This is the time of year when winemakers get high. We walk in green vineyards and smell the leaves, feel the soil, taste the grapes. Early mornings we go to the cellar before anyone else for that rush when you open the door, walk into the cool and smell the must, or enter the barrel room to listen to the effervescent bubbling of rows of fermentation bungs. Hours become fluid, days and nights fuse and exhaustion becomes addictive. Then you know: it’s harvest time!

I have always been fascinated by senses. After years of searching a suitable profession I discovered the making of wine. After my studies I was blessed to find a job in a winery where quality was the focus and where I could experiment widely in winemaking techniques. Since starting Saltare in 2007 I have learned a lot more about the wine industry than winemaking. The learning curve has been steep, but making wine remains the core and passion of what I do. It combines nature and terroir with fragrance, delicacy, texture, saturation, cadence – all five senses! The goal is that elusive, evocative, artful balance between the wine’s hue, aroma, fruit and acidity. This intention guides the entire flow from selecting the vineyards, deciding when to harvest, how to press and ferment the grapes, whether to use barrel or tank, how long to age and countless more decisions.

Food & Wine event in December

With the broader exposure to the wine industry there is, however, a new avenue that I am exploring. Some years ago Christoff and I had an opportunity to travel to Sicily and we could not get enough of their food. What put our culinary experience apart was the flawless match between Sicilian wine and Sicilian food. One could taste that their products came from the same soil and climate. Most memorable of all was a meal of never-ending Mediterranean courses at Trattoria Da Nino in Taormina that we savoured with a matching white wine from the nearby mineral-rich slopes of Mount Etna.

Inspired by this we began to work with chefs and food writers on pairing wine with food. Our food & wine events have been a new source of awareness for me and I thank all of you who have participated so far. I will continue with this in 2011 (see our website for upcoming events) and I invite you to join us as we cultivate the age-old tradition of matching good food and fine wine.

Carla

[This post was sent to subscribers of our newsletter in February 2011. Subscribe using the Email Signup form on our facebook page.]

But this year was different for us – well, at least for our MCC grapes. Harvest started with a bang: we returned from summer vacation and found fast ripening grapes! It seemed that harvest would be a week to ten days earlier this year than before! Things sprang into action and by 6 January the first Pinot noir grapes were being picked.

Our annual harvest day with friends took place on Saturday the 9th! A joyous affair as always. This was in fact Carla’s seventh harvest day with friends. We had to start very early (7am sharp) because the predicted temperature was close to 40′C – not the best weather for harvesting. But by 11 we were in the cool of the cellar and busy pressing (dancing on!) the grapes. See the photo album by clicking below.

Harvest2010

So, that was day four of the harvest. On Sunday we moved the clear pink grape juice from the sediment to barrels to start the fermentation process. Sunday morning our Chardonnay grower in Robertson called to say – as we had feared – that the grapes are ripening early and we should come and take a look. So by 6pm on Sunday we were there and, indeed, the grapes were ready for harvest. Monday there was more pressing of Pinot noir back in Stellenbosch (three tonnes that had been harvested on the previous Friday) and on Tuesday afternoon we were off to Robertson again.

Two days of harvest followed amidst January’s infamous heat. We worked hard but realised once again the grace (and the challenge) of living on a farm. See our next post for more reflections on Uncle Fritz’s Farm. By Thursday we were back in Stellenbosch to press our Chardonnay – two presses on Thursday and another two on Friday. Our sugar and acid levels were spot-on and the flavours are divine – 2010 promises to be a beautiful MCC vintage so far.

As the last juice flowed from the press to tank on Friday afternoon we opened a bottle of bubbly and realised: ten days ago we harvested the first grapes, just like in Champagne!

Strawberry soup:

800g strawberries
80g castor sugar

Place the strawberries and sugar together into a stainless steel bowl and wrap tightly with cling wrap. Place on to a double boiler and allow to steep for about 2 hours.

Blackberry foam:

250g blackberries
50g sugar
400ml boiling water
1tsp soya lecithin

Place the berries and sugar into a jug blender and add 200ml of water. Allow to steep and then pulse. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a deep container and add the remaining water and lecithin.

Raspberry Sorbet:

2 ¼ cups sugar
2 ¼ cups water
3kg raspberries
¼ cup fresh lime juice

Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat and allow the mixture to simmer, without stirring, until the sugar dissolves, about 3 minutes. Set aside to cool completely

Place the raspberries and lime juice in a food processor and purée the raspberry purée through a strainer to remove the seeds. When the sugar syrup has cooled completely, combine with the raspberry purée

Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze

Cranberry Praline:

½ cup sugar
½ cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
½ cup hazelnuts, toasted lightly and skinned, roughly chopped

Lightly oil two baking sheets. In a dry heavy saucepan cook sugar over moderate heat; don’t stir but swirl the  pan, until a golden caramel. Add cranberries and hazelnuts, stirring until coated well. Immediately pour mixture onto baking sheet and place the other baking sheet on top. Very carefully roll the praline to desired thickness, and allow to cool completely, about 30 minutes. Remove praline from baking sheet and break into pieces.

Blueberry Tart:

Sweet pastry:

150g margarine, softened (blossom)
100g castor sugar
1tsp lemon zest
240g plain flour

Cream the margarine, sugar and zest together. Then sift the flour onto a clean work surface in to a mound. Make a well in the centre of the mound and add the creamed mixture. Knead lightly until the dough is consistent and then wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Line a small flan tin and blind bake 180°C for 10 minutes. Then remove the blind beans and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, or golden brown.

Blueberry Filling:

4 cups blueberries
1½ cup sugar
¼ cup lemon juice

Put all ingredients into a thick based saucepan and bring to the boil. Once boiling reduce the heat and allow to simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes or once the berries just start to disintegrate.

To complete:

4 x Triple shot glass
4 x long plate
8 x blackberries

Pour some of the soup in the glass.  Place 2 blackberries into the soup and froth up the foam with a hand blender. Place this to the left of the plate.

Put some of the praline crumbs in the centre of the plate (so that the sorbet doesn’t move about). Then a scoop of sorbet and garnish with a shard of the praline.

Place a tart case on the right of the plate and in a saucepan heat up some of the blueberry compote. Spoon this into the tart case and garnish with a sprig of mint.

Pour a chilled glass of Saltare MCC Brut NV and indulge!

But now the days grow short
I’m in the autumn of the year
And now I think of my life as vintage wine
from fine old kegs
from the brim to the dregs
And it poured sweet and clear
It was a very good year.

So, good wine for a good year. And that 2009 was for Saltare, albeit in the midst of an economic recession. With September’s spring came a full-page article on Carla and her beautiful sparklers in the South African edition of Marie Claire. Download the article here.

We released our first full flush of sparkling, white and red wines in October and since then Carla has immersed herself in the world of wine promotion. Food and wine pairings at the Stellenbosch Fresh Goods Market with leading food expert and author (and friend) Heleen Meyer was followed by Cap Classique and food pairings at the annual Kamersvol Geskenke.

Word spread and in December Carla and Heleen were interviewed on the national Afrikaans radio station Radiosondergrense about their respective businesses and the pairings that they conduct.

Finally, for the cherry (berry?) on top of the year, Cape Town’s boutique luxury hotel Cape Grace listed the Saltare MCC Brut NV in their vegan tasting menu. This is a six course set menu, each course paired with a cap classique. The Saltare (which has zero dosage) is paired with the dessert – yes, the final drink! The dessert is a stunning berry affair of strawberry soup with blackberries, raspberry sorbet with cranberry hazelnut praline, and blueberry tart…

We asked executive sous chef Lerrico Messina to share the secrets of this stunning dessert, which he calls Study of Berries. In the following weblog we’ll share his recipe.

Here’s to a very good year! (And if you want to listen to Ol’ Blue Eyes sing the song go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwv-DxOPhSc.)