Off to Montagu with the wine lovers
Once
a year Lynne organises a trip to some part of our rich Cape winelands for
members of our wine club the Oenophiles. Last year we stayed at Laborie’s in
Paarl, the previous year we were in Wellington at Dunston and this year we
ventured to Montagu to stay at Mimosa Lodge. Montagu has lots of good
accommodation but, nowadays, not so much wine, so the weekend featured some
trips through the pass to Robertson and Bonnievale. Montagu is a lovely old
country town filled with beautifully restored houses and lots of pub restaurants
We
travelled down during the day and made a couple of stop along the way, other
members did the same, and others came after work and arrived on Friday evening.
Mimosa Lodge is well known and is owned by much awarded chef Bernard Hess and
his wife Fida. They were overseas this month, but we were well taken care of by
their enthusiastic staff
The original part of the hotel has the service
parts of the hotel on the ground floor and several rooms off the top balcony
We booked an ordinary room but were given this
rather dark garden room instead
It is a very long room, with a cavernous tiled
bathroom, rather retro
With this small seating area on the side. The
weather during the day was lovely and sunny but the nights were very, very cold
We did sit out in the garden on arrival and
enjoyed the late afternoon light. Montagu was in the grip of a day-long power
cut but, luckily, it came back on at about 7.30pm and we were not troubled again
during the weekend
Late afternoon in the garden
The swimming pool, but not at all tempting in the
middle of winter
An owl carving
One of the other garden cottages
Lynne was entranced by this very tame olive thrush
Warming ourselves in the bar in front of the
roaring fire, so appreciated
Gathering for the welcome Muscadel cocktail ,we
moved on to some bottles of De Wetshof Bon Vallon, their crisp and delicious
unwooded chardonnay
Soft early morning light on Church Street, from
one end ...
... to the hotel ...
.... to church at the other end
Some of the newer garden rooms
Another part of the garden
An aloe garden, very suitable in the Karoo
Another of the garden cottages
has its own plunge pool and hammock
Dietes grandiflora, our local indigenous iris
First down to breakfast. There were 15 members of the club, so we had our own long table
Besides a cooked breakfast, there were lots of the
usual options
All the art is for sale
With the omelette came a really good venison
sausage
Lynne had one on her conventional bacon and eggs
On Saturday night we all opted for the four course
menu paired with the Mimosa House wines. It costs R450 pp
The first course was a puree of peas with a
parmesan crisp, small tomatoes and balsamic reduction
Then a hot spicy and sharp tomato soup with rather
a lot of fenugreek
Small duck breasts in a very savoury gravy with
pommes puree and some vegetables
Dessert was a whipped mousse on macerated and
fresh strawberries
© John & Lynne
Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016
