Red Carnation Hotels

PRESS ROOM

Virtual Gourmet at The Twelve Apostles

23/03/2008

If the weather had been more comfortable, we might have dined on the terrace overlooking the Atlantic. If we’d arrived earlier, we might have enjoyed a beautiful sunset view.

Despite our inability to  satisfy either of those pleasant possibilities, our dinner at the Azure, the elegant dining room in Cape Town’s 12 Apostles Hotel, was memorable. True, we could not gaze  on the  fabled mountain range that gives the 70-bedroom resort its name, but looking out from our corner by the window we were treated to soothing   shades of   dark blue  water  and  high, shadowy outcroppings. Inside at table, we enjoyed a dazzling march of wine and food that eclipsed the dark view from our perch over the Atlantic.

Our dining companions, Phillip and Suzanne Knowlton, grape growers in Sonoma and partisans of Russian River Valley pinot noir and chardonnay,  normally favor wines on the order of  California's  Gary Farrell Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from Kistler and Hanzell. They started the evening with a challenge for sommelier Luvo Ntezo. “Choose a wine for us,” Phillip confronted Luvo, “choose a wine that will knock our socks off.”

The sommelier, one of South Africa’s most distinguished wine masters, did just that, not just once, but twice and thrice with a trio of beauties that would inspire oohs and aahs in Paris or Napa,   wherever   fine wine is appreciated. Luvo treated us to three knock-your-socks-off wines.

He started by pouring  a daring entry, the first vintage from a new winery,  a minerally  2005 chardonnay, rich in grapefruit, pear, and almond flavors, a graceful white  that could stand with the best of California and Burgundy. It was the maiden offering from Ataraxia Mountain Vineyards, founded by Kevin Grant in 2004. The Ataraxia was delightful with the multi-flavored salads that began our evening. The first was the house Azure salad, crisp baby herb leaves with feta cheese, tomatoes, peppers, green olives, and a tangy blend whose name,  Le Cirque Dressing, credited its origin at the famed New York restaurant. The second was 12 Apostles Caesar Salad, a traditional melding of lettuce,  croutons, lemon juice, olive oil and egg,  topped by shavings of pecorino cheese and ringed with    tiny cubes of parmesan.

We called for a second bottle of Ataraxia to accompany a rich dish of sautéed shiitake, oyster and button mushrooms with chives and shallots, dressed with an oregano cream reduction and delivered on a grilled portobello. Ntezo opened  our second Ataraxia and followed up with a silken 2003 chardonnay from Hamilton Russell Vineyards, whose reputation winemaker Grant had helped establish in a ten-year period before going off on his own. This was the finest chardonnay we tasted on our travels, and on returning to New York I tracked it to one New York shop where it sells at a very reasonable $30. The two chardonnays carried us through a crayfish and prawn cocktail, dressed with fresh rocket, avocado slices, lemon segments and onion sprouts rising up from an oversized martini glass.

Ltezo was grinning as if he’d been the star batsman in a cricket match when he set a third wine on the table. It was a 2005 Galpin Peak Pinot Noir from another of South Africa’s most honored wineries, Bouchard Finlayson. Like its two predecessors, this red originates in cool climate vineyards off Walker Bay, a gorgeous coastal area east of Capetown. Phil tested his glass with a look reflecting doubt that South Africa could produce a pinot noir to equal those made by his neighbors in California’s Russian River Valley. That skepticism vanished as he looked up with a grin and declared “Luvo, you’re three for three.”

The pinot noir and the remaining chardonnay played off our main courses-- an enormous grilled seafood platter for two that Rollie and I enjoyed thoroughly. Phil put away  a  delicate pan fried sole, dressed in a light Béarnaise sauce, while Suzanne, a former restaurateur who knows her food, marveled at a crisp, slow-roasted duck in a caramelized citrus reduction.. The seafood platter was an overwhelming  assembly of prawns, crayfish, langoustines, grilled baby calamari, Kingclip, a local fish,  and mussels, basmati rice and a side of green salad, served with garlic butter sauce, lemon butter sauce and the regional specialty, piri-piri sauce, a moderately hot dressing based on chile peppers and garlic.

Happy and sated, we told Luvo we could not handle dessert, but he and Chef Roberto de Carvalho  insisted on just one more plate for the four of us. The one plate brimmed over with four of Azure’s most popular desserts; a creamy cheesecake, baked Alaska,  cappuccino crème brûlée, and a selection of local fruit. They constituted a relatively tame offering from Azure’s adventurous kitchen, but   only bits and pieces remained as we left Azure, our socks definitely knocked off.

Azure is open daily, for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Average check is 200 rands

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