9h00 – 16h00, Saturday 10h00 – 15h30. Tel (028) 212-2007. www.ataraxiawines.co.za
* La Vierge Collection – private cellar, with tasting and sales at La Vierge restaurant, not on same property. La Vierge Noir, Original Sin Sauvignon Blanc, The Last Temptation Riesling, Satyricon Italian blend, Nymphomane Bordeaux blend, Shiraz, and Chardonnay. Tel (028) 313-0130. www.lavierge.co.za
* Spookfontein – Merlot, Phantom Bordeaux blend, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc. Wines made using ‘Old-World techniques with New-Age attitude’. Organic and single vineyard wines. Tasting by appointment. Tel 082 265 1071. No website.
* Newton Johnson Vineyards – the only wine estate of those that I visited that was seemingly disinterested in providing information and doing a tasting. I arrived at 15h20, forty minutes before closing time, and I got the feeling that everything was packed away already. There was no wine in the counter, and the tasting room was extremely bare, with only one couch. Lisa, the tasting room lady, told me that due to cash flow problems, that is the only furniture that the winery can afford! First wines were made by Dave Newton Johnson, with sons Bevan and Gordon, in 1997. Natural methods are used in the winemaking, including hand-picking grapes, yeast is not added to the fermentation, using gravity, no chemicals added, with soft extraction, creating wines with a ‘purity of flavour and natural expression’. Newton Johnson Domaine Range (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir), Newton Johnson range (Resonance, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Syrah Mouvedre), and Felicité Range (No Oak Chardonnay, Dry Rosé, Pinot Noir). New Patron Chef Stefan Louw has taken over Heaven Restaurant, with a heavenly setting. Lunches only currently, but will open for dinner in season. Interesting menu, and all starters and main courses have a Newton Johnson wine recommendation. Monday – Friday 9h00 – 16h00, Saturday 10h00 – 14h00. www.newtonjohnson.com
* Sumaridge – Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Maritimus, Merlot Rosé, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Pinotage, Syrah and Epitome. Monday – Sunday 10h00 – 15h00. www.sumaridge.co.za
* Bouchard Finlayson – Peter Finlayson was the first winemaker in this valley. Blanc de Mer, Walker Bay Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc Reserve, Kaaimansgat Limited Chardonnay, Sans Barrique Chardonnay, Hannibal, Galpin Peak Pinot Noir, and Tête de Cuvée Pinot Noir. Monday – Friday 9h30 – 17h00, Saturday 9h30 – 12h30. Tel (028) 312-3515 www.bouchardfinlayson.co.za
* Ashbourne – part of the Hamilton Russell collection. Tasting by appointment. Sales via Southern Right. Tel (028) 312-3595. No website.
* Hamilton Russell Vineyards – one of the best-known wine estates in this valley, owned by Anthony Hamilton Russell, and synonymous with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Monday – Friday 9h00 – 17h00, Saturday 9h00 – 13h00. Tel (028) 312-3595. No website.
* Southern Right – also part of Hamilton Russell collection, and co-owned by Mark Wilcox. Stocked by Whale Cottage Honesty Bar. Sauvignon Blanc and Pinotage. 33000 olive trees on farm. Paintings by Olive Hamilton Russell, with earthy textures created by mixing paint and soil from the farm. Big quartz from farm in the tasting room, representing the quartz in the sandstone soils. Tasting room has brown earthy decor. Very friendly and informative manager Elmarie Pretorius. Sell Southern Right Eucalyptus honey too. Meat and cheese platters available in summer. Monday – Friday 9h00 – 17h00, Saturday 9h00 – 13h00. No website. Tel (028) 312-1318. Independently operated Deli on property, Tuesday – Sunday 9h00 – 15h00.
* Whalehaven – Whalehaven Pinot Noir, Merlot, Old Harbour; The Idiom Collection Idiom Cape, Viognier, Sangiovese, Zinfandel. Monday – Friday 9h00 – 17h00, Saturday and Sunday 10h30 – 16h30. Tel (028) 316-1633. www.whalehaven.co.za
* Hermanuspietersfontein : Located in the Hemel en Aarde Village, the modern wine cellar building is visible as one comes into Hermanus. Well-known venue for its Saturday morning Food & Wine Market with interesting products and Hermanuspietersfontein wines, and for the excellent and creative Afrikaans -dominated marketing of its wines. Probably has the longest wine brand name in the country, being the original name of Hermanus, but frequently abbreviated to HPF. Winemaker Bartho Eksteen is highly regarded for Sauvignon Blanc, and won the 2010 Diners’ Club Winemaker of the Year Award. He only makes wines that he likes, the brochure says! They commit to “produce terroir-driven wines of the highest quality, focusing on Sauvignon Blancs and Rhône and Bordeaux-style blends. We are intent on adding value to the Walker Bay reputation as South Africa’s premium cool climate wine-producing region”. Wine range includes Bloos (‘blush wine’), Sonner Nommer (Sauvignon Blanc), Swartskaap (Cabernet Franc), 1855 Posmeester (Bordeaux-style blend), Kleinboet (Bordeaux-style blend), Nr 3 Sauvignon Blanc, Die Bartho (Sauvignon Blanc blend), Nr. 5 Sauvignon Blanc, Die Arnoldus (Bordeaux-style blend), Nr 7 Sauvignon Blanc, and Die Martha (Rhône-style Shiraz dominant blend). Open Monday – Friday 9h00 – 17h00, Saturday 9h00 – 16h00. Tel (028) 316-1875. www.hpf1855.co.za
* Benguela Cove: Open Monday – Friday 9h30 – 17h00, Saturday 10h00 – 14h00. Tel 087 754 8650. www.benguelacove.co.za
Guest houses in Hermanus would love their guests to spend more than one night in Hermanus, and to come to Hermanus, even when there are no whales (December – April). The Hermanus Wine Route is an ideal way to enhance the tourist experience of Hermanus, in experiencing its excellent quality wines and friendly wine estates. One would like to see far more marketing of the Hermanus Wine Route, helping the tourism industry of Hermanus as well as the wine estates themselves. The Hermanus Wine Route map has an empty back, which could contain valuable information about the wines made by each wine estate, to help one select which wine estates to visit. Information about the restaurants on the estates should also be listed. The opening hours of some of the wine estates should also be extended, to be as uniform as possible on the Wine Route, and to be open as late as possible (some close as early as 2 pm!). The Hermanus Wine Route map should be made available at the Hermanus Tourism Bureau, the Wine Village wine shop, and at guest houses in the area. In the Hermanus Info booklet it is surprising that the first reference to the Hermanus Wine Route (they call it the ‘Wine Wander‘) is two-thirds into the booklet!
Hermanus Wine Route, Hemel en Aarde Valley, Hermanus. Tel (028) 316-2761. www.hermanuswine.com Twitter: @HermanusWine
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage
Delheim Nouvelle fungi focus with Mushroom Week
This week Delheim wine estate is focusing on the delectable exotic mushroom, in running a Mushroom Week in its restaurant in conjunction with Nouvelle Mushrooms, the only commercial producer of exotic mushrooms in South Africa, and sole supplier of this delicacy to Woolworths.
I was part of a group of journalists (those from The Star and the Sunday Times flying down from Johannesburg especially for the event) and bloggers that was invited by Erica Meles Public Relations to attend an outing to Delheim yesterday, which kicked off with an interesting talk by Dr Adriaan Smit of the University of Stellenbosch, a mycologist and MD of the SA Gourmet Mushroom Academy. He impressed with his knowledge of poisonous and edible mushrooms, giving tips about how one ensures that one only picks and eats edible mushrooms. There are about 1,5 million mushrooms species, and Dr Smit recommended a number of steps for aspirant mushroom gatherers: read every book on the topic (he had five local books), join the Edible Fungi Association, collect with an expert, don’t rely on photograph matching with books only, smell the mushrooms, scratch the stem for colour changes, rub the flesh to check the texture, taste only a tiny piece and spit it out without swallowing the juices, make a spore print on a sheet of white and black paper or on aluminium foil, use chemical tests, eat only one variety at a time, never eat wild mushrooms raw, and always keep some uncooked mushrooms on the side, for a test in case one gets ill. 
For successful foraging his first recommendation is to take along a magnifying glass, to check the mushroom for spores, gills and teeth. So, for example, the pine ring mushroom must emit an orange-coloured milk to confirm that it is not its poisonous look-alike. Mushrooms with a white cap, white gills, free unattached gills, a white spore print, with a ring on the stalk, that are small and brown, and/or have a swollen stalk base could be poisonous. If one has signs of mushroom poisoning, call the Tygerberg Poison Information Center at tel (021) 931-6129. Dr Smit loves mushrooms so much that his boutique hotel outside Stellenbosch is called The Wild Mushroom, and each of the six suites is inspired by and decorated in the theme of a mushroom variety.
After the talk, guests were taken on a walk to the pine forest on the farm, to look for wild mushrooms (mainly Boletus Edulis, or better known as cep or porcini, and pine ring) with Dr Smit and Nora Sperling-Thiel, daughter of farm owner Spatz Sperling, who is knowledgeable about mushrooms too. I had a long chat to son Victor Sperling, who told me that about half of the 365 hectare farm is planted under vine and the balance has pine forests. The pines were planted by Spatz Sperling, possibly as a reminder of his country of origin, on slopes that are too steep to plant vines. Victor told me that the pine forestry is not really economically viable, but it is a good way for the farm to meet the requirements of the Biodiversity Wine Initiative, in that the shade created by the trees prevents the reseeding of alien plants. 
The Delheim focus is on ‘unpretentious winemaking’, says its flyer, and Victor told me they try to change little as their customers like their wines as they are. They try to make 100% cultivars such as Merlot, Shiraz, and Cabernet Sauvignon, a much bigger challenge, he said, but they do make some blends too. Brenda van Niekerk is the winemaker, while Victor is the viticulturist and production manager. His sister Nora heads sales. Victor deplored that restaurants do not support the Stellenbosch Wine Route and its wines.
Fresh out of the forest, we were taken to the cellar meeting room, in which Schalk de Beer, MD of Nouvelle Mushrooms, took us through a presentation on exotic mushrooms and their nutritional benefits. The company was started in 2006, and currently it produces 2 tons of exotic mushrooms per week, using 10 tons of woody substrates. About 60 % of the mushrooms are sold through Woolworths, and the balance to restaurants and hotels. Woolworths currently has a special offer of two punnets of exotic mushrooms for R30. It has a production facility in the Hemel en Aarde Valley outside Hermanus, and prides itself on its distribution efficiency, given the perishability of its products. Not known to all is the health benefits of mushrooms, Schalk told us, generically being high in protein. The exotic mushroom varieties that the company supplies are the following:
* Shiitake mushrooms are rich in cholesterol-lowering properties, and contain anti-oxidants. This variety enhances the flavour of the foods that it is served with. It is the biggest seller in the East.
* King oyster mushrooms contain anti-oxidants. They are ideal for Italian dishes.
* Enoki mushrooms are mainly used in soups in Japan, and look attractive when used in salads.
* Shimeji mushrooms can be used as antipasto, or for a pasta sauce, due to their aroma.
Lunch was served and not unsurprisingly the three-course menu only consisted of mushrooms, paired with Delheim wines, reflecting the menu which Delheim is offering for Mushroom Week running until Sunday 10 July, at R120, inclusive of three glasses of wine, and coffee, offering exceptional value. I loved the refreshing Paw Paw and Shimeji mushroom salad, an unusual combination served with a light lemon dressing. The alternative starter offered is Baby spinach salad with seared King oyster mushrooms. Both starters were paired with Delheim’s Sauvignon Blanc 2010.
The main course was a choice of Risotto with dried Boletus mushrooms, and Tagliatelle with Nouvelle Exotic Mix mushrooms, and guests were offered a choice of Delheim’s Merlot 2007 or the lightly-wooded Chardonnay Sur Lie 2010. Coffee was served with a Shiitake mushroom and chocolate cookie, paired with the Delheim Gewürztraminer.
I was lucky to sit at the same table as Schalk de Beer, and Spatz Sperling and his wife Vera. Spatz Sperling is 81 years old, and is an icon in the wine industry, making his first wines 60 years ago on the farm which was originally owned by Hans Hoheisen since 1938, married to his aunt Adele, after whom the farm was named, and having created the country’s first wine route, being the Stellenbosch Wine Route with Frans Malan and Neil Joubert 40 years ago. When asked what changes he has seen in the wine industry over the years, he laughed, and said that it has just got better, and cellar buildings have become more attractive. Vera Sperling told us about the laws that governed wine tasting in early days – a minimum of 12 wines had to be bought, one had to receive a KC6 form as proof of a legal sale if one was stopped by the police, no wine was allowed to be bottled without a ‘white’ person present, and one had to buy wine from the cellar and bring it to the restaurant on a wine estate, as restaurants on wine estates were not allowed to sell wine. Delheim was the first wine estate to serve food almost 38 years ago, serving a choice of cheeses and patés initially. A year later Blaauwklippen and Hartenberg followed suit.
Delheim, Knorhoek Road, off R45, Stellenbosch. Tel (021) 888-4607. www.delheim.com. Monday – Sunday.
Nouvelle Mushrooms, Tel (021) 887-5593. www.nouvelle.za.net
Mushroom Academy, Tel (021) 881-3586. www.mushroomacademy.com
Disclosure: All guests received an information pack, which also contained a bottle of Delheim Merlot 2007, and a punnet of Nouvelle Mushrooms, with a collection of pine needles and oak leaves from the farm.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter:@WhaleCottage