The Malaysian Insider :: Food
The Malaysian Insider :: Food |
| Young-gun winemakers put South Africa back on map Posted: 15 Sep 2013 06:49 PM PDT Quaffed by the likes of Napoleon Bonaparte, Charles Darwin and Frederick the Great, wines made on the tip of Africa by Dutch settlers were the envy of the world in the 18th and 19th centuries. But that heyday was followed by centuries of blight, war and stagnation. Then came the apartheid years, which brought an export embargo. South African winemakers, hobbled by the trade curtain, shunned new techniques and tastes and instead catered for a domestic market that largely wanted cheap and cheerful plonk. By the advent of democracy in 1994, some quality wines were still produced, but according to Mark Kent of the well regarded Boekenhoutskloof vineyard, too many were "harsh and tannic and acidic and astringent". "You were always told 'give the wine some time', 'the wines would come around', but of course they never did," Kent said. "If a wine is made out of balance it is never going to come into balance," he said. South Africa remained in the doldrums as other "new world" producers – Australia, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand and the United States – racked up sales and awards. The industry's problems ran deep. "The vineyard quality in the early 1990s was not of the standard that we would have wanted," said Christo Deyzel, sommelier at the Vergelegen vineyard's Camphors restaurant. Leafroll and other viruses strangled grapes and degraded taste. In many instances "it was physically impossible to make a world-class wine," Deyzel said. Gradually, as export cash came in and the trade curtain fell away, old virus-infected vines were replaced. The centuries-old idea that one estate could produce several different kinds of top-class wine gave way to planting the right grape in the right place. Twenty years later that decision is beginning to bear fruit. From their base in the stunning but windswept valley of Hemel en Aarde – Heaven on Earth in Afrikaans – Chris Alheit and his wife Suzaan manage plots across the Western Cape. They are determined to create not only world-beating wine, but one that is distinctly South African. "South Africa needs an identity" "What South Africa needs, what we are beginning to grow now, is an identity," Alheit said. For many years South Africa producers believed that this could be done through the uniquely South African grape Pinotage. Created in the 1920s by a Stellenbosch professor, it was a marriage of Pinot Noir and Hermitage, also known as Cinsaut. It offers the deep fruitiness of a Pinot, but critics often complain that it whiffs of burnt rubber. "It's been misunderstood, badly planted and badly made," Alheit said. Like fellow South African "maverick" winemakers Eben Sadie and Chris Mullineux, Alheit is looking further back in South Africa's winemaking history to chart a way forward. It is time, they say, to cast aside attempts to mimic Bordeaux or Burgundy and use old vines and grapes planted in the Cape for 300 years, particularly white varieties like Chenin Blanc. "Chenin has been in South Africa since about 1656, so that's about 80 years longer than the first written record of Cabernet Sauvignon appearing in the Medoc," Alheit said "We are talking about really authentic Cape Wine varieties here." Chenin is still the top variety in the country, with 18% of the total plantings and the largest chunk of exports, but most is used for unremarkable table wine. By using older bush vines and taking a hands-off approach, Alheit says the wine can speak for itself. He hopes that Chenin – which is also widely planted in France's Loire but few other places – can distinguish South Africa in much the same way that Malbec has transformed Argentina. Their labours are starting to get noticed. Influential critic Tim Atkin recently described South Africa as "the most exciting wine-producing country in the Southern Hemisphere." Fellow critic Neal Martin of the Wine Advocate gave Alheit's 2011 Cartology wine a rare 96 points out of 100. "I am now coming to the end of my second decade in wine," said Boekenhoutskloof's Mark Kent. "The next ten years in terms of South African wine are probably going to be the most exciting." "I think the time is right. I think people are looking to us as an alternative for quality wine." But conscientious wine-making comes at a price. Tracking down healthy old bush vines is tricky, as many of them are in outlying areas that have been neglected. And yields from old vines, especially those over 20 years old, are notoriously small. Eben Sadie's flagship white Palladius uses grapes from vineyards that are up to 55 years old. That pushes up the price in a region that is better known for its dirt-cheap plonk, while top-end wines are still a fraction of the cost of similar quality wine from California's Napa, Spain's Ribiera del Duero or France's Cote du Rhone. The weaker rand may help keep prices down, but increases seem inevitable. Still, as the distinction narrows between old-world and new-world wines, South African producers hope their position straddling both will be their ticket to success. – AFP Relaxnews, September 16, 2013. |
| Confucius makes comeback at Chinese tables Posted: 15 Sep 2013 12:30 AM PDT "Confucius cuisine" is a fine-dining trend that reflects how the ruling Communist party – which long saw the sage as a reactionary force – has drafted him into its modern campaign to boost what President Xi Jinping has called China's "cultural soft power". One of the few ancient Chinese names to have global recognition, the philosopher highlights bonds with overseas Chinese and other Asian nations, and his moniker has been adopted for more than 300 language-teaching "Confucius Institutes" in 90 countries. The authorities are "going back and finding certain elements that existed before the 20th century" and "exploiting Confucius as a brand", says Thomas Wilson, a professor at Hamilton College in New York. Among restaurants in Qufu in the eastern province of Shandong – where the philosopher known in Chinese as Kong Zi lived from 551 BC to 479 BC – the cuisine is an edible symbol of the way the writer has been reworked. Book of Odes and Book of Rites Ginkos, a dense, mildly sweet dessert named after two Confucius classics, is a yellow pea flour "book" topped with nuts and drizzled with honey. In another dish, radishes carved into exquisite trees reflect his saying that "food can never be too fine and cooking never too delicate". The philosopher's teachings of hierarchy, order and deference had deep resonance in the feudal societies of China and the region. Tens of generations of his descendants lived at the sprawling Confucius Residence complex in Qufu, enjoying close ties with a succession of emperors, along with ever bigger land grants and hereditary titles. They regularly feted all manner of dignitaries with elaborate banquets, over time developing an exquisite cuisine, say the chefs promoting it today. But that privileged world disappeared in the 20th century, as Japan invaded the country and the Communists won the civil war. Many Confucius descendants – then in the 77th generation – abandoned Qufu and fled to Taiwan. After taking power the Communists savaged Confucianism, and during the tumultuous 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, Red Guard youths incited by Mao Zedong destroyed Confucian temples along with other symbols of the past, and targeted Confucian chefs for abuse. With trained chefs having fled mainland China or passed away, piecing together exactly what Confucius cuisine entailed has proved difficult. "The Cultural Revolution cut off nearly four generations," laments Wang Xinglan, who was commissioned by the commerce ministry to rediscover Confucius cuisine in the 1980s and now heads the Shandong Cuisine Research Association. Today's dishes supposedly draw from those developed over the centuries at the residence in Qufu, but that leaves plenty of room for interpretation among enterprising restaurateurs. "Some people want to use the label, but they simply don't understand the dishes, the culture, the history – so they can't make the food," says Wang. A couple running Confucian Home-Cooking – one of many hole-in-the-walls in Qufu advertising authentic traditional dishes – serves Confucius Residence Tofu for 30 yuan and egg soup for five yuan. Their version of Book of Odes and Book of Rites Ginkgos amounts to a pile of the yellow nuts ringed by tomato slices, which the husband takes just a few minutes to whip up before sitting back down to stuff chopsticks into plastic sleeves. On the wall hangs a C rating from the sanitation bureau. Meanwhile down the street the luxury Shangri-La hotel – where dishes run as high as 680 yuan – boasts an artistic Confucius feast reimagining Book of Odes and Book of Rites Ginkgos as a snow pear carved with the word "poetry". The dessert is topped with a slowly stewed date, lotus seed and ginkgo nut and drizzled with caramel sauce and osmanthus honey. The hotel's Confucius Mansion's Eight Treasures soup includes sea cucumber, abalone, fish maw and other delicacies. In another dish prawns are cocooned in hand-pulled fried vermicelli and plated like a modern sculpture. Professor Wilson points out that "the first motive for reviving any of these things is to make money. "The so-called Confucius cuisine is part of the opening up of the tourist industry in China," he says. A Qufu resident surnamed Li, 45, passing by the lush hotel grounds, dismisses what she considers a ploy for free-spending tourists. "They take a carrot and carve it into something pretty. But it doesn't taste good, it only looks good," she says. "It's for people with money." - AFP Relaxnews, September 15, 2013. |
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