Once a year Lynne, who is the Secretary of our wine club, the
Oenophiles, arranges a weekend away in a different wine region for members of
the club. In the past we have done Paarl, Wellington, Robertson, Botrivier and
this year it was the Stanford and Southern Cape area. Finding places with
enough good accommodation is a challenge, as most of our couples want their own
room and bathroom. We would love to go to some interesting areas but they have sparse accommodation and we enjoy staying together, which is a challenge.
This year, we were a group of 16 and most of us stayed at the Stanford Valley
Guest Farm where each couple had their own cottage, some self catering, others
not. It is a vast place, with a good restaurant and close to the town. If you
want to book with them, be very careful which booking agency you use, one of
them we suspect is a fake and they wanted full payment up front - no one else
does. Book direct or use an agency like Booking.com - we nearly got caught, until Lynne became suspicious
Our cottage, with its stoep and wood pile. We used the
second one more than the first! it was a very cold weekend
Inside, it was comfortable and we had a very efficient wood
burning stove and a space heater on the wall
Our bathroom has both shower and bath - some of the cottages
only have a shower
We began our weekend not with wine, but with a good local
beer from the local establishment the Stanford RePUBlic
We got there in Happy Hour and it’s a fairly traditional but
smoky pub. The smokers stand on the stoep but the smoke does filter in
For reasons
that we cannot fathom, the Birkenhead brewery closes every day at 5 pm. Surely,
on Friday nights with the weekend trippers and weekend cottage owners coming in,
they could stay open later so that everyone can enjoy their excellent beer in their
fine and spacious establishment? Here, we enjoyed a refreshing glass of Birkenhead
ale. It cost R78 for two 500ml and one 340ml beer, not bad
Out on the stoep with Dr Johnnie Fisher, maxillofacial
surgeon, there is not much seating
Time for dinner in The Manor House restaurant on the Guest
Farm
The menu was large and had lots of choices
However, as
we were a big group, Lynne was asked to make three choices for the starters,
main course, and dessert from the menu. It is never an easy choice, as you have
to consider allergies, vegetarians, small eaters, kosher and other food related
problems
The lighting
in the restaurant was very dark and John struggled to get sharp photos as
shutter speeds were slow and he does not like using flash in a restaurant as he
finds it very disruptive to the atmosphere. This was the dish of potato skin
nachos on a bed of bobotie, with a tomato and onion salsa, sour cream, Overberger
cheese and an avocado guacamole. So large that it could have been a main
course. Very satisfying
The prawn, chorizo & fresh chilli risotto with lemon was
very much enjoyed by those who had it
The pan seared catch-of-the-day Kabeljou with mussels,
celery, apple & chives in a Cluver & Jack cider sauce was served with a
warm baguette & apple butter. The fish was so fresh and perfectly cooked,
many of us said they had not had better fish anywhere for a very long time. The
sauce was creamy and offset the meaty fish beautifully
They are used to big parties; they had two others beside us
that evening
The tender, slow cooked pork belly with a potato, turnip
& wholegrain mustard bake, and a fennel & apple slaw
Up for breakfast early the next morning, we had to catch the
wine farms. Not much is open on a Sunday, so we had to squeeze as much in on
Saturday as possible and they also close early. First we visited the Klein
River Cheese farm. They have an interesting shop selling good things. If the
weather is nice and warm you can build your own picnic and sit in the gardens
and eat it.. They have a childrens’ play area, and lots of animals for the
children to look at
Inside the shop we all tasted and bought some cheese
Huge rounds of cheese, but portions are sold in various
sizes according to your needs. The cheeses are very good
One of the many chickens wandering about. This is a very fine
and friendly cockerel
Next, off to Raka Winery which is just a small distance away up the
road
Winemaker Josef Dreyer was there to give us a really
comprehensive wine tasting
We sat in the sun and tasted and listened and afterwards
quite a few boxes and bottles made it into peoples’ cars
Lovely bright sunshine on a very chilly day
Some of this Sauvignon Blanc came home with us; it is grassy
and a bit tropical on the nose; clean, crisp and satisfying on the round palate
with limes and loquats
The plump farm cat sunning itself in the indigenous
Plectranthus neochilus, which has a rather catty smell, and survives drought
really well
Lots to chat about
Josef's father Piet Dreyer, who started Raka, is a renowned
commercial fisherman and the farm is named after his favourite trawler
In the barrel cellar
They make a
very good Rosé wine from Merlot, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc. It
is summer in a bottle, with notes of rhubarb and roses with some strawberry on
the nose. Almost a light red wine on the palate, with raspberries and rhubarb,
it reminds Lynne of Tavel Rosé from the Southern Rhone valley. 14% alcohol and
only R45 a bottle on the farm, we will be drinking this with all sorts of food
as it is so versatile. It is MENU's Wine
of the Week this week
Where to
next? Well, we had planned and booked to go to a friend's restaurant in Napier
but the chef, their son, was being rather adamant about what he would be
serving us and ignoring the fact that we had people with allergies and
religious and dietary restrictions. We thought that the menu had been fixed 2
weeks before with the addition of a salad. He seemed to be nervous also of
feeding such a large group - 16 - and phoned as we were leaving to insist that
we stick to his rigid menu of three dishes, two with chilli, and four people in
our group don’t eat any chilli - they have serious health issues. Our only
previous request was for the chilli to be mild or left out of the bean soup if
possible. Or if that was not possible, could it be substituted by a salad? They
were not attracted to the other two heavily starch laden courses. And no, he
would not do a salad. Lynne was very upset and confused by his forceful, uncompromising attitude and asked him gently "Would you prefer it if we
didn't come?" An emphatic YES was the answer, to which we agreed.. So
where were we to eat lunch? 16 people without a booking at 11 o'clock on a
Saturday
Club members who have a holiday house in the area phoned Black
Oystercatcher wines and they were very happy to accommodate us. Whew, problem
solved
Since we were last there, they have so extended and
modernised the farm, the tasting room and the restaurant. It is very
impressive
We like the sentiment - and the milk stout called "moerkoffie" (traditional coffee, made without modern appliances, just hot water on coffee grounds in a pot). Just don't add milk and sugar
Some of us wanted a beer with lunch and had some of their Fraser’s Folly IPA
The restaurant is vast, with lots of seating outside on the
terrace too
Our lovely waitress serving Oystercatcher bubbly to some of
the girls, who insist on it every day
It’s a 2014 Brut Rosé with a lively bubble and spent 3 years on the lees
Most people had lovely salads for lunch, this was a sticky
chicken salad with avocado, fried aubergine and humus
A lovely prawn salad with roasted baby tomatoes and chorizo
and a creaming dipping sauce
A smoked salmon salad with avo and cream cheese
You need to reserve a table on the terrace, they are very
popular
We sat
inside near the roaring fire and everyone was very happy with the lunch. Many
did a tasting of their excellent wines in the tasting room and of course we
drank some with lunch. Their Sauvignon Blanc Semillon blend called White Pearl
is very special, gets 4.5 stars in Platter and you can taste the southern
Atlantic in its crisp, slightly salty, sauvignon flavours with that dash of
fullness from the Semillon
Next we were off for our appointment at Strandveld winery. They
had been very accommodating and were staying open after their normal closing
time of 3 o'clock especially for our wine club group. Originally, our lunch and
tasting would have meant that we were in Napier, which is quite a distance away,
and we could only have got here by three. We are very grateful to them
They had set up a long table for us
And we were welcomed by Otilla Janse van Rensburg who ably
guided us through the tasting
Their First Sighting Sauvignon Blanc 2017 (our Wine of the Week on 7th June) was awarded a
Platinum medal and scored 97 points in this year's Decanter Awards, one of only
five awarded to South Africa. It is the highest score ever awarded to a white
wine at this prestigious competition, which receives just under 17 000 entries
from around the world. They are very proud of it. We have bought several cases
of this wine, (which we used to sell in our now-closed shop, Main Ingredient)
and it is superb. It has green pepper and pea leaf aromas and a hint of the
wild sea winds and fynbos. Smooth, crisp, with sea salt, limes and other citrus
and minerality on the full palate. And it is sold for R80 a bottle on the farm
The Strandveld 2017 Sauvignon Blanc Pofadderbos has more
fruit on the nose, more wood and vanillins too. It’s softer in style than the
racy First Sighting with leanness, limes, white peach and wood on the end. We
also liked their Sauvignon Semillon white blend with classic asparagus and peas
on the green leafy nose, a full palate from the Semillon, figs, citrus and wood
on the end with some chalky tannins. This is an old style binnebraai (indoor
barbecue) cooking oven where people cooked on three legged pots as well as
grids
Total Acidity 6.5 g/litre; pH 3.48
We returned to our cottages; some had a bit or a rest and some
went for walks. Then it was time for dinner. We had made a booking at White
Water Farm, which is just a couple of kilometres away from Stanford Valley
Guest Farm. They only do dinner on Saturday nights in the winter. We ate in the
glass walled dining room and were well dressed against the bitter cold outside
Indigenous yellow-billed ducks in the pond
The Food Bar(n) is the tasting room
The counter
The Pink of Springfontein is a Merlot Pinotage rosé, smells
of fresh toast, then shy berries. Lovely fruit; cherry, berry, raspberry on the
palate, refreshing and delish, with some Turkish delight on the end. R125 a
bottle. The bunches are pressed whole, which produces more robust wines, and
they are fermented on the skins. The Red of Springfontein 2012 has rich red
dark berries and cherries with some fynbos and wood smoke. Dry red with chalky
tannins, sour and sweet berries with long flavours
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2018
