Then it was time to go back the way we came on
Saturday to Stellenbosch to attend this very real harvest festival, where they
also have fun and games for the children – it is a really child friendly farm.
We were welcomed with a glass of Pinotage grape must (the newly picked and just
beginning to ferment juice with traditional mosbolletjies, a soft bread made
with the yeasty must as its rising agent. Then there was a lovely buffet lunch,
accompanied by their good Pinotage Rose and Chenin Blanc wines, after which we
watched the hilarious grape stomping competitions.
They seem to
have expanded lots of different areas on the farm. This was the deck behind the
wine cellar where we collected our glass of grape must and mosbolletjies
It was a
lovely shady position with the tables set below the trees
A plate of
Springbok carpaccio for the buffet table
Wine was
available by the glass or by the bottle at farm prices
Gypsy violin
and accordion music accompanied the whole day, played by
The famous
father of the farm, Michael "Spatz" Sperling and
his wife Vera
Their son, Victor
Sperling, Managing Director of Delheim
Chef Craig
Cormack, taking a welcome weekend break with his wife Heather and their child
The buffet
menu. It had quite a German slant, which you would expect on Delheim, with its
German background. Lunch cost R285 pp with
R175 for children under 12 and included soft serve ice cream from an ice cream
truck!
Pumpkin and
Linseed cream cheese balls
Shredded
chicken with apple, celery, grapes, flaked almonds and curry mayonnaise
Farm bread
The Bratwurst
and Weisswurst German sausages were delicious
A vegetarian
option was this lentil salad topped with apple and feta
Zwiebelkuchen
(onion and Bacon tartlets)
More
mosbolletjies
German potato
salad is made with chives and oil rather than mayonnaise
A huge heap of
crisp rolls
Wines on
offer. We drank some Rose and some Chenin. Both went perfectly with the food.
Wilma van Wyk keeping the
media table supplied with wine and water
John’s lunch
selection
Serenaded by
the musicians
Spatz Sperling
Rugby journalist Craig Ray kicking a ball around with his six year old son
A bit of rough
and tumble Dad
Ah at last a
reward! One of the Sperlings' dogs
An Edith Piaf
song?
Time for the
grape stomping and this first round was for the children
The girls team
was awesome and we think they won the round.
Good technique using one foot at a time
These boys had
another technique
It’s a little
squashed
You could have
vanilla or chocolate or both on a sugar cone
Washing off
the sticky juice afterwards is essential
The grapes for
crushing
The audience
The adults had
to fetch their grapes before they could start stomping and they were only
allowed to carry them by hand or skirt!
Get the men to
do the carrying while you do the crushing
All the grape
juice was measured from each barrel to see who won
Another
Sperling son was supervising the grape pickup
Getting ready
for the OFF!
Charge!
Try to come
back with as much as you can carry
The Sperlings
and Rowena Glazer watching the race
The ladies
learned the one legged method from the girls
Another barrel
of squished grapes and juice gets separated and the juice measured
The old
traditional barrel cellar when we used these huge vats
There is such
a fantastic smell in the cellar at this time of the year, of fresh grapes fermenting
Some old
equipment in the tasting room
Wasps getting
water from the bird bath
Lots of people
tasting wine in the cellar
And getting
good advice
Thank you
Delheim for a lovely day
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015
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