Robin Auld at Auslese

Auslese is owned by restaurateur Harald Bresselschmidt of Aubergine. It is in Hope Street in Cape Town and can be hired for functions

An interesting Chardonnay from Greyton, Lismore, made by Californian winemaker Samantha O’Keefe, now working happily in Greyton

A tray of tapas.  Food and wine  comes with your entry ticket to these concerts which cost R395 a head. Herb veloute with string cheese and a salmon ravioli in broth

Robin Auld CDs were available for R100 each

The artist at work on his guitar and harmonica

and the audience, listening intently

Hake with asparagus and courgette in a cream sauce

Chatting with Emil den Dulk Jnr at the wine table

One South African and two Argentinean wines were open to taste and enjoy: Lismore Chardonnay and Felino Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon from Argentina

Roast beef curls on potato salad with pickles

The chefs, busy creating in the kitchen

Springbok in a rich wine sauce with spätzle and a roasted red carrot

The list of concerts and the number to callif you wish to book

The magnificent Auslese wine cellar

Some blues

and some laughing ladies: Heleen Rabe of Hartenberg and friend

Dessert was a vanilla fruit coupe topped with two macaroons

Natalie Opstaele and Joris van Almenkerk of Almenkerk wines in Elgin having fun in the city. Natalie is beautiful, but she moves too fast!

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2013

Tasting at Opstal Estate in Slanghoek with Attie Louw

A child friendly garden with magnificent views

The large restaurant can be turned into the conference centre

What’s for breakfast?

French toast, smoked salmon, slightly overdone poached eggs topped with sour cream with caviar

Cheese and bacon omelette

Toast and great grape jam, cheese and butter

Patriarch Stanley Louw

Winemaker Attie Louw  with the Sixpence Red

The tasting room

Five star Platter winner, Carl Everson Chenin Blanc 2012

©John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2013

Slanghoek Mountain Resort

The absolutely sensational  view from our cabin, looking across the dam

The log cabin we had for the night

The living area

A bedroom with a view, one of two on the ground floor

Single beds upstairs

The  deck

The other two cabins by the dam

Looking across to Jason’s Hill on the right and Slanghoek Vineyards in the middle

The platter of snacks we were given for supper

It’s a braw bricht moonlicht nicht, t’nicht

The dam and the valley after sunset

with the sun gone down behind the mountains

The awful oil trail we found in the morning on the boulder strewn road

Were we visited by a cat in the night? A big cat?

The early morning light was so beautiful

And here's the sad awakening after a good night’s rest -
our car with its sump cracked by one of the boulders in the road

A natural Sphinx in southern climes

There she goes to the menders

on her way through the vineyards, nearly at the main road

Ouch! The cracked sump bearing the impression of the boulder

So we had to hire a little bakkie from Avis

The Sharan, repaired and in the dealer's wash bay

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2013

Blending wine at Slanghoek Cellar