Interview with our new Chef de Cuisine - Neil Norman

Neil Norman - Dornier Chef de Cuisine

•What's a typical day in your life like?
I am usually in the kitchen by 07:00, then I start baking fresh breads for the day, when the dough is proving, I will start going through the fridges and look at the quality of all the for the day, and start planning my menu.

•Do you spend a lot of the day eating?
I used to, I’m trying to eat more healthy and stay in shape, I do more tasting now!

•What is your comfort food?
I believe that any hearty meal enjoyed with friends and family is comfort food, but If you want to be technical, its slow cooking some lamb shoulder, or maybe some duck cassoulet, and always a big glass of red wine while you’re busy!

•Who was your greatest cooking influence and why?
For inspiration in the kitchen, I would say Thomas Keller from the French laundry in the Napa valley. For cutting edge flavours, definitely Neil Perry of Australia.

•What was the worst meal you've made and for whom?
We were in Hermanus, and just wanted some fresh fish, so we stopped at the lemon butter, how disappointing. We walked out.

What's your favourite music to cook by?
I enjoy some supper club, hotel costes and café Paris. I like chilled lounge music.

•What would you want your last meal to be?
I would want the Chicago cut with chips and red wine sauce from Belthazar in the waterfront.

•What's your favourite ethnic cuisine and why?
I like Indian, I am a sucker for good curry.

•What is your favourite ingredient to cook with?
At the moment I am quite fond of lime, garlic & chilli. I find it’s a very refreshing combination on fish and in rubs or marinates.

•In a world of instant, pre-cooked and fast-food, what do you think home chefs should take time to make? Should it be bread? Stock? What's the key thing we should spend our time on?
Well moving into winter, I would say that a slow roast on a Sunday, or a beautiful chicken casserole in the week, is a great way to spend time with your family. Speak to your local butcher, he will be able to guide you in the right direction, and they have really good ideas.

•What's your favourite wine?
I love Chenin Blanc for white, but a good Cabernet Sauvignon or Bordeaux blend can’t be beaten.

•What dish would you pair it with and why?
for white, I would like to do something lighter like grilled duck breast or line fish, for the red, I like either roast beef or even grilled veal loin. At home I like to keep it fuss free, so no heavy sauces, keeping to kosher salt and cracked black pepper. My wife enjoys the natural flavours.

•When you're at home, do you spend time in the kitchen or order out?
We used to always be eating out with friends, trying out new places, but for the last week or so we have been cooking healthy foods, and inviting everyone over.

•Where do you get your inspiration for your more complex dishes?
I used to try not think about it too much, and pair flavours when I am cooking in the kitchen with my team, but being at Dornier, we try and focus on having a smaller menu, which myself and the sommelier pair on a day to day basis, so I have more time to source the best produce and design the plate appropriately. We work on a 3-4 flavour rule, so to not over power our wines.

Dornier a big hit at WSWA conference in Las Vegas

The 67th annual Wine and Spirits Wholesalers Association conference, the biggest gathering of wholesalers in America, was held in Las Vegas from 6-8 April 2010.

Every year the wholesalers have a big wine competition in conjunction with the experts at Tasting Panel Magazine.

Dornier was awarded a silver medal by the panel for its Donatus.

Source: Wine.co.za

Background on Sustainable Wine in South Africa

Sustainable Wine South Africa (SWSA) is the alliance between the Wine and Spirit Board (WSB), the Integrated Production of Wine (IPW) scheme, the Biodiversity & Wine Initiative (BWI) and Wines of South Africa (WOSA).

The South Africa wine industry has launched the world's first sustainability seal as a guarantee of eco-friendly production. Issued by the Wine and Spirit Board, the seal, intended for bottled wines only, is backed by a sophisticated tracking system in which bottle contents can be traced back to source at every stage of the supply chain to confirm the integrity of their production.

Every seal carries a unique number, through which the wine's provenance can be tracked from vine to bottle.

Effective from 2010, the voluntary system is available to those wineries to have passed the accreditation of the Integrated Production of Wine (IPW) set of sustainable principles, at farm, winery and bottling levels. IPW covers a range of issues such as integrated pest management, the health of workers, the conservation of biodiversity and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

#HANNUWA

The /Xam San, known in colonial times as the Bushmen, were the painters of the rock art we find in the Cape Fold mountains. They were the original environmentalists, regulating their behaviour in harmony with plant and animal cycles, astral movements and climatic phenomena. They saw land as a source of life – a gift to mankind that nourishes, supports and teaches.

Today in South Africa, our wine industry is in a unique position to benefit from this rich heritage, to regain that understanding of our environment, and to relearn this sense of belonging to a natural place. The /Xam San had a word for this, which neatly embodies the new philosophy of the South African wine industry.

The word is #hannuwa. This ancient San word means the gathering of good fortune through living in sustainable harmony with our natural environment.

Wines of South Africa (WOSA) has driven a huge awareness campaign inwards to all our producers because we know that the #hannuwa philosophy must take root where it all starts, at farm level. In total, we have over 4 000 primary producers, many of them mixed farmers.

In December 2005, WOSA mailed them a commitment to sign and a diversity survey to complete, and over 570 producers, representing more than 40% of land planted to vine, signed the following pledge:

I HEREBY COMMIT MYSELF:
To farm sustainably.
To be a custodian of the land and preserve it for our future generations.
To nurture a culture of respect among the people who work with us on our farms and in our cellars.
To promote an environment of dignity, equality and upliftment for all.
To protect the unique and valuable biodiversity of our winelands.
To safeguard the rich heritage of South Africa’s winelands.

#hannuwa is an African wisdom that is now more than 70 000 years old. We are embracing it with enthusiasm and it is the inspiration for Sustainable Wine South Africa (SWSA).

Dornier is part of the initiative and will use the new seal from its 2010 vintage.





Source: SWSA Website

For background information on the new seal, visit: http://www.businessday.co.za/Articles/Content.aspx?id=105987
Wosa

Winemakers Dinner at Dornier Bodega Restaurant

A late night in March at the Dornier Bodega Restaurant (Pictures Juerg Wittwer)

Harvest initiation at Dornier - 6 March 2010

On a magnificent day we met at the Dornier Bodega Restaurant for muffins and coffee and took of for the vineyards on a tractor trailer. Winemaker JC Steyn, took us to merlot block 8 where 40 harvesters had been working since the early morning hours. The labour broker had brought an extra team with the result that there where no scissors left for the visitors. Instead of grapes most of us went after nice photo motives and there where plenty. After this, we drove back to the cellar for a cellar tour.





JC explained the process of winecmaking. We could experience de-stemming, crushing, pump-overs, fermenting wine in open tanks, addition of yeast, pressing. We tried unfermented and semi-fermented wines; Chein Blanc, Rose from Cabernet Franc as well as red wine. We did some grape stomping in front of the cellar, which was a great experience for the kids and some of the grown ups.
Lunch with more wines at Bodega was fabulous and we lingered until 4 in the afternoon.




The company was great. People came from Stellenbosch, Somerset West, England, Germany, and Russia. We hope to stay in touch.

Two empty bottles turned into a piece of art, and a tribute to two pioneers

The special label on the Dornier Donatus Red bottles was a tribute to the Swiss aviation pioneer Walter Mittelholzer, the holder of many flight records in the twenties and thirties of the last century and one of the founders of Swissair and to Claude Dornier, the German aircraft builder. In 1926/27 Mittelholzer was the first to fly across Africa on a seaplane, a Dornier Merkur.
His daughter in law, the Swiss artist Mascha Mioni, who is a regular visitor to Stellenbosch got inspired and re-designed the two bottles in bright (Swiss) red colours and secret messages. The bottles can be viewed at the Estate.

Harvest 2010 at Dornier Wines

Sorting Table

Sorting Table

Pinotage in the basket press

Viticulturist Theunis Bell

Winemaker JC Steyn after work

Thisteldown horses at Dornier

Dornier Harvest 2010 - Fermenting Pinotage in Open Oak Barrels

Fermenting wine on wood, especially new, (we have 20% new wood) integrates the wood much better and also changes some of the wood components as they are metabolised by the yeast during fermentation.

JC Steyn, Winemaker at Dornier)

Dornier Pinotage

Wine & Dine in Style at Vanilla Restaurant in Cape Town

Vanilla is Cape Town's own piece of Manhattan. It's show business style dining at it's finest and most glamorous, with evocative global cuisine to match.

Vanilla Restaurant/
Dornier Pinotage