Our final night in Cape Town was about 15 minutes south of he city center in a very unmentionable (roomwise) hotel called The Vineyard with truly magnificent gardens outside many of the rooms and if you are facing the right way (as we were) great view to the rear of Table Mountain. Our biggest treat at The Vineyard was dinner at The SQUARE, a two story open space that used to be outside but was connected between the historic manor and the hotel and made into an elegant dining space with giant silver cylinder chandeliers filled with dozens of wire strands with tiny white opaque lights at the end.
We were greeted by our sommelier Chris, who takes special parties through a mini wine tasting which consisted of WATERFORD Sauvignon Blanc 2009 from Elgin & Stellenbosch (a mixture of grapes from two regions) with huge unripe passion fruit and gooseberry taste and lots of tart acidity. The WATERFORD ESTATE Chardonnay '08 from Stellenbosch was even better.
I started with the SPICY PRAWN Salad which was more like a light Caesar with about six small but quite spicy shrimp, some hard boiled egg halves and lots of garlic croutons (Sam would have loved that). It was nice to get a salad for a change as we had been eating so much, but missing our greens. The wine that Chris paired was a divine ELGIN VINTNERS '07 VIOGNIER which was super creamy and had huge legs which was ingenious with the spice of the shrimp as well as many other dishes on the table such as spicy Asian appetizers and curry.
I could not resist the Char Grilled GEMBOK, related to venison, but slightly less gamy and only a bit chewier, served with Creamed English SPINACH, POTATO FONDANT (which was more of a large pancake), a superb APRICOT & VANILLA Chutney all in a Veal Jus. The meat was seasoned amazingly and had great flavor, but alas again, the dish was so large I could not finish it all. It has become a joke daily now to chide our hostess Jenny, as she said from the start that the serving sizes here would be much smaller than at home.
Everyone at the table raved about each dish and there were many happy faces around.
I chose a lighter dessert which sounded healthier, KITTY's GUAVA & MEUSLI Crumble with Homemade Vanilla Custard, Creme Anglaise and Caramel. This was more like a thick yogurt dish one would have for breakfast and the guava was just at the right ripeness, ever so sweet. Chris brought out a bottle of rare 1995 Vin de CONSTANCE from KLEIN CONSTANTIA, a winery just in the region to the south of us. At first this dryish dessert wine had a Vin Santo essence, but the Muscat d'Alexandre grape opened up quickly and fruit sweetness came through.
It was a very special treat as while this is on the menu by the glass for about $15, that was only much more recent vintages. Apparently the rare 1995 is a treat an can cost more than triple that! YUM YUM and thanks to Chris for ending my meal so well.
