Even though these two parts of the Indaba took place separately, I am covering them together. They were both about wine, and between the drinking (*hic*) and the talking, I did not write many notes. What I can tell you, is that what ever you think about the glass of wine you are drinking is right! Well, that is really good news for me.
We did a blind tasting with Michael Oliver and these were my thoughts:
- Jordan Winery Chenin Blanc: citrus / sharp
- Neethlingshof Gewurtztraminer: fruity / smooth. This is my new found love and I have to get myself some.
- Barista Pinotage: dry / acidic
- Le Bonheur Prima 2007: smooth and by far my favourite of the 4
Cathy Marston led a discussion about wine and food paring. The most important consideration when paring wine with your food is to think about the weight of both the food and the wine. Then either pare with a comparable weight or a contrasting weight. Think about the herbs you use when paring wines. Try and match produce from the same region.
For the food and wine paring we had the following 6 wines all sponsored by Villiera:
- Down To Earth White (unwooded smillon savignon blanc)
- John Martin Reserve SB – Backsberg (wooded sauvignon blanc)
- Guwertztraminer
- Barrel Fermented Chenin Blanc
- Down To Earth Red (touriga nacional shiraz)
- Cabernet Sauvignon
we then did a blind tasting of the wines with the food and here are my feelings about them:
- smoked tuna: wine 1 increased the smokiness whereas wine 2 increased the citrus of the lime added to the tuna. Red wines do not work with this.
- cream cheese and salmon: wine 3 was the best, but it does work with the chenin
- coronation chicken: due to the sweetness of this dish, I could not do a proper tasting, but wine 3 was the best
- smoky bacon wrapped around dates: this pushed my sugar intolerance way over the edge but either wine 3 or wine 1 would work
- patatas bravas: I could not find a wine I liked with this dish, but if I had to serve a wine then wine 1 would have to suffice
I was given a lovely wine tasting journal from 96 Winery Road, and the list is growing as I have added all these wines to my original tasting with them of 13 wines.
Harry Reginald then ended Cathy’s wine and food paring section with a talk about Champagne, its history and why we should drink it. He is the most amazing speaker, with a great sense of humour and if ever you need an MC for an event I would recommend you call Harry. I took a video of the sabrage that Harry did to end off our day in the most spectacular way. I have embedded this into You Tube. I learnt something new – the cover on the cork of a bottle of champagne is called the crown.
Tandy
I thoroughly enjoyed all three speakers. I actually still don’t believe how much wine we consumed that weekend!
it was indeed a lot of wine!
Think I may have got a bit tipsy with all that tasting.
🙂 Mandy
I only sipped as I was driving!
And to think that I thought after the weekend I’d never be thirsty again! I wish we could get wines other than French here. They are so closed to the rest of the world.
It’s fascinating doing food and wine pairings, isn’t it. I guess in Spain you’d probably drink sherry with patatas bravas which, incidentally, lacking a local bodega, is one of my favourite winter Sunday night shared comfort foods, in a huge bowl with two forks and a good film…
I have to try and make patatas bravas. I am sure sherry would be drunk with that – but it is sweetened as so not on my ‘allowed’ list. We loved the French wines – but of course, we don’t often get them. We found SA wines at a supermarket in Brittany and in Villes Franches we found some Aussie wines. Have a great day 🙂
It’s not true that I can’t get any SA or Aussie wines. I can at Lidyl at 3€ a bottle but they’re not terribly good!
I don’t think any wine at that price is good – but that is only because a R30 bottle of wine is not fantastic. We found some Nederberg wine in Germany for €6 which is well priced 🙂
Well done! Thanx for sharing Tandy. And thanx for the youtube clip. I don’t know how to do it or how to edit and set to music etc. so I didn’t do anything with mine. I put the link up on facebook last night 🙂 I’ve been trying to rack my wine brain to remember what wine went best with the patatas bravas that day but I can’t. Had too many things going I guess hehe! xx
I meant to add a PS after the hug but my trigger finger was too fast. I wanted to say that I loved all three the speakers, all so knowledgeable and yes I agree on the Harry bit….he is an excellent MC! xx
and I don’t mean Methode Champenoise!!! HAHA! 🙂 xx