Fleur du Cap unfiltered wines meet salt from around the world at monthly dinners in Die Bergkelder, in Stellenbosch, hosted by salt aficionado Chef Craig Cormack.
Craig, who is well known for his salt- and wine-pairing dinners, and his passion for sourcing and experimenting with different types of salt, will present these singular dinners in Die Bergkelder on the last Thursday of every month, starting on June 30.
Currently chef patron at Sofia’s restaurant in Somerset West, Craig has been pairing wine and salt for the last four-and-a-half years and has a collection of rare salts from around the globe.
“As far as I know, I am the first in South Africa and the world to pair different salts with food and wine by designing dishes not only to achieve a particular flavour but, more importantly, as the perfect taste partner for an individual wine,” says Craig about this challenging task of allowing the salt to complement rather than dominate Fleur du Cap’s range of Unfiltered wines.
Salt or NaCl is an ancient commodity that precedes biblical times for its valuable medicinal, preservative and flavouring qualities.
Alchemists refer to salt or as the fifth element and, as far as is known, there are at least 140 different types of salts available throughout the world. Craig’s salt collection to date numbers 62, including South African and Namibian examples.
The salts that Craig will use in his tastings include a mellow, earthy flavoured red clay salt from Hawaii; a spicy Persian blue crystal rock salt from northern Iran; fine-grained, mineral-rich South African Khoisan; black lava volcanic salt from Hawaii; unrefined Oryx desert salt from the Kalahari; volcanic black salt from Pakistan used commonly in Indian cooking; and mild flavoured, pink salt flakes from the Murray River in Australia.
For his first wine and salt dinner in Die Bergkelder on Thursday, June 30, Craig is serving a classic prawn gumbo seasoned with Khoisan salt with Fleur du Cap Unfiltered Semillon. His salmon pastrami and preserved lemon salad will be paired with Portuguese algarve salt granules and Fleur du Cap Unfiltered Sauvignon Blanc. For the main course of Irish corned beef, choucroute and dauphine Potato, Craig has chosen Oryx pan salt and Fleur du Cap Unfiltered Cabernet Sauvignon.
To bring the dinner to a close, Fleur du Cap’s five-star Noble Late Harvest will accompany pot ash honey cake, spicy syrup and vanilla ice cream spiked with a lemon grass flavoured salt from Poland.
The five-course Fleur du Cap Unfiltered wine- and salt-pairing dinners costs R400 a person, including the tasting, food and wines and begin with canapés at 7pm in Die Bergkelder. For bookings, contact Nadia Ferreira at Die Bergkelder on 021 809 8025 or e-mail [email protected]. For more information on Die Bergkelder and Fleur du Cap Unfiltered wines visit www.fleurducap.co.za - Weekend Argus