Wine tasting dinner at Le Franschhoek Hotel & Spa

On Friday 23 February 2018, Jeremy and Emma Borg wandered off  to the neighbouring valley of Franschhoek for a food and wine pairing dinner at Le Franschhoek Hotel & Spa.
The chef had planned a beautiful menu for the evening, but as with all plans, there were a few wobbles. Instead of Guillermo Swartland Pinotage, the warehouse sent over Black Pack Pinotage 2016.
The Pinotage was supposed to pair with the springbok, but Jeremy switched them around and paired the Pinotage with the pork belly and the Pictus II with the springbok because he felt they were more compatible. The other surprise of the evening was an amuse-bouche of carpaccio, cream cheese and pesto that the chef presented at the beginning of the evening. Jeremy and Emma report that it was beautiful and delicious.

When pressed to name his favourite pairing, Jeremy had a hard time, but eventually chose the Gazpacho with the Lycaon Grenache 2013. He loved the taste and textures of the soup and the scallops and is very happy with how beautifully the grenache has matured in the 5 years since it was made.

About 30 people attended the dinner, most notably, the parents of Jessica Watermeyer, who works tirelessly for the African Wildlife Conservation Fund in Zimbabwe. AWCF is one of the organisations we support via our donations  to the Tusk Trust in the UK

Jeremy did not take a photo of the crispy pork belly, because at that point he was too busy telling the crowd about Simon van der Stel’s gardener – probably very enthusiastically because Emma forgot to take one too!

The menu

Amuse-bouche of carpaccio, cream cheese and pesto, followed by Spanish gazpacho, grilled scallops and parmesan soufflé paired with Lycaon Grenache 2013

Amuse-bouche followed by Spanish Gazpacho, grilled scallops and parmesan soufflé paired with Lycaon Grenache 2013

Marinated crisp pork belly, caramelised pink fig, celeriac and asparagus mousse paired with Black Pack Pinotage 2016

White chocolate and orange sorbet

Herb encrusted springbok loin, zucchini blossoms, pink peppercorn and olive jus paired with Pictus II 2010 (Shiraz | Pinotage | Grenache)

Peaches and cream semifreddo, poach peach and marzipan cream with Pictus V 2016 (Grenache Blanc | Chenin Blanc | Roussanne)