Thursday: 22 May  2003

This site will be updated on: 29 May 2003 at 17:00

Business - Sakenuus

• Heads or tails?
• KWV launches new brand
• Nantes-Esterdal on auction
• Cape Wine heads for Cape Town
• Gesoek: Beste vroueboer
• World's wine experts search for SA champ
• Cuddly and cute

HAVE you ever seen a lobster walk to your plate? Not counting the television advertisement for that wine that goes well with seafood, that is.

You haven't? Then you have not been to Lobsti's, the freshwater crayfish farm and restaurant on the farm Schoongezicht in Dal Josaphat outside Paarl.

He has also covered his 20 lobster dams with netting to prevent the birds from making a meal of his income.

Low surrounding walls keep the lobsters in and the frogs out. Platannas, with their preference for newly hatched lobsters, are his biggest enemy.

The Cherax tenuimanus are as fresh as it gets.

You are advised to enjoy them the Scandinavian way, uncomplicated, using your fingers to get the meat out of the tail and your teeth to crack open the claws.

A sip of aquavit has the taste lingering even longer, they claim.

No-one will complain if the white table-cloths and napkins are soiled, or if you dirty your white bib or order a second finger bowl.

And no-one will stare if you suck and slurp.

Connoisseurs admit that fresh-water lobster has a delicate nutty taste and is more tender and much more tasty than its cousins from the sea. Alive they are black, but turn red in colour when cooked.

On the menu you will find the favourite, a 300g "lobsti six-pack", cooked the Scandinavian way in salt water with dill, served with dips and home-baked bread on the side.

Chef Mervyn White also has creamy lobster cocktail, lobster soup, lobster salad, salmon trout and a seafood platter with lobster, prawns, mussels and kingklip on offer.

For those wanting something other than seafood, savoury rice, vegetables, ostrich fillet and turkey breast will do just fine before dessert and coffee.

You can choose to either sit under the age-old oak trees or inside the Cape Dutch homestead with - and this is true - a thick layer of sea sand covering the entire floor.

The restaurant has hardly been advertised, and yet people flock there from all over. Hand to happy mouth, and then by word of mouth, that's what brings the diners to Lobsti's.

"Half the eating is in the breaking," says James.

Can one still be passionate about a lobster after 12 years of research and cultivating the little beasts?

"Oh yes. Take the little lobsti like this," James demonstrates with glee.

"Break it open. Don't be embarrassed. Suck it out. Leave the head. Then take this section here. Suck it. Chew it. Uhmm. Nice.

"The tail is but the cherry. The cake is what it's all about."

Lobsters are ready for the table after 18 months. By that time some grow to 10cm, a mere 50g, while faster growers - of the same species and in the same dam - might have reached a weighty 300g.

Should you need a bit of exercise to walk off the lunch, James is only too happy to escort you to the source of the five star courses on the menu.

And then you will really hear how passionate he is about his lively lobsters.

KWV International launched the KWV Reserve wines at the London International Wine & Spirit Fair this week.

Specially crafted for the sophisticated and discerning wine drinker, these wines exhibit terroir-specific characteristics.

Considerable market research was undertaken to determine the positioning and composition of the brand which is in the premium 6 to 9 pound price segment. 

The new brand's packaging is sophisticated and contemporary in style, in line with international trends, yet maintains traditional values as presented on the label, with its stardust bronze finish, depicting La Concorde, KWV's head office in Paarl.

The range comprises five noble varietals of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. 

Classy, modern and sophisticated KWV Reserve has an advertising campaign that complements its positioning - for "the top floor" or for that "perfect occasion".

Said Vernon Davis, managing director of KWV International, "We intend KWV Reserve to become the benchmark for South African Reserve wines."

THE well-known farm Nantes-Esterdal north of Paarl is to be auctioned lock stock and barrel on 3 June at 11:15 by the Michael James Organisation.

The farm is the property of the de Villiers family. Co-owner Henry de Villiers died tragically in a car accident last year.

The farm consists of 238 hectares including 90 hectares of vineyards and 70 hectares of orchards for export fruit, as well as ten poultry houses, and a modern cool store and fruit packing shed of 4500 sq/m.

There are two large homesteads, one of which is a Georgian mansion.

THE Cape Wine bi-annual expo, previously hosted at Nederburg by Wines of South Africa (WOSA), will move to the new Cape Town Convention Centre next year.

The expo will showcase the wines of more than 220 South African producers over four days from March 30 to April 2 at the new centre.

The exhibition will display the vast progress of the industry, from the smallest garagistes, estates and boutique wineries to negociants, co-operatives and corporates, all producing wine for export, while featuring leading South African and international speakers in a series of seminars and workshops. 

WOSA's third biennial showcase to the international wine fraternity of retailers, sommeliers, wine, travel and lifestyle journalists, has been reformatted and extended to accommodate the surging interest in and respect for South African wines, increasingly earning the acclaim of prominent wine critics worldwide.

The convention centre's central location and generous exhibition space should enhance the experience for both exhibitors and delegates, according to WOSA CEO Su Birch. 

The exhibition is expected to draw more than 1 000 international buyers and about 100 media representatives mainly from the UK, Europe and North America, but also from Asia and Australasia.

For the first time, provision is being made for international wine tourists. Formerly confined to two days, the events of 2000 and 2002 were open exclusively to foreign trade and media. They will be able to sample top local wines partnered by contemporary interpretations of Cape food.

Birch said export volumes of bottled wines for 2002 had increased 31% on the previous year.

VOLGENS Landbouminister Johan Gelderblom spog die Wes-Kaap met talle vroueboere wat sorg vir mededingende opbrengste; wat innoverend werk skep en vrou-alleen 'n verskil maak in hul gemeenskap.

Daar word nou weer gesoek na nominasies vir die vroueboer van die jaar. Onder verlede jaar se wenners was Gesie Lategan, wynboer van die Paarl.

Daar is vanjaar kategorieë vir top-uitvoerder, top-produsent vir nasionale markte, top kleinboer en top-produsent vir huishoudelike gebruik. 

Om in aanmerking te kom vir die eerste kategorie, moet ten minste 50% van produksie vir die uitvoermark bestem wees. Kriteria vir die tweede kategorie behels dat meer as 50% vir nasionale verspreiding geproduseer word. 

Kategorie drie vereis dat 'n produsent haar huishouding met haar produksie van voedsel of nie-voedselprodukte onderhou en ekonomies produktief en volhoubaar is. 

Die laaste kategorie is vir dié vrou wat op 'n selfonderhoudende wyse haar huishouding aan die gang hou deur die produksie van groente of ander landbouprodukte.

Die sluitingsdatum vir nominasies vir vroueboere Wes-Kaap is 27 Junie. Navrae by Charlene Nieuwoudt tel 808-5008 of charlenen@elsenburg.com.

ONLY 19 gold medals have been awarded to wines entered for Fairbairn Capital Trophy Wine Show, now in its second year. The results will be announced on 3 June.

The show, one of South Africa's most important quality wine competitions identifying the country's best wines and the champion winemakers, was judged over three and a half days at the Grande Roche Hotel in Paarl last week.

It is in an independent competition rigorously applying the aesthetic criteria subscribed to by wine professionals around the world.

Close to 900 entries were received for this year's show - an increase of more than 100 wines on last year's submissions. 

The judging panel is chaired and convened by wine authority and writer, Michael Fridjhon, and includes a team of nine international and local wine personalities. 

This year's international panel includes two of the world's most knowledgeable and luminous wine personalities: Jancis Robinson, the doyenne of the UK's wine consumers and James Halliday from Australia, one of the most respected and prolific wine writers of our time.

Richard Kelley MW, who is from the UK, but who lived and worked in South Africa until 2002, is the third international judge.

The other panellists are writer-judges Tony Mossop CWM, Neil Pendock and Angela Lloyd, and acclaimed winemakers Rod Easthope, Marc Kent and Gyles Webb.

The judges are divided into three panels - each of which includes one of the overseas tasters - for each of the three judging days. The entire group then assembles as a jury to select the trophy winners from among the gold medallists.

Another unique feature of proceedings is the consensus-based scoring system. Since results are determined by the panel as a whole, discussion between the tasters is essential.

Accordingly, the judges are encouraged to debate the merits of each entry, thus ensuring that subtlety and finesse are not overwhelmed by the bigger, more massively structured submissions.

The 100-point scoring system facilitates an accurate ranking, the allocation of gold, silver and bronze medals, and the conversion of results to a star-rating out of five - the standard applied by the Wine Magazine tasting panels - in the process of presenting trophies for the best wines overall. 

The Fairbairn Capital Trophy Wine Show is an important assessment of wine quality in the country and an essential forum for producers wishing to calibrate their wines to international standards.

THEY are fluffy, they are cute and their soft wool is warmer than a lamb's.

Alpacas are known for their luxury fibre and have become extremely popular with spinners and weavers in the handcraft and home industry markets.

If you want to learn more about breeding Alpacas, you should attend the seminar presented by the South African Alpaca

The Alpaca, a South American import, is particularly suited to smallholdings, has strong tourism potential and source of employment of womenfolk in rural communities in the spinning/cottage industries.

Specialised spinning tutorials of the Alpaca fibre have been arranged to run concurrently with the farm seminars from 09:30.

Participants are invited to bring their spinning wheels and learn the skills necessary for using Alpaca fibre. This day includes teas, light lunch and 250g Alpaca fibre.

Book through the Country Life Academy at 0800-002-136. For further information on the Alpacas visit www.africanalpacas.com.

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