Archive for August, 2012

Today’s featured wine is the Kumkani Chardonnay Viognier 2008.

Bright aromas of lemon peach on nose rich palate with hints of vanilla oak flavour complementing a well-balanced elegant wine.

This wine can be enjoyed on its own or with seafood or roasted chicken.

Read more… http://tinyurl.com/9jq2qmh

Here’s a fantastic fillet recipe for a weeknight dinner with friends and family. Perfect flavours to go with a perfect glass of Kumkani.

To view this recipe, go to… simply-delicious

Here’s a perfect starter recipe to try out with this weekend’s dinner party. Without taking long to prepare, these little treats will work wonders.

To view this recipe, go to… simply-delicious

This looks like a handy handbag… What do you think?

For the perfect dinner, try this succulent deboned neck of lamb recipe. With the amazing taste and presentation, it will be a hit at any dinner party.

Ingredients:

• 1 lamb neck
• Salt and pepper
• 8 tbs chopped parsley
• 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme or rosemary
• 2 tbs chopped spring onions
• 2 crushed garlic cloves
• 1\4 tsp ground ginger and salt and pepper to taste

Method:

This is something special – an entire lamb neck that has been deboned, stuffed with a delicious filling, rolled and pot-roasted. It’s ideal for long, slow cooking.

To debone the lamb neck you need a thin, sharp knife. Make an incision all along the neck vertebrae on the side where the pointy bones stick out – in other words the back of the sheep.

Carefully loosen the meat around the vertebrae so you end up with a flat, more or less rectangular piece of meat. The meat will look a little shredded on the inside. Rub the inside with some olive oil, salt and ground black pepper.

Now combine 8 tablespoons (½ cup) chopped parsley, 1 teaspoon (5 ml) chopped fresh thyme or rosemary, 2 tablespoons (30 ml) chopped spring onions, 2 crushed garlic cloves, ¼ teaspoon (1 ml) ground ginger and salt and pepper to taste.

Spread it on the inside of the meat, working it into all the nooks and crannies. Roll the meat into a cylindrical shape and tie with string so the roll will retain its shape during cooking.

Roast for 1½ to 2 hours, depending on the size, until the meat is tender all the way through.

Recommended wine: The Kumkani Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon will pair excellent with this dish.

Source: food24

The brilliant Brie is a soft cow’s cheese named after Brie, the French region from which it originated.

Its colour scheme is pale, with a slight greyish tinge under a rind of white mould. The whitish mouldy rind is typically eaten, the flavour quality of which depends largely upon the ingredients used and its manufacturing environment.

A great wine to pair with Brie is a Sauvignon Blanc and the lovely Kumkani Sauvignon blanc will perfectly pair with this remarkable cheese.

‘Good company, good wine, good welcome, can make good people.’

-William Shakespeare

Great wine sign for the lovely Kumkani Infiniti…

Here’s a delicious oxtail stew recipe, ideal to warm up any cold winter’s night. The great flavours won’t disappoint.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg oxtail
• 2 onions – diced
• 2 tsp chopped garlic
• 300 g carrot – diced
• 3 tsp fresh thyme (about 4-5 sprigs)
• 2 tsp fresh rosemary (a sprig)
• 1 splash of olive oil
• 50 g butter
• 500 ml good quality liquid beef stock
• 500 ml red wine
• 300 ml tomato purée
• salt and black pepper
• bay leaf

for the butternut mash:

• 500 g ready-to-use butternut chunks – steamed
• or roasted until tender
• ½ cup grated Italian parmesan
• 2 tsp butter
• 1 splash of cream or milk
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper – to taste

Method:

Heat some olive oil in a heavy based pot/cast iron skillet. Season the oxtail pieces and brown in the oil. Remove and set aside. Reduce heat.

Add the butter to the pot. Once melted, also add the onions and sauté on a medium heat till glassy. Add the garlic, carrots and fresh herbs. Sauté for a further 3-5 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare your stock.  Add the tomato paste to the onion mix. Return the oxtail pieces to the pot and cover with stock and red wine. Add the bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a slow but steady simmer.

Simmer for at least 3 hours, or until the meat starts falling off the bone. Serve with rice or mash.

For butternut mash, blend together:
butternut
Parmesan
butter
cream (or milk)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper – to taste.

Recommended wine: Try the Kumkani Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon with this meal.

Source: food24

Here’s a great article on wine.co.za on the popularity of different wine bottle shapes and sizes.

UK wine consumers are surprisingly adventurous in their choices of wine packaging, which could eventually mean the traditional 75cl bottle may lose its stranglehold on the market.

But even though millions of regular drinkers have bought wine in formats like bag-in-box, Tetra Pak, plastic bottles and smaller sizes of glass bottle, the traditional 75cl option is still by far the most popular choice, according to Wine Intelligence research, with almost three quarters of consumers buying it regularly.

More than half of all wine drinkers occasionally buy bag-in-box wines, and Tetra Pak wines have been purchased at some point by 13% of consumers. But only a small minority of these consumers opt for these formats more than once a month.

Almost 4 in 10 wine drinkers have bought plastic (PET) bottles of wine, and the format clearly has some appeal as more than half of these consumers report buying the format on a regular basis.

Consumers base their decisions on a wide range of factors, including value for money, portability and environmental credentials. However, occasion and product image are the most important.

Wine Intelligence’s Associate Director for Publishing, Graham Holter, said consumers’ open-mindedness had parallels with how screw caps were embraced a decade or so ago, although the industry needed to give consumers reasons to switch from familiar glass bottles.

Read more… wine.co.za

A lovely roast for a lovely weeknight dinner. Try this succulent meal with a glass of Kumkani’s finest.

Ingredients:

• 2 kg leg of lamb
• 4 cloves garlic- cut into slivers
• 30 ml olive or sunflower oil
• 5 ml fresh or dried rosemary
• 5 ml mustard powder
• 30 ml flour
• salt and milled pepper to taste
• 500 ml water

Method:

Wipe lamb with a vinegar-soaked paper towel and pat dry. If you don’t have a meat thermometer, weigh the lamb and calculate the roasting times. Allow 20 minutes for every 500 g meat, plus 15 minutes extra at the end for medium-rare lamb, and allow 25 minutes for every 500 g meat, plus 15 minutes extra for well done.

Using a sharp knife, make slits all over the lamb. Press garlic slivers deep into the slits.
Pat all over with oil, rosemary, mustard flour, salt and milled pepper.

Place lamb, fat side uppermost, on the rack of the roasting pan. Add the water to the pan.
Cover the pan loosely with aluminium foil, dull side out.

Roast the meat for 20 minutes at 180 ºC. Remove the foil and continue roasting for the calculated times (see above). If you are using a meat thermometer, place the thermometer in the thickest part of the leg, making sure that the tip of the thermometer does not touch the bone. The thermometer will register 70 ºC when the lamb is medium-done. 80-85 ºC when well done.

Remove the meat from the oven and allow it to rest at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes before carving. Add more salt, if necessary.

Recommended wine: The Kumkani Shiraz will pair excellent with this meal.

Source: food24

‘Artists and poets still find life’s meaning in a glass of wine.’

-Joy Sterling

Kumkani Infiniti is, think it will make these vintage champagne glasses look even more stylish.