Our
first evening started at Robert Stanford Estate, established in 1855. Wine was
first grown here in the 1890s, one of oldest vineyards in the area. The estate
was owned by entrepreneur Sir Robert Stanford who gave his name to the area. He
turned the estate into a provision farm and shipped the fresh produce to Cape
Town in his cutter which he moored in the cove which also bears his name
It
is currently owned by the Malan family, who take an environmentally friendly
approach to farming and are proud of their Biodiversity Champion status. They
also have a Restaurant called Madres Kitchen run by Madre Malan, Jan Malan's
wife, but we did not get to eat there on this trip. It is only open from Thursday
to Sunday from 8 to 4 pm
A glass of their excellent chilled
2014 Sir Robert Stanford Sauvignon Blanc awaited us, Nice and crisp and classic
The comfortable and well tasting room
with fireplace
Wines for tasting and purchasing in
the tasting room
The 2013 vintage of their Pinot Noir
Jan Malan guided us through the wines
We were taken on a walk up to their
small distillery The Stookhuis
Where they have a mini column still
that produced their grappa and other fruit spirits under the label Robert
Stanford & Brothers
The gabled back of the tasting room
Time to get on the Stanford Vineyard
Tram to go up to the dam. It is pulled by a rather smoky tractor. They need to
extend the chimney as the smoke blows back on the passengers, so not very
healthy
A grey heron followed us up the hill
...
... & seemed to want to join the
party
It was an exciting trip on quite a long
bumpy road but soon we reached the summit and found the tasting of their wines
cleverly organised alongside the dam
Nice to see a full dam
The views looking down at Stanford
were superb
Cheese, strawberries to accompany the
wines. Madre’s Kitchen can organise picnics by arrangement
The strawberries went very well with
the Shiraz, which is full of fruit and spice and very attractive. We also
enjoyed the 4½ star The Hansom, a
blend of Cabernets Sauvignon and Franc with 20% Merlot. And then there was the
extremely quaffable rosé
A basket full of Clivias, one of our
most beautiful indigenous bulbs
Cloud coming down over the mountain.
We were blessed with a dry weekend even though the weather had threatened
Sunset over the dam
Back down in the
Tractor tram, listening to Jan Malan talk about his vineyards
A lovely start to the week. Now we
were off to dinner next door at Stanford Hills
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor
& Bacchus 2015
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