Wednesday, December 15, 2021

MENU visits the Karoo and the Garden Route 20. Robertson - DeWetshof

We made very good time coming from Knysna and reached Robertson before 12. This is one of our favourite wine areas; the people are so friendly and genuine and the wines are excellent. We have made lots of friends here. The two valleys of Robertson and Bonnievale are very fruitful and beautiful. It is easy to get around and we like it so much that we even contemplated moving here at one time. All our appointments for the two days were ably organised for us by Renate le Roux at the Robertson Tourism office

Our first wine estate visit was to De Wetshof, which produces some of the best wines in the valley
This is the stunning avenue leading up to the tasting room and winery

Such an elegant building. The cellar façade is based on the renowned and historic First Customs House in Cape Town, while the tasting room/administration building is a replica of the Koopmans De Wet House in Strand Street, Cape Town, which dates back to 1791. Both of the original buildings were designed by Louis Michel Thibault, one of the most renowned architects of the early Cape. De Wetshof was the first registered wine estate in the Robertson Wine Valley. Danie de Wet was one of the pioneers in bringing Chardonnay grapes to South Africa and De Wetshof has continued to produce excellent wines from them to this day. De Wetshof is one of the few third generation wine estates in South Africa. Danie de Wet, Proprietor and Cellarmaster is assisted by his sons and co-owners Johann (viticulture and marketing) and Peter (winemaker)

The farm recently became the first recipient of the 2022 World Wildlife Fund Conservation Pioneer Award, one of the accolades under the prestigious Great Wine Capitals Best of Wine Tourism and Wine Tourism Ambassador Awards. The award seeks to emphasise the critical role of eco- and social sustainability in the development and execution of a new generation of relevant and appealing competitive travel offerings

Charmaine Delgado has been selling De Wetshof wine as long as we can remember

and was happy to see us after quite a long time, due to Covid

Heinrich Bothman, the Public Relations Officer  and tasting room manager, 

took us on a tour of the busy and impressive bottling plant
Heinrich is better qualified than he lets on!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/heinrich-bothman-8b07251a/

The bottling plant had just finished for the morning; the staff had stopped for lunch

Bon Vallon is one of the renowned Chardonnays that de Wetshof produces


Translation: Each bottle is a masterpiece

and then it was time for a tasting of their excellent wines
We were to have the tasting in the smart downstairs cellar,
but the weather was so perfect that it had been moved outside

Johann de Wet, who is responsible for marketing, viticulture and vineyard management on De Wetshof,
joins his father Danie and brother Peter on the South African chapter of the Commanderie de Bordeaux.
The de Wet family’s winemaking heritage can be traced back to 1694 when the first de Wets arrived at the Cape

We love their range of different terroir Chardonnays, which we often drink at home
and were impressed with their Sauvignon Blanc, Lilya Rosé and Nature in Concert Pinot Noir
We had the tasting during a lovely relaxed lunch outside under the trees with Johann

What a wonderful treat to have the tasting with Johann in such beautiful surroundings

We began with the 2021 Lilya Rosé, made from Cabernet Franc, which grows in the vineyard next to Johann's home
This pale onion skin rosé is gently pressed with no skin contact
Lovely, gentle red berry fruit and floral notes on the nose, which follow through on the lively palate;
it’s a summer wine with hints on the end of Cabernet Franc savouriness.
So good with food, or just to quaff while sitting, as we did, in the sunshine

De Wetshof 2021 Sauvignon Blanc. We didn't know that De Wetshof produced the second Sauvignon Blanc in South Africa
It is quite French in style with capsicum, delicate asparagus and granadilla on the nose
The long deep flavours repeat those characteristics on the palate, with lime and loquat

Next, a wine that we drink and buy often - the Limestone Hill, 2021; unwooded and a good example of cool climate unwooded Chardonnay. It shows fresh lime with minerality on the nose, zingy crisp lime, grapefruit and lemon on the palate with a touch of white peach; such a good crisp wine for rich dishes and seafood

Bon Vallon is also a site specific unwooded Chardonnay, but gentler than Limestone Hill, with some creamy lemon lime flavours, and floral notes with good minerality from the limestone and broken mountain rock terroir

Cheers! So happy to be here tasting some of our favourite wines



Finesse 2020 Chardonnay has a slightly dusty nose with vanilla and loquat, a lovely rich mouthfeel,
zesty lime and orange peel flavours and some good chalk from its terroir - rocky, gravelly mountain soils, rich in limestone
It spends 10 months in 2nd and 3rd fill barrels which give it a pine nut hint on the end palate
A wine to drink with roast meat and seafood

2018 The Site, wooded Chardonnay, matured in French Radoux oak barrels for a year
The Chardonnay vines planted in this unique 2.5 hectare south facing vineyard site
were sourced from a specific vineyard in Burgundy
Grown on gravelly mountain rock, rich in limestone with a high PH, this wine "reaffirms De Wetshof’s belief
that single and site specific vineyards are non-negotiable wherever the aim is to produce great Chardonnay"
Vanilla wood is to the fore on the nose, the rich wine is rounded on the palate with crisp lime,
then butter, cream and more lime producing a superb Chardonnay that has a good chalky finish. Very special

Finally our favourite De Wetshof Chardonnay, the Bateleur. Named after an eagle (Terathopius ecaudatus),
which is one of Africa’s most majestic birds of prey; it is found in this area. We tasted the 2018
 This premier 3.5 hectare vineyard is one of the oldest Chardonnay vineyards in South Africa, planted in 1987
with vine material that had been imported from Burgundy several years before
Gravel soils from mountain rock, rich in limestone and clay
The wooded wine spends several months in French oak Radoux barrels and is given batonage
On the nose it is very French in style and is a dive-in one for Lynne;
hard to get one’s nose out of the glass, the aromas are so seductive
On the rounded palate, it has good minerality, chalk and layers of lime, lemon and pear fruit
with nutty vanilla wood gently holding it all together. So well made and it has great aging potential
We have had the privilege in the past to taste this wine together with the wine from the parent French vineyard and,
while they are different expressions, the similarity and the site character are there in the wines

We were glad that winemaker Peter de Wet could join us for a short while as well,
and we so enjoyed being with them both again

The final wine was the De Wetshof 2017 Nature in Concert Pinot Noir. Grown in rocky slate soils on south facing slopes
open to the cooling sea breezes blowing in from the Agulhas coast and ideal for Pinot Noir
It is delicate on the nose, with red berries, raspberries and mulberries; there is a hint of smoke from the French oak
Heady, long flavours of red berries, elegance, good chalk tannins and light wood on the end,
again very French in style and excellent

They had prepared a very enjoyable lunch of braaied boerewors, succulent lamb chops, and good salads, which we enjoyed very much. There should have been photographs but, sadly, the SD card in John’s camera let us down at that point and they are corrupted

Thank you to all at De Wetshof who made it such a special afternoon, especially Johann and Peter
We are very grateful indeed for their time and for the wonderful wines we tasted

and then, we were off to a bubbly afternoon at Silverthorn (Click Here)

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MENU visits the Karoo and the Garden Route 22. Robertson - theLAB Boutique hotel

It had been a long day since we set out from Knysna and we were becoming a bit tired, so we headed for our overnight accommodation in the Klaasvoogds area.  Called theLAB, it’s a very interesting place, a modern “Eco-centric“ guest house

with lots of solar panels, a terrace with beautiful sunsets and views, a restaurant, and a spa

A parking and charging area for electric cars and you can hire the bikes and electric scooters to explore the area
Fossil cars use a parking area across the road

Even more solar panels on the roof

The pathway to the rooms

and very modern rooms, each with its own patio and good views; ours even has its own plunge pool outside. There is something else quite special: Each room is equipped with ‘Echo’ an interactive female-voiced computer, whom you can command with your voice. So you say “Echo” and she turns on; you can ask her to answer questions and perform tasks. We asked her to turn on the room lights, to make them brighter, what the weather will be like in Robertson the next day and how to “close the blinds” in our room; down they came! We know that this is the future in all our homes, but it is the first time we have experienced it. You do have to be quite precise in speech. There are many different things she will answer: numerical calculations, give you the news, play music, operate the coffee machine and even tell you Ryan Gosling’s birthday (!) “Who he?”, said John

White and bright inside with a large comfortable bed
 Strangely, there is a pod coffee making machine in the left hand bedside table
More about that later

Compact toilet area behind the bed

and a large two person shower

A desk to sit at, with a kettle and the remote control for the TV and other facilities
The room has full length white blinds on all the windows, controlled by Echo or the remote

We had the end cottage and it came with a large outdoor area

Marvellous views across the Robertson valley

Near the main building is the pool deck

Lovely rose garden near the Spa

and beautiful sunsets

Inside the restaurant

It was time for supper and the menu has some good choices

and a wine and cocktail list

A reminder of Addo on the wall where the wine is kept

We had a lovely, if slightly rowdy, dinner that night. Only one other party in for dinner, here on a staff conference, who were really enjoying themselves. They were quite a noisy crowd, enjoying themselves with lots of cocktails and wine and food and we could see some of them becoming a bit 'overdone'



Can’t resist: days of wine and roses

We had brought a bottle of Nitída Pinot Noir with us, which we enjoyed with dinner

We did not order starters as we’d had such a good lunch at De Wetshof
John chose the Fillet Steak with a red wine jus, fondant potato, green beans and red cabbage which he enjoyed

Lynne opted for the creamy Seafood linguine with prawns, mussels and calamari,
and a dusting of lemon zest, thinking it might be small
It was jam packed with seafood and an enormous portion

Sorry, Buddy, we don't feed dogs at the table. The owner’s dog is very cute

A guest on the deck with the bar



They light the place up at night
Even the trees and the pool area are gently floodlit


Time to walk back to the room
Lynne was looking forward to getting into bed to read and then saying “turn off the lights” and not having to get up to do it

We both did some work, John on photos, Lynne writing,
before getting into bed and commanding Echo to turn everything off

Echo did misbehave in the night; lights kept going on one by one, till they were all on. She wouldn’t obey Lynne’s verbal instructions to turn them off, so she had to get up do it manually, twice. And she made us coffee at about 4 am, the room was filled with great aromas of roasted beans. John slept through it all, even Lynne’s loud and getting angry commands! In the morning, our blinds suddenly closed as John came out of the shower. Echo has fine sensibilities as well? It was quite funny if you kept your sense of humour ….. IF

Time for breakfast, where we learned that the inebriated conference party had been playing with Echo
into the small hours and had blown the computer; Echo was so confused with all the contradictory commands

On the table was a fresh fruit and yogurt filled glass, fresh orange juice and two rolls

We think that Buddy had been awake all night too!

Lynne’s green tea and a selection of butter and jams

Fried eggs, bacon, sausage and mushrooms for Lynne

Scrambled egg, sausage, bacon and tomato for John

We really enjoyed (most of!) our stay at theLAB and were very thankful to be hosted by the owners
We do understand that what happened was completely out of their control
We were fascinated by Echo and did have a good laugh at the happenings in the night

And as we left, a view across the valley to some beautiful horses in a paddock
We had been told that Paul de Wet, the previous owner of Zandvliet, now lives in the area
He and his wife are great lovers of horses. These could be theirs

Our first appointment on our last Robertson day was Springfield (Click Here)

If you do not wish to receive e-mails from us, please email menucape@gmail.com
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