The fever of 2010!

During the holiday period, we at La Motte were hard at work preparing for harvest-time. Activities kicked off at the end of January, with us facing a mixed bag of early and late varietals which, flavour-wise, may culminate in a few pleasant surprises. We can’t wait!

Having anticipated 2010 for so long as a nation, it is hard to believe that we are now in the thick of things. At La Motte we are as excited as everyone else to see how the Soccer World Cup will roll out and how professionally South Africa will accommodate the challenges, showing the world exactly what we’re made of!  Viva 2010!

Our exciting developments at the estate are also racing along, in line with 2010 as a year of momentous achievements. One is the completion of our new tasting room. If you have not visited this warmly welcoming venue, do so soon – we're receiving wonderful feedback and would like to hear your comments too. You can also look forward to our new restaurant, museum and other amenities to be launched  in due time. 

May your 2010 be a champion year!
Hein Koegelenberg

A quarter century of quality wines

Harvest-time 2010 is a great milestone at La Motte. We celebrate 25 years of wine-making ... and we're still just warming up!

Bright and early on the morning of Monday 25 January, Hein, wine-maker Edmund Terblanche, Michael Langenhoven and the rest of the La Motte harvesting team were all-systems-go in the vineyards, for the start-up of the 2010 harvest.

This year, harvesting began relatively late, due to a long winter and moderate summer preceding the season. Late varietals appeared early, though, probably due to warm weather in January and a smaller yield – the harvest was actually more balanced than in previous years.

The first grapes to arrive at the cellar were Sauvignon Blanc from Block 10, La Motte's highest vineyard. By the end of the first day a total of 6,98 tons of grapes had been harvested.

Overall, the 2010 industry yield is lower than that of 2009, which was already a low-yield year. This can be attributed to strong winds during budding, while downy mildew also had a slight effect. Factors that present abnormal challenges this season are accurate timing, disease management and uneven ripening – green and ripe bunches on the same vine – which will inevitably necessitate repeat-harvesting. Experts say that the 2010 harvesting season in South Africa could be the most challenging of their careers.

Complications or no complications ... once again La Motte will produce their traditional wines of excellence. After 25 years of wine-making we simply love a challenge!

National distribution in the spotlight!

We are proud to announce that our national distributor, Meridian Wine Merchants, recently won two awards for the 2009 South African Financial Mail Wine Business Awards (FMWBA) competition. Meridian won the category "Best Logisitics" in South Africa and went on to win the overall category “Wine Company of the Year.”

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Gavin Dittmar and the team at Meridian on their well deserved accolade, and thank them for their ongoing hard work.

Roaming the Rhône

During January 2010, Hein and cellar master Edmund Terblanche undertook a tour of the Rhône Valley, one of their favourite wine destinations. They had the pleasure of visiting the new winery at M. Chapoutier and tasting the Le Méal 09 from the barrel. Le Méal is made from Syrah grapes grown from 50-year-old vines on the Méal hillside.  Emanual Ravilleon, an old friend of La Motte, who is on the management team at M. Chapoutier accompanied them.

They were also afforded a tasting in the company of Andre Perret, one of the leading producers of Northern Rhône whites and known for his Condrieus, the 2006 vintage of which is outstanding! Condrieu is made with as little intervention as possible – use is made of bâtonnage, though, and half the wine spends some time in used oak.

“Don't think I spend my time merely enjoying one tasting after the other”, says Hein. Each time he returns with useful information and techniques that could be used to benefit the quality and style of La Motte wines. 

2010 Santam Classic Wine Trophy winners

La Motte’s 2008 Shiraz was awarded a gold medal at this year’s Santam Classic Wine Trophy, which was held at the Taj hotel in Cape Town.The Santam Classic Wine Trophy is unique in South Africa in that it only awards a set number of medals and trophies each year. This is done to ensure legitimacy and credibility for winners.

An ear for classical music?

Lovers of classical music should diarize the following concerts to be held monthly in La Motte's historic cellar during the first semester of 2010.

17 April

Lovers of the saxophone can expect an evening of highlights during this concert, presented in a lighter vein. 

Seventeen-year old Hamman Schoonwinkel, winner of the Artscape Concerto Festival in Cape Town, with piano accompaniment by Philippus Hugo, will present a programme demonstrating the versatility of the saxophone as a classical music instrument. They will play works such as the Sonatine by Dubois and Milhaud's virtuoso Suite Scaramouche.

15 May

The celebrated Alumyan-Hama cello and piano duo, winners of the 2001 International Duo Competition in Sweden, are  currently touring South Africa. Grigory Alumyan from Russia (cellist) and Rinko Hama from Japan (pianist) have won many coveted awards and competitions, including the 2001 International Duo Competition in Sweden. At their La Motte concert, they will play Beethoven's Sonata in A Major for cello and piano, Da Falla's exotic Suite Espagnole, as well as Schumann's Adagio and Allegro for cello and piano.

Forti in Franschhoek

An exciting new venue in Franschhoek is BICCCS which opened its doors in February 2010. This is the third addition to the franchise with BICCCS in Waterkloof, Pretoria and De Waterkant in Cape Town. “BICCCS” stands for Bread, Ice-cream, Cake, Croissant, Coffee and Sandwich and is a cross-over between the traditional Italian Gelateria, a top-quality Bakery and Patisserie and a comfortable and contemporary coffee bar and haunt for the art and fashion set. All the stores are small and chic with comfy sofas, relaxing outdoor seating.

The chef behind BICCCS is Fortunato Mazzone who is the co-owner of the multi-award winning five-star graded Ristorante Ritrovo in Pretoria with his father, well-known chef and Italian food pioneer in South Africa, Giovanni Mazzone. He is also involved in the olive oil and wine business. Fortunato is a member of the SA Chefs Association and holds many other esteemed positions in the industry.

BICCCS opened in Franschhoek on the 1st of February 2010. 29a Huguenot Drive (Die ou Pannekoekhuis), Franschhoek Main Road, Franschhoek.

For this issue’s recipe we have been fortunate enough to get Forti to share his home-made ice-cream secrets.

Enjoy!

Home-made Ice-cream

Use this recipe as the perfect base for all ice-cream

4 egg-yolks
2 cups of runny cream
4 cups of full-cream milk
1 brimming cup of castor-sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract or fresh vanilla pods

Heat up the ingredients mixed together, gently whisking until a thin runny custard is apparent. Do not allow to boil. Allow the mixture to cool down. Keep the mixture in the fridge until you are ready to make the ice-cream. Place in your ice-cream machine and churn or place in a deep-freeze, stirring every 10 minutes to break up the ice crystals.

To make other interesting flavours simply add the necessary flavouring, but always stay true to the basic recipe.

For Example : Chocolate
Add two tablespoons of pure cacao powder. This works better than chocolate, which due to the excessive fat content, will leave globules of fat in the ice-cream. Add a tiny drop of your favourite liqueur for an additional flavour dimension. (Please never add too much, or your ice-cream will not freeze. Remember alcohol is an anti-freeze!!) 

To make ice-cream cakes play with different flavours and add layers of liqueur-soaked sponge and glacé fruits soaked in marsala between the different layers of ice-cream in your mould. Line your moulds with plastic wrap to ease the cake out once you have frozen the cake into its moulded shape.