At some wine farms you just get a tasting room
experience, at others like Anthonij Rupert, there are a lot of great
experiences. It is a very beautiful farm with almost as much garden as
vineyards. We started the morning with tea in the gazebo, accompanied of course
by a glass or two of their MCC.
The beautifully restored dining room
which is used for private tastings. The farm was inherited by Johann Rupert in
2001 following the tragic death of his brother Anthonij
Gidi Caetano showing us around the La
Garonne Manor House
The classically furnished drawing room
A wonderful antique glass-fronted
walnut cabinet filled with English china
The tasting can be held on the
terrace...
...which has great views of the
gardens and the mountains
and some shade
Or you can taste inside
There are two guest rooms, furnished in the same style
with spectacular Victorian style
bathrooms
Very fine examples of pressed local
flora, prepared at least a century ago
This snowdrop example is very
skilfully done and even includes the bulbs
A St Francis drinking fountain for
animals
The slave bell at the entrance to the
superb rose garden
A variety of evening primrose
An old cellar which has been converted
into company guest accommodation
Magnificent roses in Mrs Beck’s rose
garden, planted in 1992 for her son’s wedding
They surround the gazebo
Old friends enjoying the sunshine
A damask rose with the most wonderful
perfume
Tea in the gazebo.
You need to book this at least 24 hours in advance, but it’s a perfect place for
friends to meet, for small celebrations and special occasions. Or even small wedding ceremonies
So many wonderful choices. Top shelf
had macaroons and smoked salmon pastries, next were cheese scones and butternut
filo tartlets, the bottom had flourless chocolate tarts, wonderful lemon cream
filled brandy snaps, semolina financiers and more divine macaroons
All went very well with the L’Ormarins
Brut Classique MCC
Anne, facing temptation with a good
pot of tea
A stone celebrating the gardener of
the rose garden, Oom Storm van der Westhuizen
Then it was on to the Tram for a trip
around the farm. The vines on the top of
the hill remain, but on the rest of the farm they are doing extensive replanting
Marvellous Cabernet Franc grapes just
waiting for the harvest
A view of the new dam being built on
the farm and of the bare vineyards which will only be replanted in three years' time when the ground has had time to rest
A view of another of the farm’s
‘trams’ which take you around the farm. They do not run on rails. The trams are housed
on L’Ormarins, at the Franschhoek Motor Museum and at the two tasting rooms, Terra
del Capo and Anthonij Rupert, the latter on the adjacent Anthonij Rupert
Estate.
The trams travel in tandem between the
two venues, with each journey lasting approximately 30 minutes and operating on
a hop-on hop-off basis.
It is a trip filled with magnificent
views of the surrounding countryside
A copy of Rodin’s The Kiss is in the
gardens near the wine cellar
And these gardens are full of
excellent sculptures being collected by Johann Rupert
It also has a marvellous potager
garden for the chef, filled with vegetables and herbs
L’Ormarins Manor House
Then it was back to taste the full
range of the Cape of Good Hope wines and Two of the top Anthonij Rupert wines
with winemaker Dawie Botha. The are grown on four farms in the group and are
all terroir specific. It is an amazing
range to taste and we suggest you go and try these wines for yourself. Lynne
particularly liked the elegant Semillon with notes of pine nuts, straw and
quince, a clean, fresh and layered food wine. The Merlot has an intense nose
with vanilla, cinnamon and cherries with a hint of white pepper and it’s a
velvety mouthful of Bing cherries and cassis flavours with chocolate coffee
wood
Gidi joined us
Winemaker Dawie Botha guided us
through the tasting and we discovered that they will soon have a truffle
harvest on the farm
There is another Potager garden at
the tasting room
Then we drove down to the Terra del
Capo tasting room for lunch. They brought us many dishes to try. This was a
lovely salad, very well dressed
Good charcuterie platter
Arancini balls stuffed with molten
mozzarella
Superb deep fried lightly battered
quid and a garlic aioli – some of the best we have had lately
Deep fried tempura courgette slices
The menu
Chocolate ice cream topped with a
strawberry for Anne
A cappuccino for her afterwards
Lynne had the cheese platter with red
preserved figs
The outside of the Terra del Capo
tasting room
All the photographs were taken by
Lynne for a change. She is not as good as John, especially when focusing!
The Antonij Rupert 2008 Red blend of
Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot and Merlot is a great wine,
and has layers of minerality and soft velvety fruit with some salty licorice
‘drop’ and lovely balance. The Petite
Verdot is a pretty fruit driven wine on hints of expensive new oak
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015
