Thursday, October 25, 2012

John & Lynne's Robertson visit

Spring green vines in the Bonnievale valley with rain in the valley beyond
Place of Rocks Chardonnay by Weltevrede, which really expresses the terroir
Lynne chats to Elzette in the Weltevrede tasting room. 
Notice the beautifully carved wine barrel behind them.
This l890 bottle of South African Cape Hermitage wine was bought at Sotheby’s in 1977 and is a proud possession of Weltevrede
Some of the wines we tasted there
Elzette Steyn, Tasting Room Manager at Weltevrede
Lynne chatting to Bonita Malherbe outside the very nearly completed new Van Loveren tasting room
Inside the centre, there is only the “final fix” to complete
Inside Christina’s restaurant
The menu is simple and concise and the food is great
Christina van Loveren Limited Release Sauvignon Blanc
Bonita telling us about the future plans for the venue
Lourens van der Westhuizen of Arendsig joins us for lunch
Discussion about wine, life and everything else
Lourens’ Margarita pizza
The famous sweet corn fritters are now on the menu
The Hawaiian with extra avocado
Lynne’s order of ASB – Avo, Salami and Brie with added mushrooms
John’s spicy Mexican with chicken and added olives
Another view of the tasting room with the water feature
Donkeys and horses at Excelsior
Horses out to pasture after a long life racing and as pets
The view across the dam from the Excelsior tasting cabin, which is built over the water
Getting to taste through their wines
A lovely wine tasting venue
Some of the alpaca herd with a baby
We think this one looks like Sid the Sloth from Ice Age!
At Ashton Winery tasting, again
These reasonably priced wines win some impressive awards
We finally found the Koo factory shop and bought a case of 24 tins of peaches with no labels for a silly amount.
Opposite was a cottage with a beautiful mainly indigenous garden; most of the plants grow locally
This is how you get your unlabelled tinned fruit. Tins may be damaged, so buyer beware
Queuing to see what they have.  Today it was tinned peaches or pears
We finally found a real farm stall with fresh produce, eggs, and home bottled items. Not filled with expensive gift items you don’t really need. We bought eggs and a bottle of boysenberries in syrup which we haven’t seen for years.
Photographs © John Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2012

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