Brookdale Estate will be presenting an exclusive food and wine pairing dinner at The Bistro on Thursday evening, 28 August 2025, hosted by winemaker Xander Sadie and assistant winemaker Shanice du Preez. This special evening offers guests the opportunity to enjoy Brookdale’s latest vintage releases while engaging with the talented young winemakers who took the reins in Brookdale’s vineyard and cellar this year.
Promising an elegant evening of culinary discovery and wine appreciation, the event will feature a seasonal five-course menu created by executive chef Gary Coetzee.
Each dish on the menu has been designed to enhance the unique characteristics of the wines, opening with a spiced Butternut cappuccino, paired with the 2024 Brookdale Bradbourne White Blend. This expressive, aromatic blend of Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, Piquepoul Blanc and Marsanne, delivers citrus blossom, stone fruit and spice, with a textured and refreshing palate.
A delicate trout tartar follows, matched with the 2024 Brookdale Sixteen Field Blend, an interplanted single vineyard consisting of 16 white grape varieties, offering floral perfume, layered minerality, and savoury complexity. Diners will then enjoy handmade spinach and ricotta mezzaluna, served with the 2023 Brookdale Old Vine Chenin Blanc. Sourced from 40-year old bush vines, the wine shows classic elegance with notes of quince, pear, and subtle oak.
For the main course, fire-roasted porchetta is paired with the maiden vintage of Brookdale’s Twenty Field Blend (2024), a young red blend of 20 varieties that pays homage to the almost-forgotten art of field blend winemaking.
The dinner concludes with a refreshing white chocolate and blueberry dessert, complemented by the Mason Road Cap Classique.
At R750 per person, the evening includes all five courses with wine pairings. With limited seating available, this is a rare opportunity to join the winemakers at dinner and explore the guiding philosophy of curiosity and exploration behind Brookdale’s newest wines.
Luxury accommodation is also available in the Manor House on the estate for those who’d like to spoil themselves with an overnight stay after the Winemakers’ Dinner, all-inclusive at R3950 per person sharing (dinner, bed and breakfast).