Bidvest World Chefs Tour Against Hunger – a great success - As 250 chefs depart South Africa for their homes in 44 countries around the globe, they leave behind a lasting legacy that will ensure that 450 children receive a meal every day for the next five years. Thanks to the generosity of sponsors, corporate South Africa and the public, R8 million was raised over the 10 days of the Bidvest World Chefs Tour Against Hunger, which will go directly into providing 821 250 meals to needy children over a five year period. Read more...

Chefs from South Tryrol with one of the kids from the African Children's Feeding Scheme

ESS awarded big Japanese bundled services contract - ESS, the support services and
facilities management division of Compass Group SA, which provides catering services,
facilities management and support services to more than 450 blue-chip organisations,
has been awarded a three-year bundled services contract with Japanese
Tobacco Industries (JTI) to facilitate a bundle of services, including catering.
.

African Dream for Chinese and Japanese chefs - When the Lai Kung and Kyoto restaurants at The Boardwalk’s Oriental Village closed to make way for a new 5-star hotel, two staff members -Willy Fan, ex restaurant manager for both Kyoto and Lai Kung, and Joe Lin, ex head chef at Lai Kung - saw an opportunity and recently opened the doors to their new Chinese and Japanese restaurant Yi Pin. Fan and Lin hope to quickly establish Yi Pin as the city’s top Asian restaurant.

Weekly  inspiration - Since the beginning of September, food enthusiasts across South Africa
have enjoyed a tasty mix of favourite recipes, food news and culinary inspiration, as the Sunday
Times launched its Food Weekly. Offering news, profiles and features, Food Weekly will go beyond simply discovering new recipes, and will explore the seasonal and regional influences of SA.

Celebrity Chef Series 2011 - Neil Jewell was the last chef in the extremely popular, four-month Col’Cacchio pizzeria Celebrity Chef Series 2011. Neil has won numerous accolades for his perfectly balanced and seasonally influenced menu at Bread & Wine Restaurant in Franschoek, and has a formidable reputation as a pizza maker, winning the South African leg of the Global Pizza Challenge in 2010 with his Aubergine and Confit Karoo Lamb with Buchu creation. His sticky fingers pizza for the Col’Cacchio Series featured a lentil base topped with roasted pork belly, smoked mozzarella and tomato marmalade, finished off with lime and vanilla pickled cucumber and a chilli candy.

With every celebrity pizza sold in the 2011 Celebrity Chef Series, R5 was donated to the Sustainable Communities Programme run by the Wildlands Conservation Trust.

Gourmet Evenings - The Restaurant @ Clos Malverne, in the Devon Valley outside Stellenbosch, is giving jaded palates reason to wake from winter hibernation with the return of their popular monthly Gourmet Food & Wine Evenings featuring a five course culinary feast with each dish from Chef Nadia Louw Smith masterly paired with a matching estate wine by winemaker Suzanne Coetzee.

SA’s first sugar-free range of pre-mixers - Chill Beverages International (Pty) Ltd has stepped up their taste appeal with a brand new look and improved formulation for their Chelé pre-mixers, now in a chic 200ml slim line can and available in seven variants including Lemonade, Soda Water, Dry Lemon, Ginger Ale, Tonic Water, as well as Dry Lemon Lite and Tonic Water Lite, South Africa’s first sugar-free range of pre-mixers.

Ciro’s Lani Snyman judges World Barista Competition - Lani Snyman, Ciro Beverage Solutions’ Training Research and Development Manager, recently qualified as a World Barista Championship judge and judged The World Barista Championship in Columbia, a prestigious international coffee competition representing champions from over 50 nations worldwide.

WINE NEWS

NEW RELEASES

• Clos Malverne Estate has released the latest 2011 vintage of its single best seller – Sauvignon Blanc, , which was kept on the lees for a further three months after fermentation to give this easy drinking summer sip a creamy and long mouthfeel and great longevity.
  
• The recently released, elegant Knorhoek Shiraz 2009 is a sublime food partner and pairs exceptionally well with venison, succulent rump steak, rich fish dishes and will go perfectly with a Christmas roast.
  
• Simonsig Estate has released the second vintage of the popular no-added-sulphur Limited Release Pinot Noir Brut Rosé 2010, made exclusively for Woolworths.
  
• OBIKWA, the first South African wine to switch to ultra-light weight 350g Consol glass bottles, has released a brand new varietal – a wonderfully fruity Pinotage brimming with blackberries, plums and strawberries, which has already won a Best Value Award in the 2011 Wine Magazine Best Value Wine Guide for wines priced under R60 a bottle. 
  
• The new classical Matt Black Sauvignon Blanc 2011, an elegant, fruit-driven wine, joins the 2008 Matt Black Red, the second vintage to be released by Bilton on the local market.
  
• Neethlingshof has just released its sumptuous and spicy 2010 Malbec made from grapes grown with 40% less water, without compromising the flavour.
  
• South Africa’s favourite white wine varietal is now available in a low-alcohol option with the launch of Flat Roof Manor’s Sauvignon Blanc Light. The maiden 2011 vintage has an alcohol by volume (ABV) of just 9% and boasts 32% fewer kilojoules than the regular 14,3% ABV offering of the same vintage.
  
• The new vintages of Ingenuity, Nederburg’s specialty, hand-made blends - Ingenuity White 2010 and the 2008 Ingenuity Red blend - are now available. Ingenuity White has featured as a five-star wine three years in a row in Platter’s South African Wine Guide, with the 2007 vintage of Ingenuity Red joining the ranks in the 2011 edition of the guide. 
  
• Ernie Els Wines has released the SA Rugby Red, a Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 blend, as well as the SA Rugby White, a 2011 Sauvignon Blanc.   
  
• Nitida has released the new 2010 vintage of their flagship Bordeaux-style blend – Nitida Calligraphy – an exceptionally elegant and versatile food wine.
  
• The new 2011 vintage of Fleur du Cap Natural Light is a slightly off-dry, crisp and refreshing blend of 90% Chenin Blanc and 10% Sauvignon Blanc, with a lower alcohol level.
  
• Constantia Glen has released a new vintage - The Constantia Glen Three 2008 - named in accordance with the number of Bordeaux varieties that make up the blend.
  
• Waterkloof Estate released the 2011 vintage of its elegantly dry Cape Coral Mourvèdre under the Circumstance label – an internationally famed rosé.
  
• J.C. Le Roux Pinot Noir Rosé, South Africa’s first rosé to win the prestigious Wine Magazine Amorim Cap Classique Challenge, has just released a new 2008 vintage of this highly acclaimed Cap Classique - The J.C. Le Roux Pinot Noir Rosé.
• KWV recently introduced BerRaz - a new sweet Shiraz – with a burst of freshly picked berry sweetness produced from bold, fruity Shiraz, which can be enjoyed at any occasion, anytime and anywhere.
  
  

SA’s lightest weight 750ml wine bottle - Nampak Wiegand Glass has reached a higher level in the lightweighting of packaging with the launch of the lightest of all glass 750ml wine bottles made in South Africa yet. The ultra lightweight 750 ml glass bottle weighs only 340g – compared to the standard 450g bottle - and is manufactured through the latest technology available. Up to, and sometimes more than, 45% cullet (recovered waste glass collected from recycling initiatives) is used as raw materials.

South Africa's rare wines score again - The highlight of the 37th Nederburg Auction, held in Paarl in September, was the record R68 000 paid for a single case of 6 x 750 ml bottles of Monis Collectors Port 1948 (R11 333 per bottle) by Nigerian businessman and importer of wine, Obi Josephat Ndibe.

Zonnebloem 50-year-old wine attracts lively bidding -  Amongst the very oldest reds sold at the 2011 Nederburg Auction was a selection from Zonnebloem. The longest-matured Zonnebloem to come up for sale was a half-century old, with a case of six half-bottles of 1961 Cabernet Sauvignon fetching R5 500, equal to R2 444 per litre.

Redefining cool - Miele’s MasterCool series – a large-capacity flagship range of refrigeration and wine storage appliances - encompasses state-of-the-art refrigerators, freezers, fridge-freezers and wine conditioning units to preserve food and wine easily and safely. MasterCool appliances are based on a modular system for maximum flexibility and boast a minimum A+ energy efficiency rating.

Since different foods and wines require different ideal temperatures and humidity levels, the Miele MasterCool refrigerators operate via a food-driven menu system to adjust each of the four independent MasterCool zones within the cabinet to create and maintain the optimum conditions required for specific food categories. After stocking the fridge or freezer with a significant load, the Super cool or Super freeze function will rapidly cool to just under 2°C in the refrigerator and to -30°C in the freezer.

Changes in storage temperature, however subtle, can dramatically affect the quality of wine, which is why Miele’s MasterCool electronic controls ensure a precise and constant temperature in the three independently controlled cooling zones, which can be used to store or temper red and white wines and champagne at their ideal temperatures.  

Premium coffee for a premier lounge - Bidvest Premier Lounges has teamed up with Ciro Beverage Solutions to offer their clients a superior beverage solution in the form of Douwe Egberts’ Cafitesse, giving their clientele the freedom to create their own coffee beverages of consistent high quality easily, within nine seconds at the touch of a button, without the assistance of a barista.