Tuesday, May 30, 2023

A Darling Day

A Darling day happened because our electricity was being turned off in the street from 9am to 2pm
to replace an electric pole and some wiring and do some tree trimming after a storm
As it was a Wednesday, we decided to decamp and visit Darling Cellars
Luckily, it was an absolutely clear and sparking day, if a bit chilly

The tasting room and parking area have had a bit of a spruce up and extension

We like the warm red wall and the fire was lit in the tasting room

You can taste any 8 wines for R40 from their extensive list and if you buy wine, you won't be charged the tasting fee
We love their reasonably priced wines, so we tasted the new vintages of wines we normally buy,
the specials on offer and a couple more
AND on Wednesday there is a pensioner's discount.

These are on special and the Cinsault and the Shiraz were so good we bought a case of each of them
and cases of Merlot, Chenin-Sauvignon Blanc blend, Sauvignon blanc and the Pyjama Bush Rosé 

A friend in the wine business told us that Cloof are doing some interesting wines
and, as it's just along the same dirt road, we decided to go and taste there
Sadly, all the staff were in a board meeting, so we couldn't taste and headed off to Darling

First, we made the obligatory stop at the Darling Wine Shop to see if Charles Withington was there
and, of course, he was in Cape Town that day
But we had a nice chat with Christelle, who runs the shop for Charles
Then it was off to the famous Darling butcher where we always buy their great meat and sausages.  

A quick call in at Ormonde to see the Bassons, but they were away too
So we headed off to the Darling Brewery for some lunch

Sparkling tanks reaching the ceiling

Lynne and friend Judi decided on the four beers they wanted to taste - you can choose from the whole list
and it costs R60 for four 100 ml glasses. Great beers. These are Judi's choice 

And these are Lynne's, she does like a bit of the black stuff
The winning "Beer of the Year" was excellent as, always, is the IPA. Her fourth was Rogue Pony IPA

and John had just a glass of the Rogue Pony

Fish and chips for Lynne

Hamburger and chips for the other two

Tiny, our Zimbabwean waitress, was so helpful and so friendly

We like that they advertise all the other businesses in the area who supply or support the Brewery

Some of Charles Withington's Darling Gin
And those crisps made from the beer-making spent grains did look interesting

We wanted a taste of sea air on the way back to Cape Town to blow away our cobwebs,
we have been vegetating at home for far too long
So we decided to stop at Ganzekraal to reminisce on our wedding here 20 years ago

Lynne was wondering how we seated 64 people on the Boma, but we did
And we had a local caterer do two lambs on the spit with all the trimmings, salads and starters and mains
We took a great deal of wine with us too
And we hired five of the cottages behind it for the weekend
It's a great place for a small beach wedding.

Spectacular unobstructed sea views from the Boma and a great background for wedding photos on the rocks.

And, as we left, we spotted this Dikkop (aka stone-curlew or spotted thick-knee (Burhinus capensis))
and its mate on the side of the road

It was a great way to escape the city on a chilly winters day. We need to do this more often

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Posted by MENU at 4:43 pm

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