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Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Harvest Day at Lanzerac, Stellenbosch

It is Harvest time in the winelands, so we were up early to join the arranged transport to Lanzerac in Stellenbosch (for which we are very grateful) and warmly welcomed on arrival by General Manager Barend Barnard

He provided us with reviving coffees before whipping us up the mountain in 4x4 vehicles

We have known the farm for many years, but had absolutely no idea that the Lanzerac vineyards went so high up the mountain. This was the Shiraz vineyard

Fantastic, huge bunches of blue Shiraz grapes were being picked and we could join in

Just a quick explanation of how to do it from Barend and Viticulturist Danie Malherbe. We are old hands and really enjoy picking grapes

Botmaskop mountain. Their green vineyard up on its slopes on the right is the highest vineyard in central Stellenbosch, it is planted with Sauvignon Blanc at 560m above sea level

Lynne starts picking

and in the next row, Leanne “The Wine Girl” Beattie begins to fill her crate

Lovely blue grapes

Our kind helper took off leaves, so we could see where the plentiful grapes were hiding. Apparently the size of the grapes is down because of the lack of water, but the quality is up. And he carried our full crates to the tractor

Now that is a huge bunch

Full crate, NEXT!

It was very hot indeed and it was time to go back the cellar

This is one of the professional pickers, they are so fast!

Views over the Stellenbosch Hills and Stellenbosch

A very empty dam

A tractor bringing the grapes to the cellar for pressing

Pinotage grapes from a bush vine

Looking down the rows

Botmaskop

Two of the names of older vineyards, either side of the road

Hand sorting as the grapes come in

The cellar is buzzing with working winemakers

We were extremely grateful for these ice cold damp cloths and the cool cellar after the 34ºC heat in the vineyards

Ah, yes please, we would love a glass of the excellent MCC Blanc de Blanc Brut with its lovely citrus flavours and crisp bubbles, 100% Chardonnay

Chilling

The wines of the Keldermeester Versameling (Cellarmaster Selection): Bergpad Pinot blanc, Prof (dedicated to Professor Perold, the father of Pinotage) and Dok (in honour of rugby legend "Doc" Craven). The labels are very difficult to photograph, with embossed lettering in a white label

Three of Lanzerac's top wines: Mrs English Chardonnay, Le General Bordeaux blend and the Pionier Pinotage

Are you game to press by foot?

Winemaker Wynand Lategan joins us for the tasting. Barend talks about the wines

Wynand demonstrates grape pressing

Volunteers having fun

Very squishy and a good exfoliator of feet

New volunteers, who are joined by Barend

till smiling, but waiting to get into the foot bath

Juicy

More of the Lanzerac wines

Wynand then gave us some tank samples to taste. First the base wine for the MCC. It’s a good rich Chardonnay

and shares it out

Then the base wine for the Pinotage Rosé, which has lovely summer fruit

Gives Lynne a taste of his Semillon

and some for PRO Pippa Pringle

Barend gets some of the almost black Pinotage

And we get to taste the Pinotage grapes

with the newly fermented wine. You can see the similarity

In their Vinoteque Lanzerac's famous skittle bottle. While the first grapes came from Bellevue farm in 1959, Lanzerac was the farm that made them into the first bottled Pinotage. This is from the 1992 vintage

We got to look at these old gems. No tasting sadly. The 1957 Cabernet Sauvignon

Handle with care, these wines are rare

Time for lunch, which was served on the Deli terrace under shade. It was served family style

The menu. You too can go and have this lunch

Chef Stephen Fraser had prepared us a feast. They do picnics as well. The new restaurant is being rebuilt after the disastrous fire which destroyed several buildings last year

Hopefully, it will open in a couple of months' time

Killer crisp salted potato wedges, sprinkled with cheese, so hard to resist

Snoek Paté served with Pinotage grape jelly, pickled onions and a Lavash cracker

A mixed salad with Pinotage Biltong, minted courgette slices, pink candy beetroot slices, pomegranate aruls, peppered Caciotta cheese and sun dried tomatoes

A very generous cheese board of great local cheeses, fruit chutneys, dried apricots and walnut nuts

Mini filled farm pies

Slow braised lamb, pulled and formed into patties, then breadcrumb coated and deep fried. Topped with pea shoots and mayonnaise. These were really excellent, full of rich lamb

Hot smoked trout salad

Different shaped mini pies, these seemed to have a sweet and sour filling

We were served some of the excellent Lanzerac wines with lunch

The small desserts were all made by a skilled pastry chef. A mini chocolate mousse with crisp broken meringue, honeycomb and mini choc Maltesers for texture; there was a tiny apple tart and a mini light-as-air lemon meringue tart; both had thin, buttery perfect pastry. We had these with espresso coffees

Lanzerac's main building was devastated by fire last year and is currently being rebuilt. We were taken on a tour to see what is happening. We so admire the skill of building this oak crux frame roof over the reception area, very, very specialised. This was how ships and houses were built in the 16th century, generally in England

The same reception hall, which was about to go through a makeover, when we photographed it in November 2016, before the fire made the makeover even more necessary!