This weekend, Waterford Estate brought up some of its finest wines, which the Maropeng Hotel chef, Zhan Steyn, skilfully paired with some of his culinary creations.

It was the first of several wine and food pairings that the Maropeng Hotel will be hosting throughout the year.

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Course 1

The lunch started with a smoked salmon mousse paired with one of Waterford’s more accessible wines, the 2014 Pecan Stream Chenin Blanc.

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Course 2

The fish starter was followed by springbok carpaccio with a pistachio-and-cranberry-coated cream cheese lollipop, paired with Waterford’s Elgin Pinot Noir.

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Course 3

The main course was a stylised brioche bunny chow with lamb loin cutlets. The spicy flavours of Waterford’s 2010 Kevin Arnold Shiraz brought out the exotic herb seasoning of the perfectly cooked lamb.

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Course 4

For the fourth course, the Waterford Family Reserve Heatherleigh (non-vintage) complemented a passion fruit and vanilla cheesecake. The fruity notes of the wine suited the smooth sweetness of the passion fruit cheesecake, and the slight flavour of Turkish delight in the wine was brought forth by the homemade Turkish delights paired with the cheesecake.

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Course 5

The versatility of the Family Reserve Heatherleigh was shown in the next course, as it was once again the wine of choice, this time paired with a tempura deep-fried chocolate bar. In this course the fruity notes of the wine were allowed to speak for themselves, against the richness of the chocolate.

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Course 6

The final course was toffee apple Camembert served with a crispy tortilla, and paired with the 2014 Waterford Estate Rose-Mary. The Rose-Mary successfully muted the flavours of the toffee, which might otherwise have become too sweet, enhancing the desired tartness of the cheese to finish off the tasting adventure.

The Maropeng Hotel will host its next wine-tasting event, this time with Nederburg, on 25 April.

Waterford Estate wines will also be returning to Maropeng for a special Mother’s Day event, when Waterford will bring up its range of chocolates especially crafted to be paired with its wines. These wine and chocolate pairings usually only take place at the Waterford Estate in the Western Cape.