Constantia Glen culinary delights delivered straight to your door

Experience Constantia Glen’s culinary pleasures in the comfort of your own home and have these much loved favourites delivered straight to your door.

While a visit to the Constantia Glen tasting room may still be out of bounds for some time to come with the current Covid-19 restrictions, there is no reason to deprive yourself of their mouth-watering platters of artisanal cheese and charcuterie. Better still, with the lifting of the ban of alcohol sales during Level 3, you can enjoy these hearty dishes with Constantia Glen’s elegant, Bordeaux-style wines.

Find comfort against the winter chill with Constantia Glen’s iconic wood-fired Flammkuchen (flatbread) or the famous traditional Austrian beef goulash served with Spätzle.

Nothing lifts those quarantine blues quite like feasting on a homemade beef burger or go meat-free with a flavoursome mushroom burger, both served on a ciabatta roll with chips and onion rings.

Constantia Glen are bringing you a small selection of favourites from their menu, available for delivery within a 6km radius of the farm. Find Constantia Glen on Uber Eats or place your order directly with the estate by visiting https://www.dineplan.com/account/order/4MRnzwBs or calling 0217955639. Deliveries will be available from Wednesdays to Sundays, between the hours of 12h00 and 18h30, with last orders taken at 18h00.

Stock up your wine collection now, to be delivered once Alert Level 3 kicks in from 1 June 2020. Place your order through Constantia’s Glen’s online store at http://constantiaglen.com/order-wine/.

 

 

ISSUED BY:  GC Communications

StreetSmart launches lockdown ‘Dine in. Do good!’ campaign

StreetSmart SA, which celebrates its 15th anniversary changing children’s lives R5 at a time, has launched ‘Dine in. Do Good!’, an interim measure to raise funds during the lockdown until restaurants can open again.

With StreetSmart hospitality partners under lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic, no funds can be raised through the usual way of adding a R5 donation to the bills of their patrons. To continue raising funds in support of beneficiary organisations working with vulnerable children and their families, StreetSmart SA is appealing to everyone who would usually donate at partner establishments, to continue doing so while dining at home.

“Our hearts go out to our partners in the hospitality industry and we can only hope that they will be able to reopen soon and resume their operations. These lockdown measures have put our ability to raise funds under severe pressure and we appeal to everyone to continue supporting StreetSmart during these unprecedented times,” says StreetSmart SA chairperson Melanie Burke.

Since its inception in 2005, StreetSmart SA has raised R11,6 million in aid of 31 organisations caring for street children and those at risk of living on the streets through partnerships with restaurants, accommodation establishments and wine tasting venues in the Western Cape, Garden Route and Gauteng.

‘Dine in. Do good!’ enables people to donate R150 per month at just R5 per day for 30 days until the lockdown restrictions have been lifted and partner establishments are up and running again.

”With so many of us at home cooking more meals than usual and eating in, we call on everyone to support ‘Dine in. Do Good!’ to help us continue funding skills training and family reunification programmes for vulnerable children. Donors can rest assured that every cent raised will go to our beneficiaries and will not be used for any StreetSmart operational expenses. You are of course welcome to give more, and we hope with gratitude, that you are able to do so,’ adds Burke.

Every cent raised via ‘Dine in. Do good!’ will help to bring financial stability to struggling organisations, enabling them to maintain their social worker programmes and keep rendering services to children in need long after the lockdown, when the psycho-social needs in communities would have escalated as a result of the pandemic.

Donations can be made to the StreetSmart SA bank account at Nedbank Foreshore Branch Number 108 309, Account Number: 108 33444 39; Swift code: Ned SZA JJ, with DIDG and your cell phone number as your reference.

StreetSmart SA is registered as a Public Benefit Organisation as well as a Non-profit Organisation and ensures that every cent donated by guests at partner establishments and ‘Dine in. Do good!’ during the lockdown, goes towards social and educational upliftment projects.

For more information, contact StreetSmart SA at Tel: 0826581442 email info@streetsmartsa.org.za or visit http://www.streetsmartsa.org.za.

_________________________________________________________________________
Issued by: GC Communications

NEDERBURG DONATES R100 000 TO EAT OUT RESTAURANT RELIEF FUND

 

Nederburg Wines is backing the Eat Out Restaurant Relief Fund established to extend a hand to those restaurants feeding the hungry during the national lockdown. The brand is donating R100 000 to this initiative that also hopes to keep these restaurants sustainable over the long term.

Says Werner Hayward of Eat Out: “We’ve launched the Eat Out Restaurant Relief Fund so that empty kitchens and talented people can be mobilised to feed the hungry. The fund is offering financial support to these restaurants to help them pay their staff and to buy food – to keep them in business so they can keep putting food on the table for hungry families. We hope to help them remain operational, so they can reopen their doors as viable businesses when the time comes.”

Nederburg’s global marketing manager, Jackie Olivier explains: “It’s common knowledge that restaurants in SA have taken a big knock under the lockdown constraints. Although this is an extremely difficult time for the local wine industry during which no trading at all is permitted, we want to do what we can to support our partners in the restaurant industry. It’s about playing our part in feeding those who are very vulnerable right now and in desperate need of nutrition.”

The Eat Out Restaurant Relief Fund is administered by Community Chest (NPO and PBO) and donations are tax deductible. Eat Out receives no commercial benefit from the donations – Eat Out and New Media are donating time, the team, brand, running costs and resources to this initiative at no cost, so that all money donated can go directly to qualifying restaurants.

To date, the fund has received contributions of more than R1 000 000, with R980 000 paid out to restaurants thus far.

If you’re a restaurant feeding a needy organisation or contributing to a feeding scheme, please visit the funding page to see if you qualify for funding.

Go to help.eatout.co.za to learn more.

 

ISSUED BY AUGUST COLLECTIVE

As if you needed a reason to say yay for Chardonnay

Today May 21 marks International Chardonnay Day, so fill your glass and take a sip to understand why this classic grape variety is one of the world’s most widely planted grapes.

If you happen to raise a glass of South African-made Chardonnay this week, consider how Vriesenhof’s founder Jan “Boland” Coetzee helped to make this happen…

As much as he was a legend on the rugby field, playing for Western Province and South Africa in the 1960s and 70s, Coetzee has also become a wine legend in his own right, receiving an honorary doctorate – Doctor of Science in Agriculture – from Stellenbosch University last year. More recently, he was awarded the 1659 Medal of Honour at the annual Wine Harvest Commemorative event held at Groot Constantia.

Not only has he made some of South Africa’s greatest wines and influenced other winemakers, but he played a major role in “introducing” the Chardonnay grape to South Africa in 1980, while working in France. Jan ‘Boland’ Coetzee’s passion for the potential of this green-skinned grape was laid bare in a 1986 newspaper headline that read: BOLAND COETZEE HET DRUIF GESMOKKEL (Boland Coetzee smuggled grapes). At the time the South African wine industry mostly consisted of plantings of just two other white grapes, and Coetzee and other Chardonnay-loving winemakers realised that if they waited for the establishment of a new grape variety through normal processes, the country would fall behind the rest of the world both as a producer and exporter.

To this day, Chardonnay has a special place in Coetzee’s heart. Now cellar master for the Stellenbosch estate, he has passed the winemaking baton to Nicky Claasens.
“I have a philosophy of ‘unobtrusive manipulation” Claasens said, “where I combine what nature provides with my knowledge to make the best wine possible without harming its intrinsic qualities.” He seeks to make “Chardonnays of refinement” and he is certainly succeeding in continuing one of Coetzee’s legacy wines.

The current vintages of Vriesenhof are the Unwooded Chardonnay 2019, which has beautiful aromas of citrus and gooseberries, with flavours of fresh apple and a lingering lemon freshness, and the Barrel Fermented Vriesenhof Chardonnay 2016 which has aromas of almond and hints of white peach and pear on the palate, with a citrus finish. The wine has spent 12 months in 1st and 2nd fill French oak barrels.
If you are sadly contemplating your dwindling or non-existent wine collection, take a look at our website for our low prices on offer until 31 May 2020 so that you can stock up on our great Chardonnays and enjoy them with your loved ones soon.

 

ISSUED BY:             KIRSTEN HOPWOOD

 

Stellenbosch Hills celebrates 75 years with Birthday Wine Bonanza

Stellenbosch Hills might be ramping up your next birthday fiesta as it celebrates its own 75-year milestone this year. Order wine via the Stellenbosch Hills website during LEVELS 4 & 3 of lockdown and you stand a chance to win six FREE bottles in your birthday month.

Turning lockdown into luck-down, the winery now also rewards purchases from its online store via http://www.stellenbosch-hills.co.za with a 10% discount on everything.

Here, you’ll find just what you like, but even better – something for everyone else too. The top-tier Sense of Place range houses its Kastanjeberg white, Suikerboschrand red, La Serena aperitif and Anna Christina MCC – a selection for the connoisseur who desires to understand individual vineyard components at the winemaker’s disposal.

The 1707 Reserve range comprises a sublime red and delectable white wine while the Stellenbosch Hills quality-driven, single variety wines include amongst others the Muscat de Hambourg. Then there’s the fun-loving Polkadraai portfolio too with its selection of well-balanced and easy-drinking wines that incorporate two bubblies and super-convenient three-litre bag-in-a-box packs.

Once you’ve placed your online order and provided the necessary information, you’ll automatically be entered into the lucky draw during your birthday month, with the prize being a case of six wines.

This fabulous birthday treat will be awarded every month from June 2020 to May 2021, but only for purchases made online and during LEVELS 4 & 3 of the Covid-19 lockdown period.
Purchases and prizes will be delivered when regulations allow for it.

For more information and online, visit http://www.stellenbosch-hills.co.za; call 021 881 3828/9; or, email info@stellenbosch-hills.co.za.

___________________________________________________________________
Issued by: Random Hat Communications

Fine dining at home with Dine Nitida

Nitida Wine Farm’s two restaurants combine for home deliveries

 

Lockdown and social distancing have meant that all of Cape Town’s favourite eateries are now either closed or have adapted to other means to keep both business going and their customers satisfied.

Two restaurants, Cassia and Tables at Nitida, both based at the Nitida Wine Farm in the Durbanville Valley, have joined forces to create a home delivery service called Dine Nitida, with a comprehensive menu that will satisfy the gourmand in any foodie looking for a great meal!

Main courses can be ordered to feed between one and six guests, and consist of dishes such as Beef Trinchado (a Portuguese pulled braised beef) that comes with a Portuguese style sweet potato roll and garden salad; crisp roast pork belly served with Asian style vegetable fried egg noodles in a sweet soy sauce and a spiced apple chutney; homemade Swedish meatballs with a sweet roast garlic mash, red cabbage and green beans tossed in a Dijon mustard vinaigrette; Moroccan spiced braised Springbok shanks served with couscous and Mediterranean roast vegetables; and a Cape Malay-style chicken curry served with almond and golden sultana yellow rice, tomato and onion sambal, cucumber raita and homemade naan bread (there’s also a vegan version of this dish available to order).

For those with a sweet tooth, they can include a dessert in their order from options such as chocolate brownies; no-bake raw peanut butter Blondie (vegan); sticky toffee pudding with custard; and a baked cheesecake slice.

If you fancy treating someone special to a weekend picnic in the confines of your own garden then you can do no better than choose the Dine Nitida Picnic Cheese & Charcuterie Goodie Box to share. For only R350 for two people, the hamper is filled with a selection of cold meats, salami sticks, seasonal fruit, three different local cheeses, Hillcrest olives, and a selection of homemade preserves with freshly baked ciabatta. Sadly, no wine can be included at this stage!

Finally, if there’s a special occasion coming up or you just feel like spoiling yourself, Dine Nitida can also make and deliver a selection of cakes including Chocolate Ganache, Baked Cheesecake and Carrot Cake.

No collections are permitted at this stage but Dine Nitida will deliver free of charge within a 10km radius of the farm in Durbanville (with R5 per kilometre added thereafter). Orders need to be placed 24 hours in advance via WhatsApp 082 470 2089 or email info@cassiarestaurant.co.za. A 10% gratuity will be added to each order.
ISSUED BY: JAG COMMUNICATIONS

 

Embrace autumn with beautifully textured TOKARA Chardonnay

After harvest time, when the cooler weather begins to waft in, it’s time to switch from crisp summer quaffers to a more textured autumn wine.

Celebrate International Chardonnay Day on Thursday, 21 May with TOKARA Chardonnay 2018.

TOKARA’s new Chardonnay vintage has all the appeal of a vibrant wine with its fresh citrus character, yet comforts with a layered, creamy texture.

Fermented and aged in predominantly older oak barrels, TOKARA Chardonnay 2018 is refreshing and pleasantly dry with mouth-filling creaminess.

“Aromas of ripe quince and orange blossom spring from your glass, complemented by warming whiffs of brioche and almonds. The palate comes alive with fresh clementine, grapefruit and hints of ginger spice, melding seamlessly with the creamy, rounded texture. The Chardonnay shows immense complexity from the discreet use of oak,” says winemaker Stuart Botha.

The wine is crafted from TOKARA’s cool-climate Elgin vineyards and vines growing in ancient decomposed granitic soils on the foothills of the Simonsberg in Stellenbosch. It’s a perfect taste partner with fish and chicken, and a winner as an aperitif.

TOKARA Chardonnay 2018 has a cellar door price of R110 per bottle. Purchase online at http://www.tokara.com for delivery after the lockdown restrictions have been lifted.
___________________________________________________________________________
ISSUED BY: GC COMMUNICATIONS

The Bakery at Jordan’s Saturday brunch box

Enjoy freshly baked fare from The Bakery at Jordan, in the comfort of your own home, every Saturday!

This brunch experience has been expertly crafted by Chef Thys from The Bakery at Jordan and has taken inspiration from our popular Chardonnay Brunch Experience, hosted on the estate. If you are lucky enough to still have a bottle of one of our delicious chardonnays at home, why not enjoy it as a pairing with your brunch? This is a perfect way to take the celebrations for International Chardonnay Day all the way through to the weekend!

Order The Bakery’s Saturday brunch box and let us do the work for you and deliver this pre-prepared 3-course breakfast brunch straight to your door. The dishes simply need to be assembled on Saturday morning and cooked in the oven for a few minutes, before serving.

The brunch box serves 2 people and includes a 3-course breakfast plus a 200g bag of our famous Black Magic ground coffee.

First course:
Beetroot cured Norwegian Salmon gravadlax served on sourdough toast, topped with camembert cheese and a classic sauce tartar with fennel infused cucumber pickle.
Second course:
Mushroom Benedict with an English muffin base, topped with decadent mushroom & bacon duxelle, with sauce hollandaise.
Third course:
Finish your meal on a sweet note with a scrumptious almond & orange baked croissant torte served with a jar of our homemade baked apple and pecan nut butter.

Order a Saturday brunch box from The Bakery, which will be delivered to your door, FOR FREE on Fridays, in time to be prepared for a Saturday morning brunch at home!

Order your Saturday brunch box here: https://bit.ly/2Z4pt1q
Cut off for orders for the coming weekend is Wednesdays at 3pm, for delivery during the course of the day, on Friday.

Please note: The Saturday brunch box is available for delivery in Stellenbosch, Paarl, Franschhoek, Somerset West, Strand, Zevenwacht, Durbanville & Cape Town City Bowl.

Should you be outside these selected areas, and are interested in the Saturday brunch box, please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate you.
Contact us on thebakery@jordanwines.com

*Vegetarian option is available.

We’d love you to raise a toast on Friday 22nd May with a bottle of your favourite Jordan wine as we celebrate #SpectacularSouthAfrica. Open a bottle of delicious South African wine and #tastingtogether with our friends across the globe! Remember to tag us.

Raise a glass of Van Loveren in toast of International Chardonnay Day

International Chardonnay Day 2020 will be celebrated this Thursday May 21.

Van Loveren Family Vineyards first Chardonnay vineyard was planted in 1979 – at the very start of South Africa’s Chardonnay boom. This celebrated winery not only utilises Chardonnay in a variety of blends, but also has a chardonnay flagship wine at the head of each of the Van Loveren, Tangled Tree, Zandvliet, Rhino Run and Christina ranges.

In South Africa, Chardonnay is well-known to achieve the apex of expressions on the wine farms of Robertson.

Examples include elegant Chardonnays; those that showcase creaminess; others with a citrus-dominant character or tropical aspect. There are Chardonnays both rich and complex (wooded or unwooded); and, spicy too.

Van Loveren’s collection of wines alone is a prime example.

The Christina Chardonnay is a premium quality, full-bodied and oak matured wine. It’s a serious wine to accompany fine cuisine, especially good shellfish, grilled fish, rich chicken dishes and creamy pastas.

The Zandvliet Chardonnay is fermented in French oak barrels and matured in barrel, on the lees for six months. A rich wine, it is ideally enjoyed well chilled with fine dining. Dishes of fish, pork, soufflé and cheese platters suit it well.

Lighter styles of the cultivar can be experienced in the unwooded, medium-bodied Van Loveren Chardonnay. It is delicate and refreshing, bursting with fruit flavours. It may be enjoyed with sesame-crusted chicken strips served on a bed of crisp salad, cucumber, cherry tomatoes and a honey balsamic dressing.

The Tangled Tree Chardonnay is equally lighter in style, and only lightly wooded. It is expressive with appealing aromas of butterscotch and crème brûlée, balanced by subtle intensity of fruit.

Similar in style, Rhino Run Chardonnay is a medium-bodied wine – dry and well balanced, with a clean citrus spritz on the nose, and light smoke and nuttiness on the palate.

All the Van Loveren wines are accessible at a range of prices. Christina Chardonnay sells for around R139.99; Zandvliet Chardonnay, R125; Tangled Tree Chardonnay, R49.99; Van Loveren Chardonnay, R69.99; and, Rhino Run Chardonnay, R74.99.

For more information visit http://www.vanloveren.co.za.

ISSUED BY : ON THE MARQUE PR & COMMUNICATIONS

Roodeberg Reserve is a refined winter companion

Roodeberg Reserve, a newcomer to this legendary South African brand that has stood the test of time for over 70 years, is the perfect winter wine companion. Previously only available in selected international markets, this refined red blend can now be enjoyed by local wine lovers too.

Roodeberg Reserve 2017 is meticulously crafted from Cabernet Sauvignon (48%), Shiraz (23%), Tempranillo (12%), Petit Verdot (7%), Petit Sirah (4%) and splashes of Cabernet Franc (3%), Merlot (2%) and Malbec (1%) and matured in French oak for 18 months.

Intricate layers of red plum, blueberries, crushed herbs and tobacco leaf with hints of dark chocolate and oak are rounded off by soft, silky tannins. This consummate full-bodied blend stands up well to hearty winter dishes such as meaty casseroles, roasts and game dishes. It is also a wonderful wine for a weekend of cocooning with comforting warm winter desserts such as foodie Elmarie Berry’s spicy pumpkin donuts drizzled in dark chocolate.

Pre-order Roodeberg Reserve 2017 now at http://www.kwvemporium.co.za or purchase the wine at selected Pick n Pay stores after the lockdown restrictions have been lifted at R160.00 per bottle.

Recipe: Elmarie Berry’s pumpkin donuts with dark chocolate

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups cooked pumpkin, mashed
1 cup self-rising flour
2 eggs
Pinch of salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Oil for deep frying
1 cup cinnamon sugar
100g dark chocolate, melted

Method:
Cook the pumpkin, drain excess liquid and allow to cool.
Put all the ingredients except the dark chocolate and cinnamon sugar in a food processor and mix until smooth. Heat the oil and add tablespoons of the batter to the oil and fry until golden brown. Roll into the cinnamon sugar and drizzle with the melted dark chocolate.

 

ISSUED BY:    GC Communications