Springfontein
speaks quality in everything it does: wine, food, accommodation and landscape. It
is definitely worth a visit. To get to it, you go through Stanford village and
down alongside the river on a well maintained hard packed road for about 7
kilometres
Our
accommodation was in the new guest cottage on Springfontein which can
accommodate three separate couples or one family with interconnecting doors
open. Other members of the media were housed at Stanford Hills in the large
farmhouse. This cottage is now available for guests
There
is an apartment at either end, each with its own terrace, and the middle apartment has
the verandah next to the pool, where we were. Two other members of the media, Graham
Howe and Monika Elias, had the end apartments
The view from the front door. The
cottage you can see is about to be converted into more guest accommodation.
Hildegard Witbooi, Tariro's partner, is a horticulturist and is in charge of
all the landscaping on the farm, all of it using indigenous plants and trees
where possible. She is also now the farm's viticulturist
The pool verandah. We wish we had had
more time to enjoy sitting here but it was not possible with our heavy
schedule
Our comfortable bed in front of the
fireplace. We could have lit a fire, but we didn't need to
The very large bathroom with walk in
shower...
...and roll top bath
The middle apartment has a fully
fitted kitchen. The end apartments both have a fridge and a kettle and their
own fully fitted bathrooms...
They have left parts of some old walls bare so that you can see how the original cottage was constructed
Gabion walls straddle two old trees
After breakfast at Vaalvlei on Tuesday
we were taken up the hill to the top vineyards at Springfontein for a wine
tasting. "Founded in 1994, Springfontein is held by shareholder families
whose heritage spans 3 continents: Germany, the USA and South Africa." Dr.
Johst & Jennifer Packard Weber are directors
A glass of Springfontein Pinotage
Tariro and Hildegard with the
marvellous view of the mountains and the valley below. All Springfontein's
vineyards are on the other side of the river from Stanford, very close to the sea, on the
dunes. The sandy soil means that they can experiment with planting vines on their own rootstocks as there is very little risk of
Tariro points out some of the other
vineyards on the wine route
Hildegard pours us some of the very
quaffable and elegant 4 star Chenin Blanc
Tariro talks about his wines, all of
which will be available for lunch at Springfontein Eats after the tasting. Lynne
fell in love with the 4 star Petit Verdot, full of violets and spicy fruit with
depth and wildness. John loves the Pinotage, which has rich, ripe fruit with a spicy backbone. Tariro serves Pinotage in Pinot Noir glasses, as he believes that they suit the wine best
Nice to taste wine in the sunshine
with sea breezes
The vineyards are in leaf
They are constructing new vineyard at
the top of the hill and another guest cottage
Diggers making drainage channels
The workers taking a break for lunch
Very chalky soil, perfect for grapes
Tariro being interviewed for radio by
one of our number
We subscribe to their motto: Eat, Drink, Sleep, Breathe...
Time for lunch in the restaurant
Springfontein Eats. The chef is Jürgen Schneider who runs the restaurant with
his wife Susanne. He was a Michelin starred chef at his restaurant in Germany
for 14 years so the food is excellent. He forages, he uses vegetables grown in
the large organic kitchen garden, uses locally sourced produce, he creates
something different almost every day. You have to book, it is very popular. And
it is not cheap but worth it. 3 course R 295 - R 335 · 4 course R 395 · 5
course R 475 · 6 course R 535. And then you can order wine from their wine list
of locally produced wines. They also have an impressive list of French and German wines
Blackboard menu
The Vinotec
The scrupulously clean kitchen
Our tables
Jil's
Dune
Chenin Blanc, which has a touch of botrytis, is naturally fermented in barrel.
This wine, with stone fruit and honey notes, was so good with the food
Chef brings canapés to the terrace
Crisps with sesame and black pepper
soft cheese in nasturtium leaves
and small filled rolls of pastry - didn't
get one so can’t describe!
Tariro hands us over to Susanne to
manage
She tells us about the lunch we are
about to eat
A celebration of carrot. A baby just
pulled from the ground, a carrot jelly, a carrot rappé and carrot puree flavoured
with herbs and spices
Do we have enough glasses?
Stuffed squid on a crunchy couscous 'soil'
with beetroot jus and a chicken wing ballotine
Lamm x 2 was how the menu described the
two main course: An individual raviolo stuffed with lamb in a creamy herb
sauce with salty black olives
Hildegard enjoying lunch
Tender roast lamb loin with spring
vegetables, a marvellous lamb jus on a celeriac puree
The dessert wowed. Some people had
never had fennel in a dessert and it certainly predominated. There was a fennel
& vanilla ice cream, a syrup and a puree on a pana cotta base with orange
slices and fresh pieces of the leaves and stalk. It was topped with a
gingerbread crisp which was a nice foil. Some said it was the best dessert they
had ever eaten
It was served with a Chenin blanc noble late harvest
And with coffee back on the terrace
some friandise: Small almond financiers, wickedly sour red fruit jellies and
some almond biscotti
Chilling on the lawn
Graham Howe feeling relaxed
The road back to town. We were off to town
to the Don Gelato emporium to eat ice cream and then onto our final dinner on
the African Queen River boat
