We were privileged enough to be invited to Feast no.1 by Follow the feasts, which is a new concept in town! Follow the feasts is the brain child of Tracy South, owner of Rewined who is a wine marketing agent like no other! They try to bring more to the table than just sell their client’s wine, they create events like these to give their clients some added value and exposure.
A Feast to Remember
The long table feast idea was born out of adding something new and exhilarating for Lowvelders to get excited about. There is just one rule at these feasts – it has to be one long table!
It kicked off with a bang! Alvi’s Drift Wine Estate dazzled us from start to finish with outstanding wines that was paired with food from the phenomenal chef, Jonathan Robinson from Mahoi’s Restaurant in the Bagdad Centre just outside White River.
Alvi himself was there to take us through this sensory journey! It was all so well planned and organised. The welcome, Alvi’s Drift MCC Thornlands, with its buttery smooth taste, drink was superb. The first course was pea and ham soup paired with Alvi’s Sauvignon Blanc 2014 – I never thought that Sauvignon Blanc can go so well with a soup. You really tasted every component of the soup and wine.
We were then spoilt with a superb combo for the second course and was my favourite. Jonathan prepared a smoked trout terrine with a tomato jelly that went really so well with the Alvi’s CVC 2011, which is an unusual but oh so good blend of Chenin Blanc, Viognier and Chardonnay. The smoky flavour of the trout and the wooded wine complemented each other beautifully and was a really properly thought through pairing. Pure heaven!
They then pulled out the big guns with a feast – Spanish chicken, fall off the bone lamb shoulder with rustic veggies made up of sweet potato, butternut, olives, brinjals and potatoes. It was brought out in huge show stopper platters and we all helped each other dish up. We also received the most amazing mush room Risotto! Not a lot of restaurants can get this dish right, but Jonathan really pulled it off.
It was such a nice community moment and felt like a Sunday lunch with friends. Here we got two wines to pair this meal with – Alvi’s Pinotage 2014 and his amazing red blend, Aliv’s Drift Fusion 2011. Both of these wines were a great pairing. The Pinotage went very well with the chicken and the more complex red blend complemented the lamb really well.
The evening ended with a lip-smacking lemon curd pavlova and everyone had to had a second helping. The dessert was paired with the superbly sweet yet balanced Muscat de Frontignan 2010.
All the guests had a really marvellous time and there was really nothing to find fault with. The way the Follow the feasts work is the members of these feasts, which were basically the ones that attended feast no.1 will be notified a week prior to the next feast. They want to keep it as much of a secret as they possibly can. I cannot wait for Feast no.2! Well done to Follow the feasts – it truly was a feast.
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