Latest News

Chicken Piccata

Enjoy Our Delicious Chicken Piccata Recipe Paired With Our Classic Chardonnay

Method: 

1. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour and shake off any excess flour.
2. In a large page over medium high heat, melt 2 Tbsp of butter with 3 Tbsp olive oil.
3. Once the pan is hot add 2 pieces of chicken and cook for 2-3 minutes. When chicken is browned, flip and cook other side for 2-3 minutes. Remove and transfer to a plate.
4. Melt 2 more Tbsp butter and add another 2 Tbsp olive oil. Once pan is hot again, add the other 2 pieces of chicken and repeat the process. Transfer to a plate when it’s done cooking.
5. Into the pan add the lemon juice, stock and capers. Return to stove and bring to boil, scraping up brown bits from the pan for extra flavor. Add salt and pepper. Return all the chicken to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove chicken to platter. Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter to sauce and whisk vigorously. Pour sauce over chicken and garnish with parsley. Best served with pasta or rice.

Gourmet Eaton Mess

Enjoy Our Delicious Gourmet Eaton Mess paired with the Rietvallei Muscadel

Method: 

For the Meringue Cookies:

1. Preheat the oven to 120 degrees °C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Using a mixer beat egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt on high speed. Once the egg whites begin to froth, add the sugar and continue beat on high speed until stiff and glossy peaks start to form.
3. Use a tablespoon to lay them out. Bake the meringues for 40-45 minutes until they are dry and slightly golden around the edges.
4. Remove and let cool on a cool rack.

For the Eton Mess:

1. In a small bowl, toss the fruit together with the brown sugar and set aside.
2. In separate bowl, combine the cream, sugar, and vanilla and beat until the cream becomes completely thickened.

Assembly:

1. In your desired serving glasses or bowls, begin with one layer of cream, 1 meringue cookie crushed, and two spoonfuls of fruit. Continue this pattern until each glass is complete. Top with a large dollop of cream and chocolate shavings if desired. You can also add cream to each layer if you want and drizzle honey over it.
2. Refrigerate before serving if making ahead, or serve immediately.

Gourmet Prawn Tacos

Enjoy Our Delicious Gourmet Prawn Tacos paired with our Rietvallei Sauvignon Blanc

Method: 

1. Mix the marinade ingredients in a large bowl, add the prawns and toss in the marinade.
2. Heat up 1 Tbsp olive over high heat in a large pan. Add half the prawns and cook each side for 30 seconds.
3. Transfer to bowl, loosely cover with foil. Cook the remaining prawns and also add to bowl once cooked.
4. Serve with slaw, pink taco sauce, warm tortillas and lime wedges on the side.

Taco Slaw:

1. Place all ingredients in a large bowl then mix well.

Pink Taco Sauce:

1. Mix ingredients and adjust Sriracha to your taste.

Rietvallei yet again in the Top 100 winning way

Rietvallei Wine Estate has once again proved its magic mettle in the annual National Wine Challenge 2023, bagging four Double Platinum or so-called Top 100 awards, among a haul of nine medals. This includes a coveted Grand Cru National Champion Best in Class for its Rietvallei JMB Cabernet Franc 2019.

Said CEO and winemaker Kobus Burger, of this historic winery on the R60 near Robertson,” I am elated that the JMB Cab Franc once again performed so well and received this top recognition. This our new 2019 vintage creation which we plan to release in July.

“At the same time, it’s also such a highlight to see the Estéanna (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc) coming to the fore again, which is also the new 2019 vintage to be released in July.

“I’m also extremely happy about the other two Double Platinum Awards, namely the JMB Chardonnay 2022 and Shiraz 2019, all personal favourites of mine.

“Moreover, the three Double Golds are a great bonus, especially for the Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay – which happened to be the first red and white wines released under our Rietvallei brand name – while it’s wonderful that the maiden vintage, multi-cultivar Rietvallei Estate 2016 also came to the fore at this prestige competition.

“We feel deeply honoured and proud to receive these awards fromThe National Wine Challenge 2023. Thank you to the organisers and tasting panel for this acknowledgement. Also a big thank you to our whole Rietvallei team without whom this would never have been possible,” said Kobus.

This year’s achievement means that, including these four Double Platinums, three Double Gold and two Silvers, this Estate has in the past four years garnered 11 Double Platinum Awards – in other words Top 100 listings – including three Grand Cru (Best in Class) achievements and seven Double Golds in this competition.

When small holds a big promise

– Rietvallei Harvest  ‘23

With the latest harvest in the home straight at Rietvallei Wine Estate – over a period of some nine weeks – winemaker-owner Kobus Burger is upbeat about the quality promise. This, despite the total crop size expected to be significantly smaller than usual.

“It is definitely going to be a vintage for the books, quality wise,” he said. We see this in the white wines which are already fermented dry, as well as the intense colour of the reds during and after primary fermentation.”

In line with early reports on the state of the complete harvest from all the country’s wine-growing regions, the estate’s smaller harvest arrived earlier than usual – with the Sauvignon Blanc first to be brought in during the first week of January and due to be finished by the week of 20 March, with the Cabernet Sauvignon.

“The reason for this, as we realised very soon, was the much lighter yield, with the vineyards being more beautiful and healthy than in many years. It reminded me of my father’s (the late Johnny Burger) words, ‘a pretty vineyard does not necessarily mean a large crop’, and this is truly so.”

The ‘factory’, he said, referring to the foliage, is in fine shape and the crop light – this being the reason for the grapes developing sugar so soon. The reduced weight is a direct result of smaller berries.

Kobus believes that last year’s later harvest, in turn, had had a significant impact. The vineyards did not have enough time to build reserves after the harvest before entering the important winter dormancy period.

“But the upside of smaller berries, of course, is more concentration and better quality, as already seen at this early stage. Unbelievable!”

Meanwhile, Hennie Visser, the Vinpro viticultural consultant for Robertson, said that   a smaller crop by about 15% is expected in Robertson. If this materialises, it would be the smallest crop in the district in more than ten years.

Vinpro consultation service manager, Conrad Schutte, said the indications for the latest industry crop estimate report are 9% down overall on last year and that its duration varies from area to area.  

WHERE HERITAGE IS TANGIBLE AND TASTABLE

With the notion of heritage very much on people’s lips in South Africa during the month of September, with Heritage Day officially celebrated on the 24th, the commercial angle is often simply lip service that takes priority over the deeper significance and meaning of rich legacies and culture.

However, where you can literally walk the heritage path instead of just going the talk way, is Rietvallei Wine Estate, just off the R60, only 160 kilometres from the Mother City. Here tangible and tastable treasures are truly alive and honoured, so you can actually step outside the characterful tasting room in the Manor House, built in 1940, and find yourself a stone’s throw away from one of the country’s oldest and most historical vineyards, a bush vine Red Muscadel (Muscat de Frontignan) vineyard planted in 1908.

Today, surrounded by 119 hectares of newer, thriving vineyards – of sought-after and important cultivars, mainly Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz – this 114-year-old Red Muscadel still represents a long-standing flag-bearer that occupies pride of place in the exquisite Rietvallei Heritage Collection range.

The following seven selected wines that make up the Heritage Collection are made in limited quantities, honouring the Rietvallei heritage of timeless family tradition:

• 1908 Muscadel – produced exclusively from bush vines planted in 1908
• Rietvallei Estate 2016 – a unique blend of all seven red varieties planted on the Estate
• JMB Cabernet Franc
• Estéanna Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot
• Dark Cin (Cinsaut)
• JMB Chardonnay 2020
• Estéanna Sauvignon Blanc

These characterful creations have in recent years not only yielded a rich harvest of top competition accolades but also proved that Rietvallei is at the forefront of expressing unique terroir traits in the diverse Cape winelands, today with owner-winemaker Kobus Burger at the helm.

All along, the role of Red Muscadel in the estate’s evolvement remains respected and the cultivar is also featured as the Rietvallei Red Muscadel 2018 (500 ml) in the second-tier Classic Collection range – started by Kobus’s late father, Johnny Burger in 1976.

At the time, he released the Rietvallei Estate Red Muscadel, which was followed by a barrel-fermented Chardonnay in 1987. Then, only 15 years later, in 2002, the range was expanded with the addition of a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Sauvignon Blanc. The Shiraz and Chenin Blanc followed soon after.

In the spirit of the farm’s treasured culture over its 158 year’s existence, the family theme is reflected in some way or other in each of the 24 wines of the current estate portfolio. These include the Burger Family Vineyards and John B ranges – John B obviously honouring Johnny Burger and so also the JMB brand which refers to his initials, for Johannes Marthinus Burger.

Meanwhile, the Estéanna wines’ name is derived from the teenage daughters of Kobus and Elizabeth, Esté and Annie. The younger twin sons are sure to feature in a wine brand to come and further forge the big Burger values seven generations ahead.

The farm was originally bought in 1864 by Alewyn Burger for his son, Jacobus (Koos). The latter was a pioneering wine farmer, who was 70 years old when he planted that special Muscadel vineyard. This, on what counts among South Africa’s oldest family-owned wine estates and was one of the first wine farms established in the picturesque Robertson Wine Valley.

In 2014 Rietvallei reached a major milestone by becoming one of only a handful of South African wine estates to celebrate 150 years of ownership under one family. This heritage of a pioneering Robertson-based wine culture under the guidance of the Burger family chain has contributed to Rietvallei’s track record of excellence in viticulture and winemaking.

Intimate knowledge of the soils and an understanding of the interaction between nature and vine, along with visionary winemaking practices, lie at the heart of the estate’s status for premier winemaking. So also at its liquid embodiment of heritage today.