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Biltong en spogwyne lok fynproewers
During the Wine and Wildlife Festival at the Voortrekker Monument on September 28, two biltong makers shared their secrets with the wine bottlers of Pretoria East on how they ensure export quality biltong from Faerie Glen for one of the Cape’s prestigious wine farms.
Barend Scheepers from Pretoria East mentioned that he cannot disclose his secret ingredient in his biltong marinade but did reveal that he adds brown sugar to it.
“But the quantities are based on feeling,” Scheepers chuckled.
He believes the biltong pieces should hang for a good five to seven days to dry out.
He prefers to offer yellow fat biltong to true biltong enthusiasts, where the cattle have grazed on natural grassland and not in feedlots.
His preferred game meat for biltong includes waterbuck from Limpopo, gemsbok from the Northern Cape, and eland, but he still finds blue wildebeest cuts to make the tastiest biltong.
Theunie Erasmus, a biltong maker from Pretoria East, along with his spouse Alta, believe in using good spices like coriander in the biltong making process. Erasmus is willing to reveal his secret ingredient that he has been using for ten years in his biltong production: Worcestershire sauce!
“I let it soak in the marinade with the Worcestershire sauce for about four days,” Erasmus revealed another step in his process.
His preference is, in fact, to use buffalo meat cuts.
For Sonia Rheeder, retiring from the sales and marketing world did not mean sitting idle in Faerie Glen.
She seized an opportunity with her husband André presented to them by the esteemed wine farm near Franschhoek in the Western Cape, Haute Cabrière, to create blends of their choice wines.
They had to select the harvest from certain cultivars, determine their blends, and bottle under their own brand.
Thus, the Rheeder’s from Pretoria began to export their chosen and preferred premium wines under the name Watsonia.
“Our goal is to create unique wines and offer them to wine enthusiasts that indicate their wine region of origin but also showcase our own style and personality,” said Sonia.
Their collection currently offers a red blend with Syrah and Pinot Noir as base cultivars, as well as a white blend which is a Chardonnay and Pinot Noir blend.
Sonia mentioned that she had always wanted to own a wine farm but found being wine bottlers was an easier and more economical option.
“Our wines are particularly popular in New Zealand,” she shared.
Also featured in the festival program were two Pretoria artists who captivated the audience, Shakira Peach and the Tukkie student Matthew Charles, as well as the Western Cape-based indie band and SAMA award-winning band, Posduif.
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