Paarl's Ommiberg Festival

So it was up and at ’em again on Sunday and off we went to this revived festival. We started at Spice Route and it was buzzing. But Clare, John’s daughter, had been there three weeks before and she said this was normal. Charles Back has really organised this farm, and his other farms, well. There is so much to see. We started by collecting our glasses, armbands and a slice of onion tart, tasted the new wine they had on offer and then split into two groups: girls to do the chocolate tasting and men to do the beer tasting. After a quick look at the sensational glass factory – sadly no blowing going on while we were there - we set off for Paarl’s Main Road where we believed most of the festival would be happening. It was very, very quiet. We tasted some wines from Painted Wolf at Proviant restaurant and then decided to go to Marc’s Restaurant. We had a lovely lunch, but we were almost the only people there. And this was supposed to be a festival day? Paarl, we think you need to trumpet louder and put on a few more exciting draw cards for people to come to the next festival. After lunch, we again split into two. The lads wanted to taste more wine at Proviant: Mason’s, Black Pearl and Mitred Edge and the girls wanted to go to the market and art exhibition, but it had finished at 3 and they were just too late. Perhaps because there were very few attendees? So we finished at KWV, tasting their new wine, having a lovely chat with Marc Friederich, owner of Marc’s, who said it had been busy there. We ate and enjoyed one of his spicy Mexican chilli tacos. There were several young people listening to the band, there was a petting zoo and tasting as normal inside in the tasting room. We looked at KWV’s stunning art collection, tasted a couple more wines and then it was 5pm and closing time. If you were staying in Paarl over the festival, there were no evening events. Sadly, not a terribly impressive event. Paarl organisers, PLEASE go and see what Robertson does at the Wacky Wine Weekend.

Magnificent views of Paarl and Stellenbosch from the lawns of Spice Route, in Agter Paarl

Our good friend, Peter from Holland, tastes the young white wine still fermenting in the barrel. This wine was picked in the last two weeks or so

You could also taste the still fermenting red wine. Taste and spit, NEVER swallow this wine, you will burp for days afterward

Then you could taste some of Spice Route’s current wines

We visited the Biltong bar but sadly they had sold out the snapsticks we wanted. Next time

The brewery where Wolfgang Koedel makes the Cape Brewing Company craft beers

R35 to do a tasting of these beers. Otto Joseph, on the right, a student at Stellenbosch University, served us with great enthusiasm

The girls did a De Villiers chocolate tasting and it was very good indeed. It costs just R25 and is very good value as you get a huge selection of different chocolate from all over the world to taste.

Clare could not resist one of the ice creams they sell and you can see the coffee roastery through the glass doors. There is lots and lots to see on Spice Route

We will definitely be back to try out one or all of the restaurants on this farm

They also have the Red Hot Glass blowing studio and gallery, 

filled with beautiful and amazing things to buy

Some very modern pieces

A lovely display of wall lights

Sadly, they were not blowing glass while we were there, another thing to return to see

Venetian style chalices. These would make very good wine awards

A large group enjoying beer and the view

We arrived in Paarl and parked at The Mason’s Winery for a tasting of four local boutique wineries' wines at Proviant, the next door restaurant

Proviant is in a classic old Cape vintage house with long shady porch. Paarl gets very, very hot in the summer. And, you can see, there were not many people and this was at 1 o’clock

Lunch at a sadly (and mysteriously, as his is one of the best places in Paarl) rather empty Marc’s restaurant was excellent. You can have classic dishes or nice easy lunch time choices

A huge hamburger topped with feta and olives and stunningly good chips was really enjoyed by Peter

Duncan had a selection of tapas: falafel, spanakopita and peri peri chicken

Lynne had the excellent fish soup, full of scallops, prawns, good mussels and fish and a classic creamy broth

And John and Clare both had really good Pizzas. We drank a bottle of Painted Wolf Shiraz and the bill came to R115 per head. You get a complimentary basket of crisp bread with tapenade when you sit down. So, very good value and lovely under the trees in the peaceful courtyard

Then an interesting and amusing tasting of The Mason’s wines with the owner, Derek Clift, who told us some good ghost stories and other tall tales

We had chats with Lance Nash of Black Pearl wines in the back area of Proviant. He was a bit disappointed at the low turnout that day. There was a band playing local music here

The restaurant walls were lined with really lovely children’s’ paintings and drawings they had been asked to do for Ommiberg Festival. We spotted some future talent. Very good for a six year old

Amazing graphic ability for an 11 year old

Off to finish the afternoon at KWV and taste their young wines

Some old classics inside the wine tasting room

They have some fantastic masterpieces by South African artists in their gallery.

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014

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An introduction to Oldenburg

The visit to this wine farm on Tuesday was a first for us. It has also been called Rondekop after the round hill in the middle of the farm. Oldenburg is owned by Adrian van der Spuy, whose family Trust owned the farm. He is an investment banker who lives in Switzerland who visits regularly. In 2001 on a regular visit back to the Cape, he tasted Thelema 1998 Cabernet and was inspired to buy back the farm from the family trust and start planting good terroir specific grapes. Now, 14 years later, they have a good portfolio of wines, mostly reds. We started the day with a glass of their lovely rich and golden Chenin Blanc and went on to taste the others with lunch

The tasting venue set in this most beautiful valley

A long table had been set up for the tasting and lunch in the middle of the cool tasting room. It has marvellous views of the mountains and of Rondekop hill where the grapes are planted 360 degrees around the hill, behind it.

Nice solid modern design. This is the tasting room counter

Another view of the tasting room

The stunning view from the Tasting room of the Drakenstein mountains on the left, Rondekop hill in the centre, and the Jonkershoek mountains on the right. Even at this height above sea level, they have lots of mountain springs and a river running through the property

Raymond Noppé, their Regional Manager, is also a Cape Wine Master. He told us the history of the farm, the vines and the wine

The tasting room staff, who looked after us very well indeed: Marietjie Willemse

Cellar door and Office Manager and Louisa Adonis, Receptionist / Front of House

Raymond told us that Oldenburg is not currently an Estate because, while they do grow all their own grapes, they do not yet have a cellar, so all the grapes are vinified on Glenelly . They will be building a cellar on Oldenburg in the next few years.

Winemaker Simon Thompson has been with Oldenburg since 2009. He briefly and generously joined us for lunch as he is right in the middle of harvest at the moment

Everyone was delighted to discover that our lunch was being prepared by Chef/caterer Craig Cormack of the Goose Roasters. We all know his food well.

The first course, served with the 2012 Chardonnay, was seared gnocchi with wild mushrooms, an intense mushroom puree and a truffle espuma. It was truly wonderful and very inspiring for the home cook like Lynne

John had the Gnocchi with the truffle espuma

Oldenburg’s flagship 2011 Syrah is made in the Rhône style and has white pepper, and berries on the nose and rhubarb, mulberries and hot spicy peppers, spices and some vanilla, from the use of a little US oak, on the palate

A selection of wines to taste with our main course: Their interesting 2011 Cabernet Franc really impressed with the black olives and savoury umami, cassis and ripe brambles nose. It has great richness and savouriness on top of full on fruit on the palate and finishes with a nice dark toasted oak flavour.

Definitely a great match for the main course of tender fillet steak on a carrot puree with a potato gallete and a rich wine jus.

Raymond takes us through the tasting. At the head of the table is Ina Basson who is the Sales & Marketing Manager for the farm. And on the right Anel Grobler and Jan Loubser of Spit or Swallow. We also tasted the 2010 Cabernet, It is full of fruitcake aromas with violets, cassis and lead pencils and a complete cassis motherload on the palate. A classic. Then finally Rhodium 2010 which is their flagship wine. A classic Bordeaux blend of 50% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine needs lots more time but will take them places when it is ready. The 2011, soon to be released, also has Petit Verdot and Malbec. We did not taste this.

Dessert was small and superb. A rich brioche pain perdu, topped with a roasted plum and good rich vanilla ice cream and surrounded by a crème anglaise.

The elegant lounge area

From the other side. It also has great views

A classic Cape mountain vista, one painted many, many times by artists. These are the Drakenstein mountains – translated it means the Dragon’s Mountain and you can see his smoke rising above it when the South Easter starts to blow. This famous Cape wind, also called the Cape Doctor, funnels down from the gap in the middle of the mountains and has a major cooling affect on the vines of Oldenburg. It blows down between the rows of vines which are planted specifically in that direction to get the benefits.

Thank you to Oldenburg and Manley, their PR company, for organising efficient and good transport (Kenneth at A2B Tours) for us to get to and from the farm. We had a lovely day

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014

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Taj Classic Wine Trophy Award Dinner

Once a year, several fairly eminent French wine trade people come to South Africa and judge the local wines that are entered into this very interesting competition sponsored by the Taj Hotel. We so wish more farms would enter, because there were some huge gaps, especially not enough Chenin blanc, which they say they really appreciated, no viogniers and none of our best white blends, even though the judges say we are making stunning Semillon and not showcasing it enough.

We had a good dinner and each table had a bottle of each of the winning wines to share over dinner, so we had a really great experience with some excellent wines. Many of the winning winemakers had wrested themselves away from a very busy harvest to be there, so it made for a very happy and joyous evening

Sadly the head judge, Olivier Poussier, (the Best Sommelier in the World competition winner, wine consultant, writer and group sommelier of Lenôtre), seems to dislike our Sauvignons blanc – many of us think perhaps he has not tasted enough of them or the right ones.... He says we don’t have the right terroir and fairly obviously prefers French but really likes those made in Australia and New Zealand where pyrazines are a feature. .. He doesn’t like our pyrazines. Lynne had quite a conversation with him as he left, mostly in French, and he said he had enjoyed the competition very much. The Award ceremony was ably MC’d by Neil Pendock

The award is a plaque rather than a trophy

The menu for dinner. All the winning wines were served with the meal and every table had a bottle of each

Small torchon of chicken with Poached pear and camomile served as an Amuse Bouche

The starter was the best dish. Franschhoek trout in an Asian marinade with salmon caviar and lemon. A perfect match for the only Chenin Blanc to win , the magnificent De Morgenzon 2013 Reserve Chenin Blanc

The line up of the white wine Trophy winners. We also started the evening with glasses of Villiera’s trophy winning 2008 elegant Monro Brut MCC

Our table companions lined up all the wines in front of them and it was a little difficult to get their attention and get some of them to taste

John did manage to get a photograph of all the red Trophy winners

Our main course of seared loin of veal with sweetbreads and garlic mash. Our veal was very PC and nice and dark in colour, obviously not a crated baby animal. And it was a sizeable steak they served.

Riana Hall sat through the awards next to Lynne till the end of dinner, thinking she had not won anything and then with dessert she was at last presented with her trophy for her stunningly good Rudera Noble Late Harvest Dessert wine, So well deserved and she was so delighted.

Award winners Vineyard manager Floricius Beukes and Winemaker Boela Gerber From Groot Constantia get the award for their 2013 Chardonnay and Gouverneurs Reserve 2011 which was one of our favourite wines of the evening

Dessert was a raspberry Baked Alaska

Carolyn Martin of Creation Wines comes to congratulate Riana Hall for winning the NLH Trophy

Some of the trophy winners

Wendy and Hilton Appelbaum looking happy after the Awards

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014

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