A Year on a Cape Wine Estate – Entertaining at Hamilton Russell Vineyards
Olive Hamilton Russell
Olive Hamilton Russell long awaited cookbook is now available for sale in South Africa at Exclusive Books and through Kalahari.com as well as several other fine bookshops. The publishers are Random House Struik.
The book is titled A Year on a Cape Wine Estate – Entertaining at Hamilton Russell Vineyards. The recipes are organized around the 4 seasons, starting with Spring and there is a seasonally tailored 3 course menu for each month (designed for 8 people). 36 dishes and 50 recipes in total.
10 years of regular home entertaining, combined with numerous inspirational meals around the world, have gone into Olive’s book. Her personal ‘food philosophy’ of reflecting a particular month in a season appropriately for a particular place, comes across strongly – and she has tailored classically inspired dishes to include produce and ingredients from Hemel-en-Aarde valley and immediate area.
She has also included several fascinating, historical – often foraged – ingredients from our Estate. Substitutes are listed for those hard-to-find ingredients and the book is a wonderful inspiration to all who want to develop their own area specific seasonal dishes.
The book is more than a cookbook though. Along with the 40 food photographs, there are over 100 photographs of life on Hamilton Russell Vineyards through the seasons. The “sense of place” so important to Hamilton Russell wines, is as important to Olive in her food and the book projects this beautifully. In addition to the photographs, there is a write-up for each month, covering what happens on a Wine Estate like Hamilton Russell Vineyards – in the vineyards and cellar and with the wild fauna and flora.
Although Olive often pairs our Pinot noir and Chardonnay with her dishes, she did not want her book to focus on our wines. Top South African sommelier – Miguel Chan – did an exceptional job of providing non-producer specific wine style recommendations (both local and international) for each dish.
A Year on a Cape Wine Estate – Entertaining at Hamilton Russell Vineyards makes a wonderful present for anyone interested in food, wine and nature.
