We needed to have a good breakfast in Elgin on
Sunday morning and Nicky Wallace had recommended South Hill for breakfast the
next morning and she was so right, it was superb. Owner Kevin King was on the
farm that morning. He joined us for breakfast and gave us a tasting of some of
their wines
John was up early and caught
the dawn and the birds stirring
Flowers from a wedding the day
before. South Hill is a very popular wedding venue. When we saw the
accommodation available we understood why
The tasting room recovering
from the wedding, and the shelves were being refilled
This is also where we had
breakfast, admiring the beautiful vineyard views
The restaurant, which has a
larger room through those doors, is also full of art by South African artists, all for
sale
The menu
John's cheese omelette topped
with bacon
Lynne had the Eggs Benedict
with salmon. It was quite splendid. The eggs were perfectly cooked with the
yolks runny, the white firm, the Hollandaise perfectly seasoned with just a
little bite of lemon. It came on a slice of ciabatta, topped with well seasoned
spinach and was accompanied by crisp slices of wild mushroom. The best in a
long time
With breakfast comes toast and
preserves. We also had lots of black coffee and were impressed, as they had a
water problem and sorted it out so that the coffee machine worked. Kevin joined us
for breakfast as did his son Ben and Ben's wife. Kevin unexpectedly and very generously
paid for our breakfast
The King of the Hill, is a single
barrel 2015 Chardonnay made for Kevin by winemaker Matthew van Heerden (previously of Uva Mira, now at Grande Provence). This is made from best terroir Elgin grapes
South Hill wines are made by
their wine maker, Sean Skibbe. We tasted the 2015 South Hill Syrah; light berry
fruit and wood with warm tea, black pepper and garam masala spice, it is smooth,
subtle and sappig. Then the Kevin King 2014 Pinot Noir called the Bazza (named
after Kevin's father) Soft and sweet fruit with a tang, vanilla oak on the end.
It has layers of cherries and mulberries. Age this
Then the Kevin King 2015 BBK
Malbec named for Benjamin Barry King, Kevin's son. A savoury meaty nose,
incense wood, its intriguing with some maraschino cherry on the end of the
nose. Soft licorice with salt, this has great fruit concentration of dark
berries and some herbs, chewy chalky tannins, this is made for rich meat dishes
and stews
The Mica red blend of Shiraz (50%)
Mourvedre (25%) and Barbera (25%) is a Southern Rhône style blend, a full on
warm berry fruit attack, with herbs, vanilla and coffee mocha wood, wildness
from the Barbera, very satisfying.
One of the family dogs enjoying
Sunday morning
Kevin and his son Ben
The vineyards on the hill
Cape honeysuckle loved by
sunbirds
We went on a short tour of the
accommodation with the family and the dogs
The South Hill logo spears in
the chef's vegetable garden
A trellis made with old vine
stocks, just waiting for the climbing beans and peas in winter
South Hill do have a popular
wedding venue. The wedding party had just moved out of the Guesthouse, which is
a five bedroom, en suite luxury villa which can be hired. http://www.southhill.co.za/guesthouse/index.aspx. It has room for the bride and groom and for several guests. They can
entertain themselves in the lounge and the kitchen. As the beds had not yet been made, we didn't take photographs of the bedrooms. They also have Pumphouse
Honeymoon Cottage
A spiral staircase in the house
separates the bridal pair from the rest of the party
An outside braai at the
Guesthouse
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017
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