We really wanted to go and see what everyone had
planned. We must admit that the programme this year didn’t exactly grab our
attention, but we love the area and its wines, so off we went and had a great
time in lovely sunshine. We started at Durbanville Hills and found it pumping
and full of people enjoying themselves. And it was the same at all the farms.
There was live music, lots of food for sale, things to keep children happy,
wine tastings not only of their own wines, but Sauvignons from all the other 11
farms involved in the Season of Sauvignon and “The Twelve”, the bottle
containing grapes from all 12 farms. We managed to squeeze in four more farms
before wending our way home at 4.30
Warmly welcomed by Cellarmaster Martin Moore. A lovely place to sit under the trees.... Martelize Brink with Martin Moore and Lynne
.. listening to the music at the
entrance
Inside the tasting room, it was buzzing
And we bumped into Shan Pascall, Head of Operations & Marketing at Oneiric Wine Farm in Elgin, visiting Durbanville with a friend and also enjoying the festival. She is looking forward to the Elgin
Open Gardens over the next two weekends.
The girls at the tasting centre in
their spring green t-shirts were very busy. We liked their newly released blend
of Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc
Winemaker Gunther Kellermann and Marketing manager Kate Jackson on the table at which you could taste all the 12 Sauvignon blancs of the valley
The restaurant menu
We found a table and waited patiently
for our lunch...
...which was a platter of charcuterie
and cheese with olives nuts and pickles and a bottle of Durbanville Hills
Sauvignon Blanc. Thank you Durbanville Hills
Back to the car, we noticed how green
the vineyards are, looking towards our next stop, Klein Roosboom
And off across the road to Klein Roosboom,
who were having a French Market and had gone to great lengths to get into the
spirit
The Hencoop pub!
Live music entertaining the very large
crowd
Lots of seating in the marquee
Bianca Coleman was certainly enjoying
the vibe
Owner of Klein Roosboom, Karin de
Villiers with her daughter Marné, who is visiting from Amsterdam
Space on the hay bales. We didn’t risk
it
Clever use of Bashews boxes as food
trays
The French food market
Not quite our idea of a croque
monsieur - needs lots more cheese inside and out and more toasting. But they
were busy. The meat platter looks interesting
What was on offer
Lovely view looking back towards
Durbanville Hills winery and Table Mountain
Oh those damned quarries do spoil the
beautiful countryside. Will there be hills left for our next generations? Can’t
we stop this desecration of the countryside?
The music at Altydgedacht was folk
when we got there
The tasting room, where we bought a
box of their superbly floral and bone dry Gewürztraminer, the best in the Cape
Larger bottles of the 2014 Durbanville
Twelve wine made from 1 ton of Sauvignon Blanc grapes grown on each of 12 farms
this year and vinified together to make an elegant and very drinkable wine
Then it was off to Nitida, which was
winding down for the day
Cellar door and tasting room
This is their barrel cellar
They had their Sauvignon Blanc on
special, so we bought a case for drinking later in the year. Nitida’s sauvignon
really improves with age
The lily pond and, in the distance, their Montessori farm pre-school, for workers
A view of the cellars
And our last port of call was
Hillcrest where we bought not wine, but a huge bucket of olives for R80
Wines for tasting, including their new Atlantic Slope single vineyard sauvignon, which was released at the Festival
The tasting room counter
And how a few people were
feeling, but hopefully NOT driving
