The Top Ten Food & Wine Pairings of 2015

Thursday, 14 January, 2016
Graham Howe
Graham Howe ruminates over the lessons of the best food and wine pairings he experienced on the wine tasting circuit in 2015.

* Yummy Yeast Feast

One of the culinary highlights of 2015 was the annual release of new wines by Allée Bleue over lunch at La Colombe at its new home on Silvermist estate on Constantia Nek. The food and wine pairing demonstrates that chef Scott Kirton surely deserves his prestigious rating by Eat Out 2016 as the chef of the year and the number two restaurant rated in South Africa's top ten restaurants. After working twenty vintages in the Cape (twelve at Simonsig), experienced winemaker Van Zyl du Toit discussed how he builds complexity by blending grapes from Banghoek, Franschhoek and Stanford into his acclaimed wines - and adds barrel-fermented Viognier to his Chenin and a dash of Semillon to a new Sauvignon Blanc Sur Lie. Matching specific yeasts to specific varieties - using four yeast types on the Sauvignon Blanc alone - he spoke about the role of climate, over-ripe harvesting and highly refined yeasts/sugar conversions in the high alcohols of the 2015 vintage.

* Paddock to Plate

Celebrating its 330 anniversary, Boschendal (1685), one of the oldest wine farms in the Cape, marked the big event with major renovations of all its facilities. Inspired by his new “paddock to plate” garden, butchery and cattle farm, executive chef Christiaan Campbell, one of the top wineland chefs (ex-Delaire Graff) created a gastronomic showcase at The Werf to match the big occasion - paired to Boschendal’s MCC Brut, 1685 Chardonnay, Elgin Sauvignon Blanc, Grande Reserve, new Boschendal 330 Heritage Blend and Vin D’Or After a tour of one of the Cape’s first gravity-fed cellars with its 2000 barrels with winemakers Richard Duckitt and Lizelle Gerber, chef declared, “Much of the fresh produce you’ll find on your plate is grown right here at Boschendal” - like fresh peas, roasted leeks, greens and salted celeriac. I even learned about MOG - a winemaker’s acronym for “material other than grape”!

* Match Made in Heaven

An annual outing to Creation, the winery atop Hemel-en-Aarde ridge which enjoys one of the most spectacular locations in the Cape winelands, is always a special treat. The home of one of the best food and wine pairings in the Cape - a regular winner of this Klink Wine Tourism category - elevates artisan bread, cheese, charcuterie, chocolate and tapas pairings into an art form. The new tapas pairing menu developed by co-owner Carolyn Martin and chef Warwick Taylor, highlights the elegant finesse, flavour, texture and weight of inter alia cool-climate Sauvignon Blanc (enhanced by calamari ceviche with papaya and pineapple), Viognier (with almond, apricot, coconut and ginger), signature Pinot Noir (duck with goat’s cheese) and Syrah (pork dumplings with umami broth) and Creation Blend (short-rib beef with parmesan).    

* A Lesson in Sauvignon

The annual launch of the new vintage at the Graaff family’s 1890 wine, cattle and sheep stud farm is always one of the highlights on the winelands tasting circuit. Taking over the reins in early 2015 De Villiers Graaff hosted a lunch at chef Ian Bergh’s restaurant at De Grendel, the flagship eatery in the Durbanville Wine Valley. Drawing on a revolutionary SBIG study of forty Sauvignon Blancs from every wine region in the Cape over the last five years, winemaker Charles Hopkins spoke about thiols (the tropical passion-fruit factor) versus methoxy-pyrazines (the dusty, green, longevity factor) in cool versus warmer regions. Presenting an ideal bottling analysis across fifteen factors, he declared, “So much evolution is taking place in Sauvignon Blanc. What is the most sought-after flavour? Dissolved oxygen is one of the most fascinating influences. An SBIG review of Top Ten Sauvignon Blancs shows that the above-average Sauvignon wines have less than three grams of residual sugar”.

* Labyrinth of Taste

Over the years unsung chef patron Henry Vigar of La Mouette in Sea Point has created some of the finest food and wine pairings at wine launches with his classic French culinary style. A nominee in Eat Out’s top twenty restaurants of South Africa in 2014, this elegant restaurant hosted Doolhof wine estate from Wellington in 2015 - creating a six-course wine and dine menu which again showcased chef’s meticulous eye for sublime food matches. Consultant Rianie Strydom and new winemaker Gielie Beukes unveiled stunning single vineyard releases of Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Pinotage - as well as Doolhof’s flagship 1712, Legends of the Labyrinth Theseus (Bordeaux) and Dark Lady (Cape) red blends. Chef enhanced these powerful wines with rich, intense winter flavours with many-layered dishes like celeriac soup, beef shin marmalade with smoked mash and crispy lamb with buffalo fromage blanc.    

* SA Flavours Unplugged

Culinary guru Craig Cormack created some of the best food and wine pairings of the year at wine launches. At the release of a stunning new duo of Fleur du Cap Unfiltered Chenin Blanc 2014 and Pinotage 2014 at the Washhouse, winemakers Pieter Badenhorst, Wim Truter and Kristin Basson showcased the concentrated power of wines hand crafted from old dryland, bushvine grapes from Paarl and the Swartland. Combing barrel, whole-bunch, stainless steel, open-top ferment and small basket-press components, the winemakers created contemporary wines with great varietal expression - paired to South African flavours like waterblommetjie broth, sweet potato puree, rooibos cured kudu and gooseberry jus. Who’s for Hertzoggies, koeksusters and melk-tert roomys with Fleur de Cap’s Noble Late Harvest 2011?

* Winter Plates

Winemaker Arco Laarman celebrated fifteen vintages at Glen Carlou on the old Simondium Road - one of the hottest destinations in the winelands with major attractions in close proximity like Backsberg, Glen Carlou (Hess art, tapas and global wine tastings), Babylonstoren (gardens, deli and restaurant), Anura (charcuterie, cheese, micro-brewery and steakhouse), Dalewood Fromage, Noble Hill (wines and Mexican restaurant), Rupert & Rothschild (global pairings), and Vrede en Lust (restaurant and wines). Chef Johan Stander created a series of brilliant seasonal plates to match Arco’s new trio of Chardonnay (unwooded - matured in eight concrete eggs - estate and reserve) - creating one of the best food and wine pairings of the year with masala roasted sea bass, gruyere and cauliflower soufflé, and springbok terrine. This culinary gem on a terrace with a view is one of Simondium’s many well-kept secrets.  

* Viva la difference!

The fare at Rupert & Rothschild Vignerons showcases the wine, tempting with two variations on food and wine tasting menus - either local Rupert & Rothschild wines or “wines of the world” from Rothschild brands in Argentina, France and New Zealand - with individual neck-tags identifying each glass. The wine is the headline - matched to dishes specially created by talented young chef Carmen Muller. The style is contemporary bistro with the accent on signature South African ingredients. The pairing platters are exquisitely presented - and among the best I tasted last year. Don’t miss the duck, cherry and juniper pie. This Franco-South African synergy is a delightful newcomer to the winelands as refreshing as the real ratatouille - or Baron de Rothschild Brut champagne served with smoked salmon in a ginger beer glaze.

* Michelin Man of the Overberg

The launch of the new Stanford wine route, the twenty-first in the Cape, was one of the highlights of the year. Wine media were treated to lunch at Springfontein, the luxury lodge, winery and restaurant where winemaker Tariro Masayiti led a tasting of his premium Chenin Blanc and Pinotage. Michelin-starred German chef Jürgen Schneider is making this Cape country kitchen the hottest gastronomic destination in the Overberg. Using fresh herbs, vegetables and salads grown in his farmhouse garden and foraging from the dunes, veld and sea, he creates exquisite seasonal compositions like a study of corn from the surrounding wheatfields Alongside Walker Bay wines, the top marques from Burgundy to the Mosel. A spectacular savoury dessert of fennel ice-cream rounded off the meal paired to the luscious Springfontein Chenin NLH.

* Heavenly Food on Hell’s Heights

The annual release of the new reserve whites and reds by Tokara has become a highlight on the wine calendar for wine writers. Winemaker Miles Mossop and viticulturist Aidan Morton do a great double-act, discussing infra-red vine imaging by drone, “growing degree days”, the role of newer clones, 35 different Chardonnay components (barrel-ferment, natural ferment, stainless steel, part-malo, etc), thicker staves barrels to slow down maturation and the diverse terroir of Tokara’s vineyards in Elgin, Stellenbosch and Walker Bay. The Director’s Reserve white and red blends always steal the show. The longevity of Tokara Sauvignon Blanc was demonstrated over lunch by top chef Richard Carstens in his lair - when the 2008 Elgin vintage was paired to a sustainable catch of delicious roasted hake with pak choi in lemon cream.  

 

Photos via Shante Hutton

Graham Howe

Graham Howe is a well-known gourmet travel writer based in Cape Town. One of South Africa's most experienced lifestyle journalists, he has contributed hundreds of food, wine and travel features to South African and British publications over the last 25 years.

He is a wine and food contributor for wine.co.za, which is likely the longest continuous wine column in the world, having published over 500 articles on this extensive South African wine portal. Graham also writes a popular monthly print column for WineLand called Howe-zat.

When not exploring the Cape Winelands, this adventurous globetrotter reports on exotic destinations around the world as a travel correspondent for a wide variety of print media, online, and radio.

Over the last decade, he has visited over seventy countries on travel assignments from the Aran Islands and the Arctic to Borneo and Tristan da Cunha - and entertained readers with his adventures through the winelands of the world from the Mosel to the Yarra.

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The Werf, Boschendal
The Werf, Boschendal

Boschendal
Boschendal

De Grendel
De Grendel

Waterblommetjie broth
Waterblommetjie broth

 Rupert & Rothschild Vignerons
Rupert & Rothschild Vignerons

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