Vinatics

Having talked about Vin-atics for ages, it suddenly it seemed a tremendous rush at the last minute to co-ordinate wine, food, friends and venue all at the same time yesterday. Still, they say practice makes perfect and if last night is anything to go by, I am more than happy to practice every week if necessary!!

The wines and food

These were the wines we were tasting last night and the food suggestions from Chef Caro:

2009 Porcupine Ridge Sauvignon Blanc  with Goats’ Cheese crostini with honeyed fig compote

2007 Bon Cap Organic Chardonnay with Spiced Peaches

2007 Niel Joubert Viognier with Thai Green Chicken Curry

2007 Middelvlei Pinotage with Seared Ostrich with a red wine and plum sauce

2006 Stark-Conde Cabernet Sauvignon with Lamb Knuckle stew with tomato and red wine sauce

2007 Hazendal Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon with Chocolate Ganache with fresh raspberries

Click here for detailed wine tasting notes and click here for the recipes.

The guests – round from the left

Bern Romburgh (ex-chef and all-round foodlover), Alison Davis (Irish cooking student at Silwood), Cathy Marston (Wine Ed.), Sam Wilson (Head Honcho of Food24), Andreas Späth (science journo and Sam’s husband), Rob Shone (sailing guru and scary rope expert), Simon Williamson (Travel24 – we were hoping for free holidays) and Cath Shone (Restaurant Ed.) who was wielding the camera.

The e-guests

Yes, we were busy stuffing our faces, but not too busy to talk to you, dear readers!! We were tweeting and tasting simultaneously (cos we can) and some of the people who joined us online included: @benwagner, @HarryReginald, @F1sasha, @AdeleHparent and several others. If you want to feel the lurve next time, then join us on twitter@food24.  

The main event

Much as we would have liked to do the lot, we decided to try the goats’ cheese, the curry, the ostrich and the Ganache (hey – you should never miss an opportunity to eat chocolate!). And because we had all 6 wines, we were able to try all the wines with all the dishes – and found out some surprising results.

We started off by burning the crostini- just to give you an idea of our competence! Salvaging the least charred and crusty, an intriguing boy-girl divide emerged between the best wine match for the food. We all agreed that the suggested match – the Sauvignon – couldn’t actually hack the robust cheese and figs flavours at all, but both Rob and Simon were amazed by how much they enjoyed the wooded Chardonnay from Bon Cap “And I never drink Chardonnay!” declared Rob in astonishment.

The girls on the other hand, were pretty universal in their approval of the Niel Joubert off-dry Viognier “Handles the sweet figs really well” opined Bern. I had introduced a curveball by providing some tapenade as an alternative to the figs and this time we did all agree that the Middelvlei Pinotage was the best match. “Very earthy” said Irish Alison as we licked our lips thoughtfully and headed back to the stove.

I had a personal interest in the next dish as the plums for the sauce had come from my tree. Irish Alison (clearly a culinary star in the making) had whipped up a divine, sticky, sweet sauce with a hint of star anise to drizzle over the seared ostrich lying on a bed of rocket.

For a long time, it seemed that none of the wines were going to work as we tasted through the reds and then back to the whites in desperation. And then – lightbulb moment!!! It was all the fault of the rocket which made all the wines taste metallic.

As soon as we took it out, the clear winner was the Middelvlei Pinotage which offered just the right amount of spice and meatiness. Mind you, the boys were still muttering about how good the Chardonnay was, even with the confusing rocket. Persistent little blighters, these menfolk!

Onto the curry – my first attempt at ever making a Thai Green Curry Sauce. This proved surprisingly easy to match with all the red wines tasting slightly sour when faced with the creamy spice. The Sauvignon came blazing back into contention here with the fragrant aromas perfectly matching the aromatic lemongrass and ginger. The sweet peachiness of the Viognier was also good as was the honeyed mellowness of the Chardonnay (no prizes for guessing who preferred that one) and we finally agreed that all three whites worked well and it was just down to personal taste.

By the time we moved onto the ganache and raspberries, the evening was going with such a swing, we had to dismantle the chandelier. As Simon owlishly observed “Conversation has gone all to cock now and rightly so!”

But we weren’t too far gone to agree on the final match – an outright win for the Hazendal with the dark chocolate notes from the Cabernet showing through divinely. And then we all picked our favourite from the evening, poured ourselves a glassful, kicked off the shoes and chilled out. A great evening entertainment/indulgence/education/enjoyment – bring on next month! Also, speaking of next month, check out my very user-friendly April wine page for some great dinner party drop-in lines! You can’t beat looking clever when it comes to wine!

What do you think? Have you tried any of our matches? Made any of your own? Do you agree with our conclusions?

Comments below please, or better yet: do your own wine blog post, fill it with wines and food and photos of your own funny wine-y nights…. best submission will win A CASE OF WINE for next Month’s Vin-atics evening!

Want to receive next month’s Newsletter?  SIGN IN HERE!