A visit to Namaqua Cellars, Vredendal

While we were on holiday in Lambert's Bay in December we wanted to visit Namaqua winery in Vredendal. This is one of South Africa's biggest wine producers.  We keep meeting the team at award ceremonies as over the last few years they have picked up some very impressive awards, and lots of them.  Recently they won the General Smuts Trophy for the Top Wine and the Pietman Hugo trophy for quality. and consistency. Yes, the winery concentrates on bulk wine, boxed wine and making wine for other people but they do have a small range of excellent wines we wanted to taste.  We made an appointment with winemaker Reinier van  Greunen and had an impressive tasting

The large and spacious tasting facility also has a small restaurant

which has a simple, but reputedly good, menu

We arrived at 3 for our appointment at Die Keldery

They also have a small range of things for sale, as well as wine

The view over the valley and you see lots of vineyards.  Namaqua has 200 owner producers. This fruitful valley is fed by the Olifants river

A good outdoor seating area and a children's playground.  It was hot; we preferred to sit in the air conditioned tasting room

Reinier van Greunen was very welcoming and took us through the range of wines. It is now possible to buy their wines on line.  https://www.namaquawines.com/wines/ We began with the 2018 Chenin Blanc from their Cultivar Collection. R45 Typical golden dusty nose with fruit and spice, jujube sweeties, dark apricots, citrus and guava

Reinier kindly organised one of their cheese and meat platters for us to try during the tasting. It came with three glasses of their white Muscadel

Then the 2017 Doornkraal Chenin Blanc. We paid R130, (R780 for a case of 6). Made as a social responsibility project with a local community from low yield vines. The vineyard is tilled with horse-drawn ploughs and everything is done by hand. An elegant dusty chenin, with golden juicy fruit, with lime crispness, soft chalky tannin, minerality and long flavours. Platter gives it 4½ stars

The back label

Then the 2014 Namaqua Limited Cellar Door Merlot R85 which was the National Champion at the Young Wine Show. Pretty and perfumed on the nose with roses and violets, it has intense dark fruit, biting fruit acid, minty, mocha and nuts, this wine needs time to gather its skirts but has great potential. Each bottle is numbered

From the Heritage Collection, the 2017 Cape West Cabernet Sauvignon Pinotage blend has lots of gongs. including a double gold at Veritas this year. Elegant on the nose with some perfume, it has soft sweet fruit and some youthful tension, which is what people are looking for today

The 2017 Spencer Bay Merlot from the Flagship Range is perfumed with violets and cassis, has sweet red berry fruit,cherries, red and black cassis berries and leaves, and black pepper hints and is nicely round on the palate  Lynne scored this 18/20

2017 Spencer Bay Winemakers Reserve The Blend. A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot  Very approachable on the nose, with chocolate and black cherries. Soft chewy tannins, good fruit, cherries and cassis, this wine has tension and length and is very impressive now and will surely be in the future. R125. We think it will win awards. Lynne scored this 18.5/20

The platter looks and was delicious

Summer on a plate

The Namaqua White Muscadel is sticky sweet and full of raisins and honey. Winning lots of awards. R60

Then a tour of the wine cellar, it is bigger than anything we have seen before

We were impressed with the quantity this tank holds .....

Until we saw this one and then more ...

... and there is a veritable forest of them.  We counted about 24 holding up to about 1.2 million litres each, but apparently there are more on another site

Winemaker, Reinier van Greunen, took John up the stairs to the top. Lynne does not do heights

The green vineyard view from the top

In every direction, grapes

"I will look at the photos! Enjoy the view"

We had a marvellous tasting and visit and are so impressed with what they are doing with their Heritage range. Thank you Reinier.  Their boxed wines are very popular in South Africa and they sell a lot of them overseas

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2019

The wines of Fryer's Cove in Doringbaai

Fryer's Cove has its wine tasting venue and wine cellar in a refurbished and repurposed crayfish factory in Doringbaai. They are famous for having the vineyard closest to the sea and you pass it as you come into Doringbaai. They are the only wine farm in what is the smallest wine ward in South Africa - Bamboes Bay. And it is as they say "500 meters from where the cold ocean throws its breakers against a rocky shore". We visited them while we were on holiday at Lambert's Bay on the West Coast

The boat in front is a diamond digger. They dredge just off shore and find alluvial diamonds washed down the Orange River

Lovely views across the bay and an azure blue sea

It was quite hard to find the entrance but we got there, finally

and were warmly welcomed by Francois Jansen van Rensburg, the Marketing Manager,
with whom we had made an appointment

We chose to sit on the shaded terrace

Inside the tasting room

They also sell Namaqua olive oil

The wines we tasted

One of their wine awards, FNB Sauvignon blanc Top 10 2018. To read the extraordinary story of the wines and the vineyard, have a look at their website https://fryerscovewine.co.za/the-winery/ They have no suitable ground water because it is saline, so they have an overland pipeline from Vredendal – 29.5 km away. This was the only solution and they had to cross three adjacent farms to get there. They grow Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir on 6.5 hectares. Because of the cool local climate caused by the sea mists, this is possible

Francois brought us the cellar's wines to taste

A sign we are always happy to see

We began with 2018 The Jetty Sauvignon Blanc, only available at the Cellar. R75. Shy, with hints of kelp on the nose, it is a warm country wine, full & very satisfying. Green peppers, guava, orange, loquat, with long flavours and salt on the end

This diamond boat has its permitted dredging area just in front of the winery. It is very profitable. They find diamonds worth several hundreds of thousands on a weekly and often daily basis

And suddenly we were enveloped in a thick, creeping sea mist coming in over the kelp beds
This happens often and keeps the vineyard cool

Boys on the jetty, getting to know the machinery

Next was the 2016 Bamboes Bay Sauvignon Blanc, R230. Distinct Sauvignon pyrazines with figs, kelp and sea air on the nose. There is lime in the soil which makes this wine crisp, juicy and full, nicely mature with flavours of English gooseberry and plums.

Ta Dah! Newly released, the new packaging on the 2017 Bamboes Bay Sauvignon Blanc which is kept on the lees. And they vinify some of the wine in two 500 litre concrete eggs. Herbal, kelp and sea on the nose, creaminess on the full rounded and warm palate (14% alcohol) with flavours of figs, salt, pears, gooseberry and lime. Will be so good with seafood. R260

Then the 2016 Hollebaksstrandfontein Blanc Fumé wooded Sauvignon Blanc. R300 Sea air, kelp, crayfish & smoke on the nose

This sparkles on the palate with vivacity, lovely fruit in layers, salty, greengage, rich full with nice gentle wood at the end

Flotsam from the sea decorating the tasting room and restaurant

Another couple had come for a tasting with Francois

Then the very acceptable 2018 Doringbaai Rosé, made from free run Shiraz juice. R95. Salty, lees, soft and juicy fruit - red plums and spice, and dry, so a good food wine

The Friars Cove 2015 Pinot Noir has wood hints, balsam, cherry, sea air and forest on the nose. Chalky tannins, elegance, nice wood, cherries and some cassis, warmth and smoke on the end

The Doring Bay Shiraz kelp and sea air. Red cherries and berries on the nose; 14% alcohol. Good fruit, pepper, plums and cherries. Long and warm

The range of wines

The two concrete eggs in the cellar, which they are using to make wine

Looking at fermentation tanks in the cellar

The barrel cellar

For lunch, Lynne chose the ribs

while John opted for "Surf 'n Turf", steak and calamari

On the way out you go through the abalone farm, where they nurture the baby abalone

Seawater is circulated in the tanks

The lighthouse in the mist

And, on the road out of Doringbaai, is the Fryer's Cove vineyard

Just one building and lots of vines

On the special terroir of red soil and limestone with sea shells

And the local fynbos which keeps hold of the soil

Harvest time will be in late January or February

You can see Doringbaai and the sea in the distance. And some new vine plantings

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