{"id":33445,"date":"2016-11-11T09:31:55","date_gmt":"2016-11-11T09:31:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/?p=33445"},"modified":"2017-07-20T07:52:03","modified_gmt":"2017-07-20T07:52:03","slug":"black-elephant-vintners-ryans-kitchen-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/black-elephant-vintners-ryans-kitchen-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Elephant Vintners & Ryan’s Kitchen Team Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re not familiar with the Black Elephant Vintners range of wine, well then, it\u2019s time you get acquainted. The wine brand, and the team behind it, are a renegade bunch, whose approach to wine is entirely different to many others on the market.<\/span><\/p>\n

You might think with a name like Black Elephant Vintners that you could pick up a bottle sporting wildlife that would make the perfect gift for your overseas friends. But you couldn’t be more wrong. <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Interestingly the name is a hybrid of the two owners names \u2013 \u2018black\u2019 refers to Kevin Swart, one of the founders of the brand, and the \u2018elephant\u2019 to Raymond Ndlovu (ndlovu meaning elephant), Kevin\u2019s business partner and long time friend. The pair met as stockbrokers who worked together in Johannesburg and when their company was sold, Kevin packed up and moved to Franschhoek, with Raymond following a little while later. It may seem like a clich\u00e9 to make your money in the financial services industry and then pack it all in for life in the country, but it\u2019s a great trade off. And,\u00a0if any of us were given the same opportunity, we\u2019d undoubtedly also leap at it. <\/span><\/p>\n

The names and labels of the wines are creative, contemporary and fun, each with a special meaning to the team and a relationship to the wine. Black Elephant Vintners is a young wine brand that shakes off\u00a0grandiosity and instead brings a fresh, laid back quality to wine drinking, without compromising on quality.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Black<\/div><\/div><\/span><\/p>\n
\"Kevin<\/div>
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The pair don\u2019t claim to know everything about making wine, they leave that to winemaker Jacques Wentzel (ex Warwick and M\u00f4reson), but what they do endeavour to create are wines that they love to drink. Their aim is to remove the pretentiousness from wine drinking, not by making cheap wines, but rather by making serious wines to be enjoyed in a lighthearted and convivial manner. <\/span><\/p>\n

As Raymond says, “You seldom remember a wine, but you do remember moments that are created by sharing a bottle”. <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He believes that opening a bottle of wine is a gateway to a sharing of ideas and friendship and each bottle expresses this in its own way. <\/span><\/p>\n

Black Elephant Vintners has partnered up with Ryan\u2019s Kitchen in Franschhoek<\/h4>\n

It is fitting then that Black Elephant Vintners has partnered up with Ryan\u2019s Kitchen in Franschhoek to put together\u00a0a tasting menu. The idea is to sit down and get to know the wines as they are presented, paired with tasty morsels. Best enjoyed, of course, in good company.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are two options of tasting menu available\u00a0at Ryan\u2019s Kitchen , a 4-course and a 7-course. If you prefer you can just taste the wines, but the experience of both together should really not be missed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"black-elephant-vintners-mcc\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kicking off the 7-course menu is the <\/span>Black Elephant Vintners MCC<\/span><\/i>, a beautifully slick black-on-black packaged bottle, encasing a beautiful bubbly\u00a0that does not disappoint. The accompanying dish \u2013 compressed, rolled octopus is served with a refreshing apple ceviche and a signature accompaniment \u2013 Ryan\u2019s black pepper meringue.
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Next was fish sashimi, served in seaweed stock. The stock was positively bursting with delicious umami flavour, the kind that washes over your tongue and leaves you immediately wanting more. It needed a bold wine to stand up to it and BEV\u2019s <\/span>Fox and Flamingo Ros\u00e9<\/span><\/i>\u00a0was a perfect pairing. Not your average Ros\u00e9, this full-bodied wine is a ruby red colour and holds up surprisingly well to warm foods.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Without giving away the rest of the pairing menu entirely, the courses continue as a d\u00e9gustation should, from lighter to heavier, with some surprises in between. One of the standouts that must be mentioned however, is the course of sous vide buttery baby potato with snoek and chives. One of the tastiest bites I\u2019ve had this year, full of the kind of decadent richness that hits the satiating button right on the head. The richness was balanced\u00a0by sipping on BEV’s\u00a0<\/span>Timothy White,<\/span><\/i> a blend of Chenin, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The menu works up to a final course of beautifully, fall-apart-tender lamb, served with <\/span>Amistad Syrah<\/span><\/i>. Either coincidentally, or perhaps purposefully, this final wine sums up the BEV brand as a whole and is a fitting way to end off. The word <\/span>Amistad<\/span><\/i> means friendship in Spanish and the label shows a powerful image of two hands in a grip of friendship. With the mantra of the brand being about sharing, enjoyment and the appreciation of the good life, it seems like the right note to finish on. <\/span><\/p>\n

No doubt by the end of seven courses and seven tastings you\u2019ll not only know the wines better but you\u2019ll have shared a good many laughs and made memories along the way.<\/span><\/p>\n

4-course option food and wine R235 |\u00a0<\/span>7-course option food and wine R330 |\u00a0<\/span>Booking is recommended<\/span><\/p>\n

bevintners.co.za<\/a> | Facebook<\/a> | Twitter<\/a> | Instagram<\/a>\u00a0 &\u00a0ryanskitchen.co.za<\/a>\u00a0| Facebook<\/a> | Twitter<\/a> | Instagram<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re not familiar with the Black Elephant Vintners range of wine, well then, it\u2019s time you get acquainted. The wine brand, and the team behind it, are a renegade bunch, whose approach to wine is entirely different to many others on the market. You might think with a name like Black Elephant Vintners that you could pick up a bottle sporting wildlife that would make the perfect gift for your overseas friends. But you couldn’t be more wrong. Interestingly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":923,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4098],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"acf":[],"brand_slug":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/923"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33445\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}