Opening of the refurbished Franschhoek Cellars tasting and entertainment facility

The Franschhoek Cellar is a familiar landmark as you enter Franschhoek but how many of us have actually visited it?  DGB (Douglas Green Bellingham) produce, wholesale and distribute wines and spirits including familiar names like Boschendal, Bellingham, & Douglas Green, acquired this winery several years ago and MD Tim Hutchinson was keen for them to redevelop this iconic building as a tasting, function and sales venue to compliment the winery.

 They have much improved the outside facilities as well. On Monday night we drove through to Franschhoek for the launch of The Venue. We have to say that one think we don’t like is functions that start at 5.30 in the winelands, as we then spend nearly 2 hours stuck in going home traffic, which is what happened on Monday. It makes for a very long evening

Two new very impressive cut steel logo boards with steel candle braziers flank the front door. This is now a very impressive venue

It was a gathering of the great and good of Franschhoek

Beautifully planted garden areas flank the ‘Platform’ covered area which is suitable for functions and the central walkway. There are plans to enclose in the Platform area to make it weather proof and more comfortable in the winter months

The view down towards the gazebo, lovely for wedding ceremonies in the garden

Guests included Chef Chris Erasmus of Foliage, his restaurant Manager Lee-Ann Fouché and Hein Koegelenberg, CEO La Motte Estate and Leopard's Leap Family Vineyards

A good band with a Latin flavour played throughout the evening

On offer on arrival was the Franschhoek Cellar MCC Brut rose, caramel popcorn and rather messy Jaffles stuffed with bobotie, something we haven’t had for a couple of decades

After about an hour we moved inside. The colourful Brampton Wine Studio inside the front door also had music.

The tasting area filled with busy servers

Up a short flight of steps into the Main tasting room which is divided into four areas. Here we stood around for quite a while and enjoyed some of the Franschhoek chenin or sauvignon blanc on offer. There was also a rosé and Brampton red wine. You can do chocolate or cheese and wine pairings; they serve cakes and you can buy wine

This is The Venue all set up for the function. If you book it they supply tables, linen, cutlery, crockery & chairs. It has its own entrance and loos

Filling glasses for the guests in the tasting room

This was the best canapé of the evening. Small toasts topped with brie and pickles & artichokes

Winnie Bowman CWM, Jenny Prinsloo, Head of Franschhoek Tourism and Allister Rogan, director of Graham Beck Enterprises

Jacques Roux, Marketing Director of DGB, was the MC for the evening

The cocktail party in full swing while we wait to sit down for the speeches

The snacks for supper. It was “retro” party food and I am being kind. Small hamburgers 

and rather dry chicken on toothpicks

Baby meatballs and tomatoes

Spring rolls

Cheese on sticks, all that was missing was the melon to stick them into

Jacques Roux begins the speeches by telling us of the line up of speakers

Carla, Malherbe Marketing Manager for Franschhoek Cellars, told us in detail about what they have planned

The party snacks were laid out on tables for guests to help themselves. In the background is the line up of staff who work at the Franschhoek Cellar as they were introduced to us

The Executive Mayor of the Stellenbosch Municipality, his Honour Conrad Sidego, was there to give a blessing to the Cellar. His speech was inspiring and interesting. He said that the heart of the wealth in our wines is in this community. And he wants to turn this valley (which stretches from Wellington through Paarl and Stellenbosch to Franschhoek) into the Innovation Capital of South Africa in wine, cuisine and tourism. He said: “Although SA faces huge challenges, this valley can do it. We have had 21 years of the New South Africa, it was a promissory note. When will we deliver? “ he asked. The wine industry must do its part. He hopes that the directors of DGB are a blessed bunch and that they will deliver to the winning nation and continue to show sensitivity to the environment in which they operate.

CEO of DGB Tim Hutchinson thanked the Mayor and told us about how DGB was progressing with Franschhoek Cellars, and its other properties. He introduced and thanked the architect of this project Ernst Zieman, Operations boss at Boschendal. He told us of the charities they support: the Andrew Murray Orphanage in Wellington, and the Fair to All Project which has a truck fitted out with 32 computers and a library that circulates to needy schools in the winelands. They plan to have 3 to 4 more soon but need help from the wealthy to fund them.

John Gnodde, an Executive Director of Brait

And finally chocolates and coffee in the Bernhard Premium lounge on the way out, where we were presented with a generous gift bag containing coffee, a bottle of Franschhoek Cellars red wine and a chopping board.

Lynne chatting to Boschendal Cellarmaster, JC Bekker

The Bernard Premium lounge. We arrived home at 11.30 pm

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

A day by the Sea with Fish and Chips in Kalk Bay and Simonstown

The Cape has so many wonderful places to visit. We find that, unintentionally, we neglect some of them and rather take them for granted. We had not been to visit the seaside ports on the other side of the peninsula for at least three years and thought it was time. So, on a lovely Saturday last week, we took along some friends and had a marvellous day out in Kalk Bay and Simonstown

A church in Kalk Bay that has been turned into the local theatre

We needed refreshment and our friend Anne, visiting from Australia, wanted to visit an old haunt, The Brass Bell. We were not impressed at all by the state of the place, it needs a lot of TLC and they do seem to have commandeered half of the beach and the tidal pools, leaving rather small space for the locals or visitors to enjoy the beach

Off to the harbour to see what was for lunch

A fishing boat had just arrived with a large catch of mackerel. Not a fish the locals know very well; we see them canned more often than fresh

Bright and shiny and fresh from the sea, they are sold in threes

The harbour seals were vying for heads and entrails

We didn’t have a booking for anywhere and most of the upmarket restaurants were full, so we decided to try an old standard for the first time. Kalkies is on the dockside and this is the menu. Very good prices for very fresh sea food. It is now on our list of places not to miss. Certainly the locals patronise this place a lot

Rules, damn rules. We certainly didn’t see anyone sleeping on the tables in this busy vibey place. And, sadly for the men in the party, no bare chest undress

This must go down as the bargain of the month! R25 usually buys you a sandwich, if you are lucky. We did see a couple eating the Crayfish too, but they had one and a half rather small crayfish for their R160

Another menu, showing what was available on the day

Inside, out of the wind

We chose outside for the fresh air

Basic, but it works for them - no washing up

The friendly and very efficient “front desk”, where you order and pay. Food is then delivered to you via a number system. We were amazed at how quickly we were brought our food

Our waitress was a real character, full of fun, amusing quips and fast comebacks. She really took to our friend Ronnie. She told us she had been there 20 years, so Lynne said she must have started at 6 years of age. “No, two” was the fast riposte! And when we asked what was for dessert, she said “Cake... fish cake!”

Most of us ordered the hake, calamari and chips. Crisp batter and superbly fresh fish, cooked to perfection. The calamari were tender, but you need to eat them while they’re hot. The chips were a mix of crisp and some ‘slap’ – barely cooked - the way most Capetonians love them. We just don’t get this, why would you like flobby chips, but they do, slathered in vinegar and salt

We also had two portions of Greek salad

It is still very much a working harbour for the fishermen

Opportunistic redwing starlings are everywhere, grabbing what they can find

The fat harbour seal knows that if he poses on the dock he might get fed fish scraps by the tourists. Do approach with caution though

There are the usual souvenir stands all around the harbour and we liked the meerkat carvings, something we hadn't seen before

Then it was off to visit historic Simonstown, our Naval base, full of unused Naval ships and Victorian houses

We were in need of a coffee and some cake and found this nice place called Monocle and Mermaid
It had a rather familiar looking interior for those of you who remember our Main Ingredient shop in Sea Point

So we sat down to enjoy slices of some flourless chocolate cake, a slice of red velvet cake and some Florentines for those of us who don’t like cake that much. And the coffee is really good

Time to head home

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015