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Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Final Harvest of the 2013 vintage at The Vineyard

Journalist Graham Howe inspects his vine

Angela Lloyd and Melvin Minnaar enjoy a glass of bubbly and the morning sun in the vineyard

General Manager Roy Davies and Kitty Petousis, owner of The Vineyard, made the welcome speeches

Well known journalists Myrna Robbins and Melvin Minnaar there to see their vines

Roy hands out the secateurs so that the last grapes can be picked

Hearing about the vineyard, the harvest and the story of the wine

Norma Ratcliffe of Warwick Estate picks the grapes on her vines

followed by Greg Landman

The last bucket of grapes, picked and destined for special dishes from the kitchen at The Square restaurant

This is in addition to the 78 kilos picked previously on Friday 15^th February

Kitty P chats with Roy Davies before they address the guests

Applause at the speeches

Kitty refers herself as the oldest person in the Hotel, but she has more youth, vigour and fun than many we know

Roy outlines the year's programme of wine and food dinners, wearing the apron given to all attending the ceremony

The programme is printed on the Apron. The first dinner is on the 26th of April. You can book for them now

A good selection of wines was on offer, chosen from the producers featured in The Vineyard's wine dinners

The wonderful spread laid out in a corner of the Vineyards marvellous garden

The cheese platter

A celebration cake, bearing a picture of Kitty picking grapes, was a great final touch

Durbanville Feast of the Grape

The Feast of the Grape festival, held last weekend at the Durbanville Race Course was a new concept for Durbanville, with nine of the farms taking part. There were good wines, food tents and lots of amusement for the children

Kids playing on the jumping castles

Mini tractor rides

Pony rides

and a farmyard petting zoo

A driving service that will get you home safely afterwards, something we really applaud as people can drink too much, especially in the heat of the day

There was lots of shaded seating and tables for eating the delicious food on sale

Martin Moore , Durbanville Hills cellarmaster, and Lynne discuss weighty subjects, talking about harvest and wine making. Martin is one of our ultimate gurus. He knows a great deal about the industry and also has many amusing stories.

We sampled a selection of Martin’s Durbanville Hills excellent wines kept nice and cool despite the heat

We also had long chats to Bennie Howard of Meerendal estate and bought some of their delicious Pinotage Rosé for the rest of the summer and some small 375 ml bottles of Sauvignon blanc which they had on special – great for picnics

For John, an inspiring T-shirt. Looking at his foot, it was obvious that this man knew all about it.

A taste of the Altydgedacht wines is always rewarding. We love their bone dry Gewürztraminer and recently enjoyed some of the Ollo white blend at a dinner we had.

Bernhard Veller of Nitida with Mark Herd of Sunset Beach Wines. We also tasted their wines and chatted to the new winemaker Brendan Butler, who has recently joined them after a few years at Jordan wine farm in Stellenbosch.

Relaxing in the food tent at the end of the show with Richard Schroder, Stephen Jeffery and John talking to Warren, the owner/manager of Cassis restaurant on Nitida Wine farm.

Dornier pop-up restaurant at Merchant's Café in Long St

We were greeted on the pavement outside Merchant’s Café at 33 Long Street for the Dornier Pop-up restaurant.

Watch this space, it will happen again this coming winter

Starlight ceiling in the restaurant

Raphael Dornier chats to Florian Gast of Opulent Living magazine

Two tapas dishes were on offer for R50 a plate – Lynne had the aubergine rolls filled with goats cheese and topped with pesto which were extremely good