Taste of the Helderberg

It was a great evening for us; Annareth Bolton, CEO of the Stellenbosch wine routes, laid on a microbus from the Waterfront so John and a few other drivers could taste properly. The weather was miserable, cold and rainy, the traffic horrific - 1½ hours from the Waterfront to the Lord Charles
All the food was in small portions priced between R25 and R30 and you bought vouchers to purchase it.

Mike Israel. chef at Pomegranate on Vergenoegd and the sales staff on their table preparing our Springbok Carpaccio.

It was soft and melting and had a lovely crust of roughly ground spices, good parmesan slices and great salad dressing for the leaves.

Craig Cormack of Sofia’s at Morgenster with his staff and the food they were presenting.

Sofia’s Trout Ballontine with mashed potato, served with baby greens

De Waal Koch of Stonewall: very good white wines at a bargain price - we bought the sauvignon and chardonnay

Capt’n Mark Bilton of Bilton Wines with his team

Stuart Buchan,  Eikendal marketing manager, Allan Forrester of 96 Winery Rd and Eikendal winemaker Nico Grobler with some of Eikendal’s great award winning wines

Former Springbok prop, Annandale's Hempies du Toit (wearing shoes - it was cold out) and his lovely niece

From top left: Duck and Cherry Pie from Ken & Allan Forrester’s 96 Winery Road, which we had with their marvellous match, Shiraz Grenache; Tomato and Mozzarella Tartlets with coriander pesto from Sofia’s; Smoked trout roses wrapped around a prawn and topped with caviar – so good with the bubbly from Avontuur

Sofia’s menu

The festival hall

Elizabé from Grangehurst, serving enthusiastic tasters including Lynne

Horrible traffic on the way to Somerset West and awful weather on the way back. John revelled in relaxing in the back and not having to drive

Dancing in the rain on the way home at the Waterfront and our big eye

All these photographs are ©John Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus cc