Celebrate Heritage Day at Home with Spier
Inspired by Spier's rich wine history, here are some wonderful ways to make this Heritage Day a memorable one that you can celebrate at home.
26/08/2022
With moving to Level 1 of the lockdown, Spier has put together two great ways for you to celebrate Heritage Day at home surrounding by family and friends, plus, we share some top tips for celebrating Heritage Day. What better way to celebrate heritage than with Spier, whose own history dates back as far as 1692, making them one of the oldest and most renowned wine estates in South Africa.
1. Plan to ensure you have plenty of wine
Make sure you have plenty of wine to offer for your Heritage Day celebration with Spier’s Heritage Wine Pack. For Heritage Month, Spier is celebrating their acclaimed 21 Gables range - a range that pays tribute to their over 300-year winemaking heritage.
Aptly named after the twenty-one Cape Dutch gables found adorning the buildings on the Spier Werf, the Heritage Pack offers three bottles each of the four celebrated wines making up the 21 Gables range:
• 21 Gables Sauvignon Blanc 2019
• 21 Gables Chenin Blanc 2018
• 21 Gables Cabernet Sauvignon 2016
• 21 Gables Pinotage 2016
2. Purchase everything you need for the perfect braai
Now that you have the wine sorted, don't forget to stock up on everything you need for the perfect feast. At the Spier Shop, you can stock up on the Heritage Braai pack - crammed with a selection of South African classics for the quintessential heritage-inspired braai.
Prepared exclusively by Spier Farm Cafe, the Heritage Braai pack will be delivered on 23 September, making the day stress-free and making your planning easier for an epic day off with family and friends. The pack offers generous servings for two people, it costs just R450 (or R565 with wine) and includes:
• Farmer Angus boerewors
• Curried rump sosaties (4)
• Mielies and herbed butter
• Tomato smoor
• Garlic baguette
• Potato salad
• Three bean salad
• Vadas Pasteis de Natas (2)
Top Tips to make your Heritage Day Celebration even better
Frans Smit, Spier Cellar Master, shares a few of his time-honoured tips to make your Heritage Day celebration a day to remember:
Source responsibly
Just as the quality of Spier wines begins with a carefully tended vineyard, so the enjoyment of your Heritage Day braai is largely dependent on where you source your meat from. It is important to aim for quality and not quantity, which is also a good approach when drinking wine too!
We all aim to be eco-friendly and more in tune with the planet and for this reason the meat you choose should be humanely reared and without hormones or routine antibiotics. Not only it is better for you and your family, and for the animals, and the planet — the meat tastes incredible too!
Pair as you please
While you would normally pair a red wine with red meat, don't let red wine hog the limelight. Spier's rich and ripe 21 Gables Chenin Blanc pairs well with fatty meats, something to keep in mind if you like to prepare pork belly, but it can hold its own with something like beef short rib. Match Spier's Seaward Chardonnay with your favourite sosaties.
Bring on the heat
Rather than using conventional briquettes in my Weber, I much prefer using authentic charcoal (though it’s important to make sure it is sustainably sourced). The smoky flavours it gives to your meats are much more intense and natural. For the best-cooked meat, use a direct heat over the coals for thinner items and indirect heat for big roasts.
Go for wood
Fill your braai with a hardwood that burns more slowly and ensure that the wood you use is properly dried out. You don't want wet wood to fill your outdoors with smoke.
Trust your instincts
With all the braai paraphernalia out there, stick with what normally works for you. Yes, a thermometer is great if you regularly do roasts, but we humans have been cooking over fires since the beginning of the time and South Africans know how to put on a great braai. Grab a glass of your favourite wine, keep an eye on the meat, and make a toast to Heritage Day!