Cape Town - Wine is a wonderful thing. It can be enjoyed on its own, or with any number of foods.
Many tasting rooms offer specific pairings, like chocolate or biltong.
Cheese and wine, so popular in the 1970s with cubes of cheddar and unnaturally coloured tiny pickled onions on toothpicks, is a combination that will never go away, although these days the pairings are much more refined.
At Bergkelder you can try a wine and salt pairing. Chef Craig Cormack is a long-time salt aficionado and regularly hosts salty dinners and events there. This particular experience, however, is more casual and can be done at any time of the day, and unless you’re on a tour bus, booking isn’t necessary for a quiet weekday.
Cormack has collected a number of interesting salts from around the world which you can taste on their own as a point of reference, but the structured pairing combines Fleur du Cap unfiltered wines with tiny jars of nibbles using the different salts.
They are presented on a solid block of salt which you can lick.
If you buy one to take home, you can heat it up and cook your steak on it, just don’t rinse it under a hot tap afterwards.
Salt and wine are natural partners, but there is science behind it too, as salt affects the acidity and tannins of wines, and here you will find out how.
The first wine is sauvignon blanc with dolmades. The vine leaves are soaked in sulphuric volcanic salt from Pakistan.
Black lava salt from Hawaii is used in the green olive tapenade which goes with the chardonnay.
The two whites are followed by two reds: merlot with chicken liver paté topped with caramelised onions and incorporating Murray River pink salt from Australia; and cabernet with sun-dried tomatoes and mature gouda with red Alea mud salt.
All of these are inspired, surprisingly good, and make perfect sense on the palate.
The last “course” is a noble late harvest made with chenin, sauvignon blanc and chardonnay, with the fudge spiked with West Coast Khoisan flakes. And I say “the” because this delicious treat is available to buy to take home, and once you’ve had it, you won’t be able to get enough.
You can also purchase the different salts which you can try out with the recipes in the Salt And Wine Experience recipe book, which is included in the R75 cost of the pairing.
* The wine and salt tastings are available Monday to Friday from 9am till 5.30pm, and Saturday 9am till 3.30pm. For bookings or more information, contact Nadia Ferreira on 021 809 8025 or [email protected]
While you are there, visit the museum, and definitely the wine shop where you will always find some interesting bargains. There might even be a few bottles of 1999 Chateau Libertas left at R45 a bottle.
Weekend Argus