THE PASTA MAKER
Ahead of the CWG auction, Teddy Hall tells Joanne Gibson why pasta and winemaking (not to mention wine) go so well together
L ike many winemakers, Teddy Hall is as comfortable in the kitchen as he is in the cellar. (He’s also very happy on a Harley Davidson, but that’s another story.)
He was a “mature” viticulture and oenology student at Stellenbosch University in the mid 1990s, having turned his back on a successful career as a broker. He quickly proved that he’d made the right decision by winning the annual Chenin Blanc Challenge an unequalled four times, as well as being named Diners Club Winemaker of the Year in 2001 — a track record which saw him invited to become a member of the prestigious Cape Winemakers’ Guild (CWG) in 2003.
Hall has been making wines under his own name since 2006 — all named after real characters of the early Cape. For this year’s Nedbank CWG Auction, for example, there’s his Teddy Hall Eva (Krotoa) Chenin Blanc Noble Late Harvest 2012, named after the ill-fated but remarkable woman from the Goringhaikona tribe who became the Dutch settlers’ interpreter. “She effectively ran early Cape politics at a time when women had almost no say,” marvels Hall.
There’s also his Teddy Hall Maria van Swaanswijk Chardonnay Auction Reserve 2012, named after the woman who moved in with the “sick- comforter”, Sybrand Mankadan, much to the horror of Dutch East India officials who quickly insisted on their marriage (not a terribly happy one, given that she tied the knot with someone else within a month of his death).
In between making wine and researching fascinating individuals who haven’t necessarily made it into the history books, Hall cooks — and homemade pasta is his speciality. “I use egg whites to fine [clarify] my red wines, so I need to use the yolks for
WITH GOOD-QUALITY PASTA, YOU DON’T NEED A LOT OF SAUCE
something,” he laughs. “I suppose I could make crème anglaise instead, but you can’t exactly eat a kilogram of that!”
What he loves about pasta is its versatility. “From linguine to ravioli, you can make as many variations as you like. What I don’t like is the typical South African pasta dish: three strands of spaghetti with a kilogram of meat on top. With good-quality homemade pasta, you don’t need a lot of sauce.”
He reckons a simple plate of tagliatelle sprinkled with some deepfried sage leaves, olive oil and a little lemon or lime zest would make a “beautiful match” for his auction reserve chardonnay. A tomato-based sauce, on the other hand, calls for a wine with more acidity: “It depends what you put with the tomato, but sauvignon blanc would work with chicken while nebbiolo would be great with a meatier sauce.”
There’s no nebbiolo among the 36 red wines on offer at the 29th annual Nedbank CWG auction, which takes place at the Spier Conference Centre on October 5. But there are three sauvignons among the 18 whites, a list which includes a grenache gris (Adi Badenhorst’s Vuilgoed 3 2012), a roussanne (Johan Malan’s Simonsig The Russety One 2012) and Kevin Arnold’s first-ever auction white (the Waterford Estate Chardonnay Auction Reserve 2011).
In fact, 59 singularly crafted wines will go under the hammer this year, making it the biggest selection ever, and you can taste all of them at the auction showcases taking place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre at 6pm on August 22, and at The Atrium, Nedbank, Sandton at 6pm on August 29. Tickets cost R170 and are available from www.WebTickets.co.za.