The Palmiet River as it passes Shannon farm in Elgin
This week’s MENU is one two day story with a number of chapters. We were guests of Elgin and Grabouw Tourism at Elgin’s Cool Wine Festival. We visited several Elgin wine estates over two days, spoke to many people, tasted some magnificent wines and enjoyed good food. To top it all, we rejoiced in the beautiful scenery, with the added benefit of the hospitality shown by the valley’s people. Two days do not allow one enough time to do justice to this delightful, beautiful valley. We visited five farms on each of the days last weekend and there are several others which we have visited and enjoyed on previous visits, but time constraints meant that we could not visit them all
We ask them to forgive us; we will come again and write about them too, but we encourage you, our readers, to visit the Elgin Valley, explore it and discover its marvellous produce. South Africa’s wine country is a complex salad of beautiful landscapes, brilliant wines and food and, above all, wonderful, hospitable people. We have visited wine producing areas in other countries and none of them has offered us anything like the experience we can enjoy right here, on our own doorstep. What follows here is a microcosm of what Elgin offers. We hope that it will entice you to explore it for yourselves
We ask them to forgive us; we will come again and write about them too, but we encourage you, our readers, to visit the Elgin Valley, explore it and discover its marvellous produce. South Africa’s wine country is a complex salad of beautiful landscapes, brilliant wines and food and, above all, wonderful, hospitable people. We have visited wine producing areas in other countries and none of them has offered us anything like the experience we can enjoy right here, on our own doorstep. What follows here is a microcosm of what Elgin offers. We hope that it will entice you to explore it for yourselves
What a wine filled weekend we have had at the Elgin Cool Wines weekend! SO much good wine, such hospitality and friendliness in this lovely valley. We began at the new Railway Market where we had to collect our weekend passes and glasses
We headed up the lane to Oak Valley where they had small ponies to ride and people were happily sitting under the autumnal trees enjoying the wine and the music…
Back along the N2 for a few minutes to visit Paul Cluver wines next door. Salt Restaurant is a popular venue for lunch but we had come here to taste some wine and have our dessert. Their Estate Chardonnay…
The afternoon was wearing on and so were our palates. Our final resting place was Wallowvale to say hello and relax a while with friends Nicky and Paul Wallace on their popular farm. It is a lovely place to end the day while tasting some good wines and watching the sun go down…
We were invited by Kevin and Sandy King to join them for dinner at their South Hill wine estate on Saturday night. We met Kathy and Selborne Boome there. Kathy is the Executive Head of Elgin and Grabouw Tourism…
Our overnight accommodation was at Trail’s End in Grabouw, an entirely new concept. It is a Bikers’ Hotel. Needless to say, we did not bring our bikes (! us bike?) as the accommodation is also suitable for travellers in the valley. It is also popular with trail runners…
Because we were early for the tasting at Shannon, we shot down the road to Lothian to taste two wines that people were talking about (thank you Rebecca). Winemaker Richard Kershaw MW is making the wines for Lothian and his wines come with a huge pedigree...
Sunday morning was a bit of a rush, as we thought we had overslept, had a very quick breakfast of toast, tea and coffee and then rushed to Shannon for their Vertical tasting, only to find that we were an hour early! Owners Stuart (Marketing and Sales) and James (Viticulturist) were manning the Festival bar. The views from Shannon of the Palmiet river and valley are absolutely stunning…
After Shannon we headed for Elgin Ridge to taste their wines and have some lunch from the Goose Roasters food truck. The tasting counter was inside the winery and we sampled their White Crunch Sauvignon Blanc which is very quaffable…
Next down the road to Almenkerk, who also have superb views of the valley from their position high on a hill. The main building, designed by Derick Henstra, which houses the wine cellar and tasting room, has won architectural awards…
We were beginning to run out of steam, but were determined to get to our last farm, one we put high on the list essential of places to visit in Elgin, Iona, 420m high on its ridge at the other end of the valley from the N2. People were enjoying the wine in the late afternoon…
We tasted several superb wines today at two different wine events. This was the wine that impressed us the most. It was one of the Top 10 Cabernet Sauvignons at today's WineMag.co.za Prescient Report where it scored 93 points. The winemaker R J Botha says that it has just been released, so it should be available in retail wine shops very soon
Image from The Dinner Ladies by Sophie Giliatt and Katherine Westwood (Murdoch Books)
This recipe is very popular in Greece at Easter and Lynne made it for lunch on Easter Sunday. It is really not very challenging to make. Do not scrimp on the herbs; they are what make this dish delicious. It is a very good recipe for vegetarians, but everyone seems to like it
3rd May 2019
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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2019
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