South African Wines Part Ten: Holiday Weekend in Cape Town

picnic at Boschendal

A four-day holiday weekend in Cape Town for Heritage Day gave us another opportunity for some serious wine tasting and touring in the Cape Winelands - mostly Stellenbosch with a few strategic stops in Franschhoek, Somerset West and Constantia.

And since we were in a holiday mood, we decided to plan ahead for some other upcoming holidays. Friendsgiving is right around the corner and we will need to bring back some wine for our family Christmas dinner in Colorado.

Jordan

In Stellenbosch:

Jordan: Cobblers & Chameleons

Kathy and Gary Jordan descend from the Jordan Shoe family, a fixture in South Africa since 1877. And their aptly named Cobblers Hill is a homage to their footwear heritage. It is also the ultimate expression of the Jordan terroir!

Jordan also produces a range of wines whose profits support a PhD bursary for researchers studying the Cape dwarf chameleon, a native species commonly found on the wine estate. We tasted a 2012 Chameleon Merlot that contains no added sulphur. For anyone with a sulphur allergy who likes red wine ( and chameleons!), this is probably a godsend.

We bought two of the Bordeaux blend Cobblers Hill 2012, two of the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon, a product of the oldest vines on the property and two of The Real McCoy Riesling 2015, the only 100% Reisling grape wine produced in South Africa.

De Morgenzon

De Morgenzon: Maestros & Wildebeests

Right next door to Jordan is De Morgenzon. Entering the hunting lodge-turned-tasting room was more like walking into a concert hall. The sound of music echoed off the vineyard-covered slopes to the valley below. We bought two each of the beautifully orchestrated DMZ Maestro 2013, a bold blend of five varietals and the 2013 DMZ Syrah

"The Chinese Girl"@ Delaire Graff

Delaire Graff: Diamonds & Tretchikoff

Delaire Graff has some serious pedigree and I do not know why it took three years for us to get here. Founded 30+ years ago by SA's dynamic wine duo John and Erica Platter, it was bought by SA's diamond king Laurence Graff about ten years ago. A Relais & Chateaux property, it is the jewel of the Cape Winelands! We bought two of their creamy and butter-y 2014 Chardonnay, two of their cinnamon-y 2015 Coastal Cuvee Sauvignon Blanc and two of their pepper-y 2014 Shiraz.

They also have quite an art collection. We were greeted at the door by Tretchikoff's "The Chinese Girl!"

We love Relais & Chateaux

yes, that Graff

vineyards and birds-of-paradise

Pinotage @ Hidden Valley

Hidden Valley: Valley Views & Pinotage

By this time we had picked up a wide variety of wines to drink for the upcoming holidays and we started to concentrate on filling in the gaps. We needed some Pinotage! So we dropped into Hidden Valley to taste and buy three bottles of their highly regarded 2013 Pinotage.

Port at Muratie

Muratie: Pedigree & Port

And some Port would be nice for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. For that, we visited Muratie. The Melck family have been making wine at Muratie since 1699! And the Muratie Cape Vintage Port is produced from a single vineyard planted in 1965. Not a bad pedigree either!

Their Ports seamlessly integrate alcohol, fruit and acidity into a delicious bundle of flavor. We purchased two bottles of their Ben Prins Cape Vintage 2011 which will go oh so well with some Christmas Stilton. (I am stopping in London on the way back to the USA for Christmas. Make a note: pick up some Stilton!)

And in Franschhoek:

Bean bags, baskets and blankets on the lawn @ Boschendal

Boschendal: Picnic & Friends

We passed on the fine restaurants at Jordan and Delaire Graff to join some friends for a picnic at Boschendal. Their Olive Press restaurant provided sumptuous baskets filled with cheese, charcuterie, salads, pates and tapenades. Delicious bread, some Boschendal Rose and Chardonnay, and some lively conversation. A perfect picnic!

fresh strawberries from Zetler's Berry Farm

For dessert, vanilla pots de creme made with fresh strawberries. It's strawberry picking time in the Cape Winelands!

La Motte

La Motte: Pierneef 

Honestly, we mainly went to La Motte to visit their museum ...





 









...  filled with original works of art by acclaimed South African artist Jacob Hendrik Pierneef. But we tasted too of course! FYI: La Motte even has a Pierneef Collection of premium wines named in honor of the artist. Tasting Pierneef in a room filled with his art? Priceless!

In Somerset West:

conservation at Waterkloof

Waterkloof: Biodiversity & Organic Wine Farming

Waterkloof is committed to conservation ... and wine! And at Waterkloof, they can go hand in hand.

Situated in the Cape Floral Region, Waterkloof has set aside 50% of their farm for conservation of the unique fynbos habitat. And the other 50% is set aside for biodynamic wine farming. Some of the strategies they implement include drip irrigation and biological pest control, mulching, clearing invasive and re-establishing native vegetation, maintaining flocks of chickens for for pest control and compost (and fresh eggs for their kitchen!), herds of cows for compost tea, flocks of Dorper sheep for weed control and Nitrogen replenishment, and developing an earthworm farms to replenish the soil on the farm and occasionally in the vineyards.

And there wine reflects their sense of place and commitment to the earth that nurtures it. We particularly like the infinitely drinkable Waterkloof Circle of Life Red - a blend of Merlot, Shiraz, and a tiny dollop of three other red varietals - and the Circle of Life White, a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc and Semillon..












And finally, in Constantia:

 Groot Constantia: Celebrations!

Christmas dinner is going to be huge! Along with real family (my sons, my sister and her family, hopefully my brother and his family), we will probably be spending Christmas Eve with our adopted family - Charley and  Mary Lou and Ric. This calls for some serious celebratory wines. For that, we went to Groot Constantia to pick up a couple of bottles of their top 100 award-winning vintage 2012 Grand Constance and a few bottles of their birthday commemorative 2014 Reserve Red.

God bless us, everyone!

rosemary (hedges) and Darlene

Searching for Sugar Man ... the book

First it was the 2012 Academy Award-winning documentary film and now it is a book!

On Monday night we went to the book launch of Sugar Man. The Life, Death and Resurrection of Sixto Rodriguez by Craig Bartholomew Strydom and Stephen "Sugar" Segerman, the two fans whose search for Sugar Man after apartheid led to Rodriguez's performing live on stage in South Africa for the very first time in 1998.

The book launch was held at one of Vince's and my favorite tapas restaurants in Cape Town, La Parada (Order the croquetas de jamon!) There, the authors were interviewed by Marianne Thamm, herself an author as well as a columnist, satirist, and the assistant editor of Daily Maverick. After a conversational interview with Marianne, Craig and Sugar entertained questions from the audience and then signed copies of their book.

The authors (seated) with Thamm in the middle at La Parada

We absolutely loved the movie and we are big fans ourselves of Rodriguez's music as a result of watching it. But while director Malik Benjelloul's Searching for Sugar Man chronicled the book authors' odyssey to find out what had happened to their musical hero from the 1970s and 80s, their book presents a much bigger picture of the Rodriguez saga.

The book is broken up into four parts - The Mystery, The Man, The Music and The Movie and it outlines three separate journeys and the obstacles and triumphs that each presented: Rodriguez's struggle to make a life from his music, the search by two fans to find him, and Benjelloul's pursuit to bring the story to life on the screen.

And apparently there is talk of bringing the movie-turned-book to the stage in the form of a Broadway musical! Produced by Hal Prince no less! What?

Rodriguez is scheduled to perform live on stage again in South Africa next year but unfortunately we won't be here to see him. So the book is going to have to suffice. Until the Broadway musical, that is.

On the fringe ...

on the fringe ...

We were in Cape Town last weekend for the beginning of the second annual Cape Town Fringe Festival, a week of alternative music, theater, dance, magic, comedy and performance art.

City Hall

The center of the action was Cape Town City Hall which housed the box office and a media center, as well as a number of performance venues. Other venues around town included Jubilee Hall, the Galloway Theatre, the Fugard Theatre, Sgt. Peppers and the Alexander Bar.





 

the Fringe Club

City Hall was also the location of the Fringe Club. The Fridge Club had food, drink and live music on tap all day every day during the Festival to entertain audiences between Fringe performances. We were actually in town to see Orpheus in Africa and although it was performed at one of the Festival's venues, the Fugard Theatre, it was not technically part of the Fringe Festival. But that didn't stop us from taking in some of the alternative spirit on display at the Fringe Club!

Orpheus in Africa

Orpheus in Africa, the Fugard Theatre production of David Kramer’s brand new musical, returned to the Fugard Theatre in Cape Town last week and we returned to Cape Town to see it!

We just could not make it to Cape Town for its world premiere sold-out and limited season at the Fugard Theatre earlier this year. And unfortunately Orpheus in Africa never made it onto Joburg as I had hoped.

In fact, I had totally given up on being able to experience a real piece of original South African musical theater while living in Africa. Everything we had seen in the theater so far in South Africa had been a drama -  like The Zulu, Hinterland and The Shadow of the Hummingbird. So I was thrilled when I read in the newspaper that Orpheus was returning to Cape Town for another limited run in September. A reprieve! I immediately bought tickets - front row center - for the first weekend of its run at the Fugard.

the curtain from our seats in the front row center!

Orpheus in Africa is based on the little known true story of Orpheus McAdoo and the Virginia Jubilee Singers’ tour of Queen Victoria’s colonies in the last decade of the 19th Century. Orpheus McAdoo was a free born son of a slave and a graduate from The Hampton Institute in Virginia. He was the first African American impresario to perform in the British colony of South Africa where he and his group achieved unprecedented success. At the same time the musical charts the evolution of African American music from spirituals (Jubilee songs) to jazz and ragtime.

David Kramer welcoming the sold-out audience

Orpheus in Africa was an opportunity to step back into the Victorian era and experience the powerful singing style of the Virginia Jubilee Concert Company as they recreated well known classics such as "Roll Jordan Roll", "Swing Low Sweet Chariot", "Hush" and 'Deliver Daniel." Alongside early spiritual and jazz standards, the musical narrative was also moved along with several original songs by David Kramer.

David Kramer is one of South Africa's most successful creators of musicals. He has won numerous awards in South Africa and abroad including the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical in London for Kat and the Kings in 1999.

"McAdoo Jubilee Singer to Entertain!" curtain

Virtually the entire original South African company returned to reprise their characters including Aubrey Poo as Orpheus McAdoo and Lynelle Kenned as Orpheus’s fiancé, Mattie Allen. They were excellent as was the entire cast.

And I just read this weekend that the limited run has been extended into January so don't miss your chance to see it too! Alleluia!

Nikkei in CT

another two dessert night!

The combination of Japanese and Peruvian cuisine, Nikkei has become the latest gastronomic sensation to hit Europe’s culinary capitals. And now Charango (114 Bree Street) has brought Nikkei to Cape Town! (A charango by the way is a stringed instrument traditionally made from the shell of an armadillo.)

The most notable proponent of Nikkei is perhaps Nobu Matsuhisa, who has been using elements of this fusion cuisine since the late 1980s in his various Nobu restaurants throughout the world. Nobu in Tribeca was one of our favorite restaurants! Nobu's signature dish was his black cod in miso and we sampled Charango's version, the "Black Kob" langostine, with quinoa, pak choi and soy. I swear it was just as good!

Although Nobu was an early exponent of Nikkei, it has only recently been picked up by several high profile chefs in Europe, thanks partly to the success of Peruvian food throughout the continent. The most famous of these chefs is Ferran Adrià, the former El Bulli chef whose "molecular gastronomy" revolutionized the culinary scene in the 90s and frequently included elements of Nikkei. El Bulli is closed now but Ferran's younger brother, and former El Bulli chef, Albert Adrià has opened a new restaurant, Platka in Barcelona, with a menu built entirely on Nikkei cuisine. I do remember a particularly good "tuna belly" sushi dish with black currant jelly that was part of the extensive tasting menu at El Bulli and Vince had a Pork Belly dish at Charango made with pineapple jelly which reminded me just a little of it.

Charango has a great vibe too. Along with some beautiful frescoes, there were murals decorating the walls with definitions and fun facts about some of the different food elements. For instance, did you know that Leche de Tigre, a citrus-based ingredient used as a marinade for the Nikkei Ceviche, is both a hangover cure as well as an aphrodisiac? Hell yeah!

There were about six different Ceviches on the menu but since it was our first time, we stuck with the Charango House Ceviche. Fish, butternut, corn, chilli, coriander, aji, limo leche de tigre. Incredible!

excellent Pisco Sour

And Pisco. There were more than a dozen cocktails on the menu that used Pisco as the basis. Originally created in 1641 to dodge the King of Spain's excessive tax on wine, Peruvians call Pisco their native spirit. Meaning "bird" in the indigenous Quechua language, it is a fortified wine that is imbibed at any time of the day, even breakfast! (Hair of the bird?)

There were only three desserts on the menu but I just couldn't decide between the Toasted Quinoa Creme with burnt banana and rum butterscotch sauce, and the Picarones (sweet potatoes with dulce de leche!) So I didn't! I got both. Vince ordered the third dessert, the Blonde Chocolate Pave. Seasonal berries with manjar blanco, a South American blancmange.

We'll be back!

Cemeteries!

the cemetery in Jerusalem

I have a dark confession to make. I love to visit cemeteries!

Not all cemeteries. Just the cool ones. By that I mean cemeteries with history or famous inhabitants, beautiful grounds or remarkable architecture. I always check to see if there is a cool cemetery in any city we visit. Pere-Lachaise in Paris, Highgate in London, La Recoleta in Buenos Aires, the D-Day Landings Memorial cemeteries in Normandy, the Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague, the "new" Jewish cemetery in Jerusalem, the Novodevichy in Moscow and the Alexander Nevsky in St. Petersburg.

Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Boston

I am not macabre or anything. It's just that you can tell a lot about a city and the people who lived - and died - there by their cemeteries.

Autumn is the best time to visit NE!

The USA has some great cemeteries too. The simple and somber Colonial and Revolutionary War cemeteries in New England and the Mid-Atlantic, the grandiose cemetery statues and mausoleums in the Southern cities of New Orleans and Savannah. Forest Lawn in LA, Green Wood in Brooklyn and Mt. Auburn in Boston. The military cemeteries like Arlington National Cemetery and Gettysburg. (I especially like to visit cemeteries around Halloween - okay, that's a little macabre!)

Yet I hadn't visited any cemeteries in Africa since moving to Johannesburg ... until now when the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation offered a tour of the Braamfontein Cemetery as part of their program over Heritage Weekend. I had read about Braamfontein Cemetery in Lost and Found in Johannesburg, Mark Gevisser’s wonderfully written memoir about growing up in Joburg during apartheid and was eager to visit it myself.

The Cullinan family plot

Braamfontein is the oldest existing municipal cemetery in Johannesburg. There are many famous family plots there - like the Cullinan family plot  - and there are mass graves from some of Joburg's most notorious disasters - like the Dynamite Explosion of 1896. Most of the cemetery is broken up by religious denomination. Dutch Reformed, Presbyterian, and the large Jewish burial ground described in Mark's book. There are even crematoriums and ash burial grounds for the Indian population as well. (I didn't see any Catholic graves but I assume the Catholics are buried in Catholic cemeteries. I must look into that.)









I didn't recognize many of the famous people buried in Braamfontein but famous graves are not the only reason I visit cemeteries. I like to look for symbolic elements on the older grave sites.

the clasping hands indicate a final farewell

flying hourglass = the swiftness of time's passage

the draped urn is a visual of the separation of the living and the dead

the dove indicates peace and purity; usually found on the grave of a woman who died young

angels are guides to heaven

a column represents mortality

a woman carrying a cross = faith

a woman holding an anchor = hope or eternal life

lilies = purity, chastity

lamb symbolizes innocence; they are usually found on the tombs of children

wreaths symbolize victory over death

We were warned not to visit the cemeteries in Gauteng unaccompanied. There was evidence of  squatters and the homeless in Braamfontein and it is dangerous to venture in alone or unguided.


 





 

So I am waiting for an escort to visit the Heroes' Acre Church Cemetery in Pretoria where along with the tomb of Paul Kruger, you will find the graves of Harry "Breaker" Morant and Peter Hancock,  two of the court-martialed defendants immortalized in Breaker Morant, the 1980 Bruce Beresford film set in South Africa during the Anglo-Boer War.

One of the fierce women from the SH2015 Gaza Gray archaeological dig in Kruger happens to be a South African "cemetery expert" and knows exactly where their graves are situated. Maybe we can visit on Halloween, Leonie?