PIWOSA Car boot sale at Journey's End

The first time this festival was held and what a success it was. PIWOSA stands for Premium Independent Wineries of South Africa, www.piwosa.com. It was a real family day, with a special tent for the children. They could enjoy face painting, free candyfloss and lots of fun events, including wine Olympics. The adults were kept really busy tasting and buying bottles and boxes of wine from the backs of bakkies, vans, cars and trucks. And there were some really good wines to buy

And then there was the Trebuchet - a medieval catapult, from which they attempted to destroy a caravan by firing first barrels and then a car at it!

Rain had been threatening all week, so a huge marquee had been erected.

Glenelly out of the boot of a bright yellow 1950s Peugeot 402

Gary Jordan fresh from the Caribbean, in the back of their van

With a tanned Kathy Jordan and Thea van der Merwe selling wine

Nice if you can get it, a Silver Bentley S1 from the mid 50s

The vintage wine table in front of a model A Ford

Seating was at a bit of a premium in the tent

The food queues. They were badly let down by some food trucks. 5 were booked, only 2 turned up. The queues were long and a bit slow, but we did all get fed. Those 3 won't be asked again

The truck with the steak rolls, the calamari which, sadly, ran out and the pulled pork sandwiches with chips, which were delicious

Ken Forrester is manic about the Cluver and Jack cider

Friendly faces at the Ken Forrester stand

It was great to see people having a fun time and enjoying themselves

You climbed the stairs to the highest truck for the Paul Cluver tasting with cellarmaster Andries Burger

Ken brought his big yellow 1959 Chevrolet

Babies and wine mixed well. Liesl Cluver Rust, back from a sales trip, enjoying time with her son

Dawid Nieuwoudt with his Cederberg wines being helped by Pieter du Toit and a friend

The Klein Constantia team were constantly and consistently busy

You have reached the end of your journey at Journey’s End farm

German Consul Klaus Stross and his wife Tita relaxing in the Peugeot

Lynne and Tita wondering how much money this car costs to run

Boys having fun, Dave Nel and Alex Dale

Quenching the Thirst on Radford Dale out of the boot of a Jaguar XJS

Boggom & Voertsek Blonde Ale from Cederberg. Lynne tried to convince them the next ale should be a BOGGOF - buy one, go get one free. It's a great ale with lovely citrus flavours

Feeding time

and Candyfloss time

The Drift Farm (Bruce Jack's family) with their Jeep, watched by Swedish sommelier Hansi Blackadder

Yes, we will be needing more wine

Now the fun starts. After catapulting several barrels from the Trebuchet and hitting and destroying the rugby posts, they decided to aim the ancient Mazda 323 at the caravan

Loading it takes quite a long time

Everyone stand clear as the rope is pulled

The counterweight falls back dragging the car forward

and it gains speed and momentum

Up she goes

over head

and to the top of the trajectory

Oooops, missed again. The car hits the ground and shrinks down to half its size. More practice needed chaps. But it was huge fun and a great giggle. Lynne got it on video on her phone too

The end of a lovely day marked by a pair of redwing starlings

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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The 2015, 41st Nederburg Auction, Paarl

Does putting your wine in a prestigious wine auction pay? Does it alter the profile of your wines and your farm? Does it help to raise the prices of the wines? These questions were much discussed at the auction this year. Opinions obviously differ. We were invited to the auction this year. John went as Media and Lynne went as a buyer. You have to be there at 08h30 to register, which was a little hard after our last week, but we got there and could enjoy a good coffee and a Danish pastry before the auction began at 9. Esteemed wine expert and writer Robert Joseph gave the opening address "Producer, know thy Market" about modern wine marketing and the current trends and it was really informative, entertaining, controversial and uplifting. We hope the industry members present took away some new approaches. His presentation is available to view on the Nederburg site

The majority of the lots of wine in the Auction on Saturday were from good private producers, with a few Nederburg and other Distell wines scattered through the list. Most of the wines on offer were auctioned on Friday. Auctioneer Anthony Barne MW from Bonham’s in the UK took us at a measured pace through the lots and good prices were received. The Auction raised R6163000, slightly down on the previous year's figure but, apparently, there was less wine entered this year. Most producers we chatted to are very happy with their results

Lynne managed to get a case of the Graham Beck Blanc de Blanc 2009 (we will be drinking this at John's 70th later this year) at the beginning of the auction, but then the big buyers got involved and not much was available. The charity auction was good, but a little disappointing as the big donors and buyers were not there being generous. The 1960s bottle of Château Petrus Pomerol went for R26000, not the R100000 hoped for, which is what it is said to be worth. R 257500 was raised for charity over the 15 donated lots. Then it was time for lunch

Lynne registering and collecting her paddle

Early morning arrival on quite a chilly, cloudy day

Breakfast was a Danish pastry and an Americano coffee

Then some a welcoming taste of some JC le Roux bubbles

Everyone was heading to the tasting of the wines which were being sold that day

KWV Viticulturalist Marco Ventrella and a colleague on the KWV stand with their incredible 1948 Limited Release port. It was so viscous that you had to change your tasting glass afterwards as the flavour and aroma continued

Alastair Rimmer, cellarmaster at Kleine Zalze, in very appropriate attire

Beautiful flowers

The room was filled with buyers, tasting

James Downes of Shannon Vineyards with a bottle of his Shannon Sanctuary Peak Sauvignon Blanc. Estimated at R720 a case, it made on average R2100 a case

Boets Nel of De Krans with the 2001 Cape Vintage Port and his neighbour and cousin Carel Nel of Boplaas. The four cases of this port each made R2,800

Joined by Carel’s wife, Jeanne

Johan de Wet of De Wetshof pours a taste of their 2009 Bateleur Chardonnay. The four cases each went for R3500

Jeremy and Mandy Walker of Grangehurst with their magnums of Grangehurst 2005, one of our favourite blends. Each lot consisted of 3 x 1.5L magnums and they sold for between R5000 and R4500 a lot.

Pieter 'Bubbles' Ferreira with his Graham Beck 2009 Graham Beck Blanc de Blanc and Kobus Potgieter, Managing Director, Hartenberg Wine Estate. The lots of 6 went for between R2800 and R2500

Pieter with his beloved wife Anne

Bruwer Raats with his excellent 2006 Family Old Vine Chenin Blanc, which went for R3000 to R3200 a lot

Time to take our seats for the opening address, armed with yet more bubbly

Friendly serving staff

Carina Gous of Nederburg opens proceedings

Standing room only in the filled hall

Robert Joseph begins his opening address

Cape Wine Master Duimpie Bayly listens intently

The Walkers are amused or are they?

Time for a quick break. Johan Krige of Kanonkop with WOSA CEO Siobhan Thompson and her husband, Gary

Time for the auction to begin. Auctioneer Anthony Barne steps to the podium

Restaurateur and sommelier Neil Grant, owner of Burrata, Bocca and The Open Door

Johann Krige of Kanonkop, Wynand Grobler of Rickety Bridge and Gareth Robertson

Shall we bid on this lot? Duimpie & Sue Bayly

The Manor House at Nederburg

Having a look and a try on at the fashion show are Juliet Cullinan, Pieter Ferreira and Yegas Naidoo of Miles for Style. John was setting up the photo when an irritating person with a cellphone hijacked his picture and he ended up with a side view

We need a picture of THAT! Guy Webber, winemaker at Stellenzicht, sets up a photo

Sommelier Ndabezinhle Dube of The Vineyard Hotel, helping out on the day, as were many of our top sommeliers

The auction is over and the final total made over the two days is ...

Then it was time for the lively charity auction lead by sommelier and wine retailer Roland Peens. Here, Robert Joseph helps out to raise money for charity with the lot of his new book and two good wines: a Pichon-Longueville Pauillac 2009 and a Chateau Suduiraut Sauternes 2007. The lot made R10000.

Distell Head Cellarmaster Razvan Macici. He was Head winemaker for Nederburg until his recent promotion

The marquee, where lunch was served

Chef Chris Erasmus of Foliage restaurant in Franschhoek was cooking most of the lunch menu

The Tom Yum soup with seafood and a smoked line fish dim sum dumpling, a waterblom, sorrel leaves and preserved lemon. It is always difficult to keep the food hot when serving hundreds of people for lunch. the quid was sadly still raw on one plate

It went perfectly with the Nederburg Riesling

The main course of smoky BBQ salt beef brisket on a bed of wild mushrooms, chickpeas, lentils & slightly undercooked potatoes, topped with a sorrel and chickweed 'salad'. We sat next to Emil Den Dulk of De Toren and he produced a bottle of the 2004 De Toren “Z”. which went phenomenally well with the brisket

Dessert was a " flower pot" of unsweetened dark chocolate in a crumbly pastry pot topped with edible flowers, a swipe of carrot cultured cheese cream. Very Rose geranium flavoured chocolate 'rocks" and an unusual buchu ice cream. Quite a tour de force of different flavours and textures. The medium dry Monis Sherry calmed the palate

The decor in the marquee was very innovative and they made use of old cartons and lots of other recycled materials

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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