Sir Ian Botham walks the rainbow nation and Kumala launches wine range

Sir Ian Botham is in SA to lead some sponsored walks. We were invited to The Table Bay Hotel (Sun International is one of the sponsors) to tweet about another of the sponsors, Kumala wines, with winemakers Ben Jordaan and Bruce Jack, before meeting Beefy Botham and hearing about his walks and to hear about the four causes to which the money is being donated after the walks. It looks as though at least half of the Barmy Army will be walking with Sir Ian

Meeting all the usual suspects who tweet and several new ones

We are here to tweet about Kumala wines

Sir Ian Botham being greeted by Ben Jordaan of Kumala wines. This walk will mark the celebration of his 60th Birthday and the 30th anniversary of his first ever walk from John O’Groats to Lands End in 1985

Chatting with Bruce Jack

"Beefy" Botham will start his first walk on Friday morning at 7 am from the Table Bay hotel and will walk 22 Km to Llandudno. For more information and donations, visit his website www.beefywalkingtherainbownation.com There will be 10 different 22 Km walks around the country on different days. He will be accompanied by many people, lots of them from the UK, who are also out here to watch the Cricket in January. Half are from the Barmy Army, we were told by one of their organisers

Bruce Jack, winemaker for Kumala wines, tells us about their sponsorship

Alison Pearce, Accolade Wines Marketing manager, tells us about the walks and the sponsors

Kumala winemaker Ben Jordaan

Following the lively Kumala Tweet up of their 2014 Zenith Chenin/Chardonnay blend, the Zenith 2015 French style Rosé and the Reserve 2014 Shiraz, we tasted two Flagstone wines 2014 Free Run Sauvignon Blanc, and the Writer’s Block 2014 Pinotage. John was astounded to hear that Lynne actually liked the Pinotage (she doesn’t normally enjoy Pinotage)

Bruce telling us about the Writer’s Block Pinotage

Time for a quick bite to soak up the wine. Sadly, not much if you are Banting

The sponsors list. At the base of the sign are the four beneficiaries; not much time was given to them until Lynne asked who they were. They are Nazareth House www.nazhouse.org.za, The Chipembere Rhino Foundation www.chipembere.org/, Kliptown Youth Programme www.kliptownyouthprogram.org.za in Soweto and the Southern African Waitrose Foundation www.waitrosefoundation.org.za

Lots of the British, who are here to do the walks with Beefy Botham

Rob Dalton, Gaming Relationship Manager at Sun International Management spoke about their involvement in the project

Executive chef of Camissa restaurant at The Table Bay, Jocelyn Myers-Adams and assistant F&B manager Hilton Ruch

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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Baby owls at Steenberg with great wine and food

It was extremely exciting and quite moving to be able to stand one metre away from a just fledged downy baby owl. We were invited to a tasting of Steenberg's new wine range and were served a superb charcuterie platter with the owl perched on a branch just above us.

After you get through the extremely impenetrable security at the front gate you find yourself in an oasis of green and calmness. We met Caroline van Schalkwyk, the Marketing manager, on arrival and she first took us on a short tour. Steenberg has taken over the running of the Spa, the restaurant and the accommodation and if you want a wine tasting with nibbles, a platter or a meal, you head to Catharina’s restaurant.

At the Steenberg Spa. Relax in the lounge before and after your treatment

Lots of choices of things to drink: fruit water, bubbly and teas and fire for chilly days

Farm Manager Johann De Swardt

The enchanting baby owl which has left the nest, still covered in downy fluff and not yet confident enough to fly, but practicing

The Werf at Steenberg. The lawn was previously covered by Hydrangeas but they have now been removed to return it to the originally historical layout of a werf (farm yard)

The Farm Platter is very, very good value at R150 for two people. (This one is slightly larger being for 3). The chicken liver pate is unmissable and the curried vegetable piccalilli adds a real Cape flavour to the food. You can have this on Mondays to- Saturdays from 11am - 5pm and sit and enjoy the lovely peaceful ambience as well. Our platter consists of locally sourced cheese, cured meats & house made, paté, breads & other fresh accompaniments. Enjoy this with one of the selected wine flights of three wines each: a Bubbly flight (R100 pp), Klein Steenberg flight (R60 pp )or HMS flight (R90 pp). And of course you can also enjoy lunch at Catharina’s Restaurant

John, our waiter, bringing us the first tasting which was wines from the Klein Steenberg range. We then followed with the other two tastings

The first flight of our tasting: the three sparkling wines

Lynne and Caroline at the table under the oaks. The baby owl can just be seen above Lynne on a niche in the tree

Executive Chef of Catharina’s restaurant, Garth Almazan, whom we always maintain is one of the best in the Cape

More of the owl. Its mother is still in the nest in a tree just a few metres away. There is another but it was not in sight that day

Looking balefully at us but it does not seem stressed and we are sure will soon be able to fly off

Catharina’s Restaurant

The bubbles available to taste. The first is not an MCC and is made of Sauvignon Blanc. The Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are both MCC's

The very reasonably priced Klein Steenberg range. Lynne liked the Sauvignon Blanc so much - it is a typical crisp green Constantia sauvignon – that she bought 12 for summer drinking

The third flight we tasted is known as the HMS Battle of Muizenberg (7th of August 1795) flight (the wines are named after the 3 Royal Navy battle ships that took part: HMS Rattlesnake; Sphinx and Echo

The lunch menu on a blackboard is for the day and changes regularly according to food availability. Many dishes can be ordered as a starter or a main

We made a trip up to the Bistro 1682 and the tasting room and met an old friend Jennifer Holmes, who is now working there

People enjoying lunch in the Bistro

Wonderful glass grape mobile over the tasting counter. This is where you come to buy the wines to take home

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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