We are donating the first R10,000 raised by the sale of this book to SA Guide-dogs Association for the Blind.

This is a wine guide written by Michael Olivier and Neil Pendock with Anibal Coutinho for the consumer. It is a good book for the novice and serious wine buyer and for local and foreign tourists .

All the wines were blind tasted by Michael Olivier, Neil Pendock, Anibal Coutinho [well known Portuguese Wine Writer], Norma Ratcliffe of  Warwick Wine Estate, Food24 Wine Writer Cathy Marston and Sommelier David Msebi to ensure  no favouritism.

With this guide in your hand you can confidently navigate the supermarket shelves to find old favourites and bravely experience new wines knowing that these wines are recommended by a well respected team.

Wines are listed by variety and in price categories with many good value wines costing under R50!

Contact Michael direct on mailto:michaelolivier@iafrica.com to have this book posted to your door for R99, including postage throughout SA. We will quote individually for overseas postal rates.

The People’s Guide is also available in good book stores.

Simonsig Chenin Blanc 2007

Last week’s Wine Magazine/Guala Closures Chenin Blanc Challenge threw up two winners for Kleine Zalze, one for Best Wine of the Challenge and one for Best Value Chenin.

No surprise for me was that the Simonsig Chenin Blanc took the laurels for the best Unwooded Chenin.

Surprise for many was that the vintage was a 2007 – the bottle illustrating this piece – and at 3 years old it is bombing the myth that white wines of South Africa need to be drunk before the presses have been washed out.

The 2009 vintage of this wine is the one that is currently on sale from the cellar door at a very purse friendly price.

Simonsig Chenin Blanc 2009

The price: R32.00 a 750ml bottle at the Cellar Door.

First Impression: Sliced pears and honeysuckle

The Story: Simonsig Chenin Blanc was the first wine released by the founder of the Simonsig Wine Estate, pioneer in so many wine areas, Frans Malan in 1968. After 41 vintages South African Chenin is reaching new levels of popularity world wide. Chenin Blanc makes up 20% of the national vineyard and its versatility and fresh fruit appeal is being rediscovered by many.

The Taste: Lovely layers of crisp fresh fruit with an undertow of fynbos honey.

Michael Says: Get some of this in quickly and drink while it is young and fresh. Lay by a couple of bottles for future enjoyment before the world ends in 2012.

Did You Know? Frans Malan was the first winemaker in South Africa to produce a sparkling wine by the traditional Champagne method of a second fermentation in the bottle. Interestingly enough it was made with Chenin Blanc, though the Estate’s fizz, called Kaapse Vonkel, is today made from the classical Champagne grapes, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

There is an excellent an well reviewed restaurant on the estate called Cuvee making Simonsig a destination winery in Stellenbosch.

The small print: Grapes are certified wine of origin Stellenbosch. The wine is 100% Chenin Blanc with a alcohol of 13.97% vol and residual sugar of 5.9 g/l which makes it only just off dry.

Contact details: 021 888 4900. wine@simonsig.co.za. www.simonsig.co.za

The People's Guide

The People’s Guide – navigate the winelands in a shopping trolley.

It’s being launched today at The Vineyard Hotel!

The first edition of The People’s Guide, written by my friend, Sunday Times wine writer Neil Pendock and me, heralds a new chapter in consumer-friendly wine books aimed at demystifying wine by providing buyers with a colourful and succinct guide aimed at making their wine-shopping easy, fun and informative.

The People’s Guide provides tasting notes and information on 561 wines selected from a list of 1 200 representing all major categories including Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Mèthode Cap Classique, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Merlot and Pinotage. Besides relevant information on each wines flavour profiles, the Guide offers food suggestions, quirky and irreverent wine-related facts and – most importantly – a guide to what the consumer can be expected to pay for the wine.

Stand-out wines are awarded their own page under the title Coup de Coeur (Blow to the Heart) to highlight wines that blew the judges socks off.

In selecting the wines for The People’s Guide, Neil and I were assisted by local and international wine experts including Aníbal Coutinho, one of Portugal’s leading wine writers and judges, local doyenne Norma Ratcliffe of Warwick Wine Estate, Cathy Marston who founded Cape Town’s The Nose wine bar and David Mnoneleli Msebi who trained under Marston at The Nose.

Besides the tasting notes, price guides and irreverent facts “Rooiberg Winery claims to be 10 000km from London and 9 999km from Paris!”, the guide ends with team called the Bacchus Boys consisting of 11 wine-makers ready to take on the world in 2010.

The People’s Guide will be available in supermarkets, bottlestores and bookshops at a reasonable price of R99.

Ready for the table

Michael Olivier tells us that in the Anglican Church Book of Common Prayer title “The Sunday next before Advent” will be on the 22nd November. This is the day on which, after Church, the Christmas puddings were made in my home when I was a boy [and I do not need to point out that this was some time ago!].

As a little boy I was very aware of Stir Up Sunday. Stir Up Sunday is the last Sunday before advent on the Christian Calendar and the day on which, by tradition in our family, the Christmas pudding was prepared.

There are English records of what was then known as Christmas Porridge going back to the 14th century with ingredients such as beef and mutton, prunes, spices and wine rather than the fruit and nuts which we know today. In England in 1664, Oliver Cromwell banned the pudding as he thought eating it was “a lewd custom inappropriate for people who followed God.” King George 1st brought back the pudding in 1714, but it was Prince Albert, Consort to Queen Victoria, who introduced the pudding as we know it today – probably from Germany in the middle of the 19th Century.

The sadness is that today we buy our Christmas puddings and our children have not had the fun of Stir up Sunday.

While my brother and my only task as boys was to put a handful of tiekies and sixpences and a card of sterling silver charms – bells, reindeers, buttons, snowflakes and horseshoes – bought each year for the purpose into the pudding and give a stir and “make a wish for Christmas”, major preparation began the day before as my grandmother, keeping up the tradition of her British born parents, fulfilled the various tasks required.

Pudding bowls were readied. These had been pressed into service in winter for steamed puddings, usually of the vanilla kind with a generous dollop of either golden syrup or lemon curd in the base of the bowl which would then, on its upending just before being served flow down the sides of the pudding providing a sauce for it. There was also the “Spotted Dog” aka “Spotted Dick” which was a pudding made with raisins and currants, heavily laced with Rhum Negrita, a Barbados Rum which was kept in our kitchen for cooking.

My grandfather would always add an extra slug much to our amusement with the comments to my grandmother “you never put enough in” so much so
at times that if you breathed on a window pane after eating a slice it would in all likelihood have cracked.

Squares of greaseproof paper were cut, small circles for the base of the pudding bowl so that the pudding would turn out easily, pudding cloth was cut with a large pair of pinking scissors, tying twine at the ready and the bowls buttered – melted clarified butter with a pastry brush – and floured and put upside down on a plate in readiness for the steaming the next day. Eggs were taken out of the fridge so that they would be at room temperature when used.

The dried fruit was soaked overnight in KWV brandy in small bowls with saucers on top. Nutmegs grated onto small greaseproof squares and wrapped up in paper twists overnight to keep as much flavour intact as possible. Suet fat bought from Uncle Morris Sher the local butcher had been hardened in the deep freeze and then grated was ready for use in the fridge. Large steaming pots were filled to the required depth with water and triangular wooden trivets soaked overnight to give them weight. The trivets prevented the pudding bowls from being in contact with the base of the pot where there was the most direct heat.

My grandmother had large earthenware Derby Pottery bowls in which cakes, pastries and pudding were made and these were the recipients of eggs, flour, liquids, fruit and spices and the all important brandy ready for mixing with a large wooden spoon. At the right moment we were summoned to the kitchen to stir in our silver and make the wish – we stayed of course to lick out the bowls after the batter had been measured out and weighed to ensure that each pudding was the same size.

The Christmas puddings were then covered with the greaseproof paper with a fold in the middle in case of expansion, the mutton cloth was tied on with a big loop for ease of putting into and taking out of the pot. The steaming seemed to go on all day as they were steamed for the first time for cooking and then put away wrapped in greaseproof paper in the cool pantry so perfect for keeping the puddings until the were finally steamed on Christmas morning.

The day before Christmas the Brandy Butter or “hard sauce” was made by creaming and beating until fluffy equal parts of butter and icing sugar. Our farm butter was always bright daffodil yellow so the Brandy butter was always sunshiny in colour. Brandy was beaten in until the mixture could take no more and then the mixture was rolled in greaseproof paper to appear sliced like thick pennies with the pudding after lunch.

The pudding always came to the diningroom table accompanied by a jug of warmed brandy which was ceremonially poured over the pudding when all were looking on in great excitement and anticipation. Match applied and the blue flames danced round the pudding.

Christmas Pudding Charms

We could hardly wait to tuck in. Jugs of runny custard were de rigueur if you could not take the alcohol in the Brandy Butter.

Leftovers were fried for supper and served with the scrapings of brandy butter and custard, which, if we were lucky were left over.

You may miss the last Sunday before Advent, but there is still time, here’s my favourite last minute Christmas pudding, courtesy of a favourite aunt who died many years ago, for you to make and to get your children to help you. I’m afraid you can’t use anything less that one rand coins now!

Visit my recipes page for Aunt Muriel’s Christmas Pudding recipe.

This article was first published on Show Cook on 8th October 2009.