Restaurant

THE ROOM will be playing Live Acoustic Blues at the Polo Club Restaurant tonight at 19:00! There is no entry fee, be sure to join us for an enjoyable evening of good music.

David Bullard, the controversial columnist, motoring journalist, outspoken critic of the media and dinner speaker, is coming to Val de Vie on 26 July 2012. It's sure to be a very entertaining and interesting evening, so be sure to book your table.

Time: 18:30 for 19:00
Price: R350
Includes a two course dinner with wine.

RSVP: janette.griesel@valdevie.co.za

Winter has descended on the winelands and it's the perfect time to enjoy generous meals and fine wines. Our winemaker, Harold Versfeld, presents you with a mouthwatering recipe for Springbok Shank paired with the Val de Vie Shiraz 2008. Bon appetit!

"As the days get shorter, the nights get longer and frost appears on the grass when leave your house in the morning, one thing is clear: it is definitely not summer anymore. Which is perfect! I love summer, but winter is equally enjoyable. After all, it is the intimate season. And with that I refer to staying indoors, lighting up the fire place, snuggling on the couch and enjoying pancakes, hearty food, and of course, red wine.

From a wine perspective, winter is really important for the vines because they go into hibernation. This allows them to accumulate vital reserves and minerals for the growing season. It also fills up our underwater supplies, which is crucial to ripen our grapes in the hot summer months.

One of the most enjoyable things in winter (apart from Super Rugby, Vodacom Cup Rugby, Currie Cup Rugby, Test Rugby and Tri-Nations Rugby) has to be hunting. And if you are a tree hugger, please don’t judge, stone or crucify me. I will send you the meat from an animal that committed suicide, so that you know it had an “organic” death.

Game meat is always a culinary delight! From making “skilpadjies” in the field, to the biltong, chilli bites, droee wors and then of course, the odd shank and leg of venison. Because venison is significantly lower in fat compared to lamb or beef, I recommend cooking the meat in a moist cooking environment, or else it could dry out.

Now, there are two different approaches to pairing food and wine. One involves contrasting rich dishes with wines that have an acidity that cuts through the heaviness, and vice versa. The other approach suggests that neither the wine nor the food should overpower each other; they should be equal in freshness and weight. Seeing as it is winter, my choice of wine is always going to be red. The recipe I chose is an old Karoo favourite and the wine that I paired it with suits the meal spectacularly well. Venison is not fatty, so not a lot of acid is needed. The cream that is added accentuates the texture of the wine perfectly.

Val de Vie Shiraz 2008: this wine evolves in the glass, from initial mocha and chocolate flavours to big opulent red fruits, to a roasted, smoky, spicy and meaty profile. Textures are balanced between tannin and acid, with a smooth and elegant finish that lingers for long on the tongue."

Recipe: Springbok Shank
Ingredients:
1.5kg Springbok shank, cut into 50 mm pieces (this is so that the marrow can cook out of the bone and add flavour to the meat)
5-6 Shards of fatty bacon, chopped
1 Spanish onion, chopped
2 Garlic cloves, bruised
Bouquet garni
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon, grated
350 ml good quality venison stock
1 teaspoon Paprika, smoked
250 ml Crème Fraiche
Salt and Pepper to taste
Fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped
Pomegranate Arils, fresh

Method:
Fry bacon in a thick base skillet, and remove when browned. Add shanks to the same skillet and sear, remove when done. Sauté onions and garlic until translucent. Add bacon and shanks back to onions, and also add lemon juice, zest, paprika, salt and pepper, venison stock, and bouquet garni. Cover skillet and cook in pre-heated oven at 160 0 C for 5-6 hours. The dish is cooked when the meat falls from the bone. Stir in crème fraiche. Cover with pomegranate arils and fresh coriander. Serve with brown rice, or fluffy mash.
Tis the season to get fat, so go out, buy the ingredients, and start cooking. No food is better than slow food!

“Food and Wine: you decide – which is the soloist and which is the accompanist” – Michael Broadbent

Photograph sourced from ZAphoto

Be sure to visit CitySlicker to take advantage of their amazing dining special at Val de Vie's Polo Club Restaurant! For only R165.00 two diners can enjoy either Lamb Pie with Lime Vanilla Mash Potato and Minted Red Wine Jus; or Bone Marrow Crusted 300g Rump Steak on Potato Augratin, Béarnaise and Green Peppercorn Sauce. The offer also includes one glass of award-winning estate red wine per person. It's the perfect chance to enjoy our delectable food in a relaxed yet elegant setting, don't miss out!

I’m not a particularly huge fan of Crowded House, but one thing is for sure:  you always take the weather with you. We, unlike our vines, can move to the seaside where it’s cooler, or to the river where you have plenty of water, or put on a nice round hat and sunscreen, almost as if you were at the cricket. All of these factors (minus the cricket) have a great influence on what quality of wine year we’re going to have.

This has been quite an erratic wine growing season, with sporadic showers one day and dry-out-the-spit-in-your-mouth heat the next. There is absolutely nothing that we as wine growers and makers can do about it. And so the weather has been strange all over the show. All of a sudden there’s rain in Beaufort West and the three big dams in the Vaal area have exceeded their capacity! That is something that hasn’t happened in quite a while! The wind has been strange too – never just a fresh breath of air. It's either kite surfing weather, or it feels like an asthmatic mouse blowing at you through a straw – nonexistent. So you either have a drying effect, or a heating effect.

But if I put my mindless barking at the moon aside, and think about it, this has actually been a great year for wine, apart from the lack of cold units (I won’t bore you with science and details). We have had rain at the right times, we are having a warm ripening period, and thus far we are disease-free (touch wood!). So if you are into gambling but you’re tired of horses, cards, roulette, or even betting on who’s going to win the Oscar, just start making wine. The only difference is that with gambling you may have skills that could influence your outcome, like counting cards or injecting horses with steroids. With wine, there’s nothing you can do about it. All you can do is let nature take its course. And we believe that is the way wine should be made, Au Natural!

Have you ever tried cheating the weather?

The Polo Club Restaurant and Lounge Bar at Val de Vie was recently featured on local site What's up Cape Town. With the restaurant's relaxed but sophisticated atmosphere (not to mention the amazing views of the polo fields and mountains), it's no surprise that it's becoming such a popular spot to enjoy a meal in the winelands.