A Night of South African Wine

While moving our family of four, that consists of two children under the age of five, from one house into another, we thought it made the most sense to host a wine dinner at the restaurant on closing day.

It turned out to be a wonderful evening of delicious food, most interesting wine and fantastic company.

The menu was as follows:

A reception of Oyster Shooters, Duck & Apple Crostini, Rock Shrimp with Wasabe paired with the Graham Beck Brut NV.

The first course was a delicious Lobster Salad with Watercress, Avocado and Grapefruit. It was a tremendous match with the 2008 Mulderbosch Sauvignon Blanc that had delicious lime zest flavors and even a slight jalapeno note that added the perfect element of spice.

The second course was a Wild Boar Chop with South African Apple Chutney and an Autumn Vegetable Timbale. This course was paired with two whites, ironically enough. The Kanu Chenin Blanc 2008 and the De Morgenzon Chenin Blanc 2006 are totally different styles of Chenin yet they both added wonderful additons to the boar. The Kanu is crisp and full of minerals while the De Morgenzon is lush and full-bodied with sweet oak on the finish. The Kanu brought out all of the autumn vegetable flavors and the De Morgenzon was perfectly rich with the boar.

The last savory dish was the Braised Painted Hills Beef Short Ribs which we paired with 2008 Indaba Shiraz and the 2005 Mulderbosch Faithful Hound, a Bordeaux blend that had as much earth and gravel as any left banker from Southwest France. We loved the way both of these wines, while totally different, highlighted different elements fo the dish. The truffled polenta really liked the fruitiness of the Shiraz and the beef absolutely adored the cassis and leather in the Faithful Hound.

Dessert took on a life of its own, but how could it not when the wine was the 2001 Vin de Constance from Klein Constantia. Brought in especially for our dinner, this burnt, candied orange delight made a fabulous statement with caramel cake and peanut brittle ice cream. For more information on the homemade peanut brittle, check out www.rustyspeanutbrittle.com