A visit to Meyer Joubert at Joubert Tradauw, Barrydale

Lunch with Meyer Joubert at Joubert Tradauw on the way home.

We met Meyer at the recent tasting of Klein Karoo wines which inspired this trip and he said that we should join him for lunch if we were passing. As we had never visited the farm before, this was the perfect opportunity

It’s just outside of Barrydale, on the famous R62 road, a place we always mean to visit but haven't got to yet. The farm has lovely gardens and a tapas style restaurant, just redesigned and extended

We had a tour of the wine cellar

Four generations of Jouberts in the new tasting room

and the deli section of the restaurant

Lots of seating under the pergola

The old cellar doors

The barrel cellar

and an old shuttered window

Lots of wine maturing in barrels

New and older empty barrels awaiting the next harvest

Wonderful proteas and local flowers and a superb jade plant

A glass of the Joubert Tradauw French oak matured Chardonnay. It’s a lovely example, full of nuts, citrus and butter with a hint of vanilla wood

A mixed salad made with crisp apple and cheese and homemade bread to start

And one of their cheese and charcuterie platters with humus, chicken liver pate, great black olive tapenade, fresh beetroot and crisp spanakopita (filo pastry filled with cheese and spinach) A lovely satisfying selection

Meyer spoke about his plans for the farm, the wines and the history. His Grandfather bought the farm 61 years ago. They farmed fruit and wine grapes and sold them. In 1999 the first grapes were harvested for their own wines. The R62 Merlot/Cabernet Blend (60:40) was released after a 14-month ageing period in Burgundy oak barrels. Meyer is the winemaker and trained at Elsenburg and the in the Napa Valley in California. Tradauw or tradau means "the footpath of the women", the path they took through the valley in olden times.

Tasting wine from the barrel in the cellar. Meyer is passionate about his Shiraz

A picture of us together for a change

Admiring the new changes inside. Thank you Meyer for your generous gift of time and the wine and the lunch. We will be back

Then it was time for us to be on the road to get back home after a marvellous trip. One we encourage you to emulate. The countryside changes so much on the round trip, with so much to see and experience. We only scratched the surface. There are good places to stay, good wine to drink, good food to eat and more importantly friendly and hospitable people on the route. It is one of the many little slices of heaven in South Africa

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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Axe Hill wines, Calitzdorp

Before we left Calitzdorp we dropped into Axe Hill to see friend Mike Neebe and taste some of his lovely wines and ports. Mike had just finished bottling this year's wines. He is doing some innovative things

Mike's prize winning ports and wines

He told us about his plans and generously gave us some tasting from the barrels as well. We bought some of his Distinta red blend and a bottle of the white port which, sadly, hit the kitchen floor before it got drunk

A hoopoe on the ground as we left the cellar

This is one of our most distinctive birds but they are often hard to spot as they seem only to appear early in the morning

Then it was off on the road home with just one more stop on the way at Joubert Tradauw for lunch

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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Overnight in Calitzdorp

Time to check in to our accommodation at Klokkies B&B

Lynne found this Calitzdorp B&B on Bookings.com, a site we use often and are rarely disappointed. We needed somewhere that was comfortable and good value for one night and this certainly fit the bill

It is just 3 Km outside Calitzdorp, past De Krans and Boplaas

We love welcome signs

The late afternoon sun on the mountains. This mountain is known as Rooiberg and always seems to catch the sun

Klokkies is on a small hill or kopje and has wonderful views all around, giving a bird's eye view of the different climatic areas. This is the lush, green vineyard view, looking back towards the town. They irrigate with leiwater - a shared system of canals where water is released to flow and everyone can open their sluice gates to get some. Calitzdorp is very dry and hot in the summer and needs to preserve its water

In more detail

A yellow masked weaver on a thorn bush means there is water nearby

A sparrow

Moving more towards the left, the farmland stops just behind the dam and the dry Karoo begins

There is lots of fruit grown here, as well as grapes. The area is a good supplier of dried fruit like apples, pears, apricots etc.

Feed for the cattle has been harvested

A small farm nestled under the hill and beyond is the wild karoo land. We could hear the sheep and goats bleating and the chickens, until it went silent at nightfall

Klokkies B&B

Our room was at the back with superb views of the veld and the mountains. Each room has an outside table and chairs and access to braais

Our view

Early morning light on the vines

The farm waking up. Despite the warm days, it can get chilly at night

Time to check out and get on the road. Our friendly neighbours from East London leaving early

Someone making a big fire

The heat begins to rise as the mist lifts

Klokkies has a wonderful succulent garden. Our night there cost us R450

It is 8.30 and time for breakfast. We tried to return to Handelshuis, where we previously had a great breakfast but were too early; they only start at 9 (why?) and we wanted to get on our way, so we had breakfast just down the road from there at The Dorpshuis opposite the church. It seems a popular place for breakfast

We chose to eat on the stoep

Lynne's South African breakfast - very good boerewors indeed. Before we left Calitzdorp we stocked up on sausage and lamb for our freezer. The prices in Cape Town are ridiculously high and we saved a lot of money on good Karoo lamb and mutton leg chops for curries.

John chose the scrambled egg option

Our reasonable bill. Yes, we did have two coffees each and toast and marmalade were included

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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Tasting and lunch with Boets Nel, De Krans, Calitzdorp

When we told Boets Nel at a recent wine event that we were coming through Calitzdorp on this trip he insisted that we should have lunch with him while we were there. We met him on his farm, De Krans, for a tasting before lunch. It is only about 65 Kilometres from Oudtshoorn to Calitzdorp

The roses in the garden are magnificent and full of healthy bees. De Krans farm has been in the Nel family since 1890.

We had a long chat with winemaker Louis van der Riet, who is inspiring. He has brought so much to De Krans, which was previously known more for its excellent multi award-winning Ports (now renamed with euphemisms like Cape Tawny, Cape Ruby, Late Bottled Vintage and Late Vintage Reserve, as we are not allowed to use the name "Port" for South African Portuguese style fortified wines). The De Krans fortified wines still score very well next to the Portuguese in blind tastings!

Boets with his wines and "Ports". We had a very comprehensive tasting and loved the wines and "Ports" we tasted. We bought a case each of his Touriga Naçional red table wine, Chenin blanc and Chardonnay. With all the Platter 5 star certificates on the wall behind Boets, it was very gratifying to see Boets, his brother Stroebel and Louis gain another 5 star award at this evening's Platter launch!

Boets very generously presented us with a magnum of his special 2010 "The Last Port". 2010 was the last year in which South Africa was allowed to use the description "Port".

Then we were off to the centre of town, to the Portuguese restaurant, Porto Deli

The very tempting menu. It was a hot day, so eating a lot was not an option

Olives and bread on the table to start with

We had a bottle of Boets' Bordeaux blend Tritonia with lunch; rich and layered and full of red berry fruit and good vanilla wood notes

John had Pork loin and Boets had steak

Lynne had an excellent salad of smoked salmon, prawns and avocado. just right for a scorcher of a day. Thank you so much, Boets for all your time, great wine and a lovely, friendly lunch

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

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