Misty Ships
This week, we finish telling you about our Wacky long weekend in Robertson and then continue with the launch of a wine from that lovely valley. We have been victims of technology malfunction yet again. A company called Octotel laid the fibre optic lines that feed high speed internet to our suburb. We had no choice; it was their service or nothing and our ISP connects to it. Since we moved from the old ADSL to fibre, we have had breakdowns nearly every month. Our internet connection and, it appears, most of Sea Point’s went offline at about 11 am yesterday and we were only reconnected just before we went out for lunch with friends today, So MENU is late again…
A visit to Silverthorn, where talented winemaker John Loubser and his wife Karen have recently moved to their farm on the banks of the Breede River in Bonnievale, to set up a cellar where they will make his range of very special MCC bubblies. The 10.5ha family farm was bought over by the Loubsers in 1999. We are big fans of these wines and asked if we could call in briefly while we were in the Robertson area to see their new Tasting Room, which is nearly complete, and the new wine cellar, which was about to be erected…
We set off from McGregor at 5.30 for Mimosa Lodge in Montague where we were invited for a tasting and dinner at their new restaurant. We allowed lots of time as its a fair old way and the road works are still on going on the road to Montague, We were told by locals there were two "stop and go" traffic lights for one way access. Luckily we got through reasonably quickly. We arrived at the Hotel at a quarter to 7, and were warmly welcomed by the Barman to their new bar; he remembered us from our stay there a couple of years ago. He poured us a lovely glass of Chardonnay which we sat enjoying when we saw Fida Hess, wife of Bernhard the owner/chef who said, "What are you doing here?" "We came to see your new restaurant" we replied. It turns out that it is nowhere near the hotel and we had not been told it was separate or been given its address. "They are waiting dinner for you, you must hurry" she said, and with some instructions, we managed to find the new restaurant which is on the right as you enter Montague from Ashton. It is called BluVines…
Sometimes after a good dinner, you awake quite hungry for breakfast. So we packed up at Tanagra, checked out and thanked our hosts by 7h30 to get to Arendsig in Bonnievale where we were invited to breakfast at 8h30. Oops no, Lynne got it wrong, it was 9h30(!), so we arrived an hour early. Actually it was fine as we got the most beautiful early morning winter views of the countryside on our trip there. We risked the short route via the Steenbokvlakte Road skirting the Vrolijkheid Nature Reserve. It is gravel all the way but much, much shorter than going back into Robertson and "all round the houses" for 40+ kilometres. There is a rather vertiginous mountain pass on the way and we were so glad we had not driven that way when the road was wet with rain. But it is a beautiful route. John grew up on dirt roads in Botswana and, later, was in a rally team, so he has no problem driving on them…
Our next port of call after Arendsig was just down the road, to visit our friends at Quando. The garden was full of happy people tasting their wines. Friends we made the previous evening at BluVine were enjoying the day. It is a family business. These are the four excellent wines that winemaker Fanus Bruwer makes. Fanus also does the marketing. His brother Martin is the viticulturist. Martin’s wife Estelle keeps them in order! …
We had been invited to a curry lunch at RiverGold farm which is right next to Arendsig but, sadly, on Sunday the only food on offer was some samoosas and Chilli bites. The curry had been on offer the previous day. They were not expecting us, but we were given a warm welcome and could taste their wines in the impressive cellar. Owned by the Naidoo family from Durban, we met some of the family members…
De Wetshof Limestone Hill Chardonnay 2019 launched at Sea Breeze restaurant, Cape Town
When certain wine farms release a new vintage, one's expectations are high. Especially when they have wines we love to drink like De Wetshof who produce 5 different and all excellent Chardonnays. And we were not certainly disappointed with this year’s Limestone Hill, which is their most popular and most reasonably priced of them all…
We have no internet as I write this, so I have had to recycle a recipe from the distant past which we hope you will like. Something good for a quick supper or a weekend lunch. If you want to make this without the tuna, you could just add more asparagus or even use some mushrooms. You can use store bought pastry, no shame in that, especially if you are working…
The minerality on this new vintage shows first, then the typical slightly bready chardonnay nose of golden citrus. On the palate, fullness with ripe lemon and some apple and peach notes, a little chalkiness, with salty minerality and a hint of tropical fruit on the long finish. Very refreshing, eminently quaffable and great with food. This was confirmed as we drank it throughout our 3 course meal at Sea Breeze restaurant, where it paired well with oysters, prawns, seared tuna and a lemon tart…
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