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Thursday, October 24, 2013

Ashton Winery and Zandvliet Estate

The Ashton Kelder tasting room, where Shantel Beetge showed us some good wines at bargain prices

The old iron bridge over the Breede River

Cattle in a lush green field

with a lone springbok for company

Zandvliet, home of fine wines and champion racehorses

the Zandvliet tasting room

This beautiful, very coy mare played hard to get

A selection of Zandvliet chardonnays

Adriana Goliath, the charming young lady who helped us in the tasting room

Zandvliet makes wonderful Shiraz, and we loved the Cabernet too

An extended Weekend at Weltvrede, Bonnievale

When we said we would be visiting Wine on the River, and spending two more days in the Robertson/Bonnievale area, Elzette Steyn, Weltevrede's* Tasting Room Manager,

offered us the use of one of the farm's four cottages for our visit.

We spent Sunday to Tuesday in Bidsprinkaan (Praying mantis)

The cottage has a verandah with lovely views over the valley and the Breede River. There is a braai enclosure at one end

The decor and equipment are simple and functional, but very comfortable

The fireplace helped us to keep warm in the cold, rainy weather and we could braai in it

The bedroom with en suite shower and loo

On a previous visit, we stayed in the charming, but tiny, Ons Huisie

Views over the valley, with beautiful clouds which brought a terrific rainstorm during the night

A rather damp francolin foraging for breakfast on the lawn after the very wet night

The Breede River runs through the farm

The cottages have beautiful views of it,

which change with the weather and times of the day

A special treat, some goose paté given to us by Barton & Guestier in Bordeaux, well-matched with Christina van Loveren Riesling noble late harvest 2008

We were visited by a feral cat which thought our supper very attractive,
but it was not allowed in

The Bonnievale valley is very well named

Sunset at Weltevrede

On Tuesday morning, we visited Elzette in the tasting room to thank her for her very kind hospitality

*Weltevrede means "well-satisfied"

Lunch with Bonita at Christina's, Van Loveren

The Van Loveren winery, Robertson

The elegant new Van Loveren tasting room

The menu, Christina's restaurant on Van Loveren

The restaurant interior

We enjoyed Christina Van Loveren Chardonnay with lunch

Fried gnocchi, tomatoes, mushrooms and cheese

Long, slow-cooked lamb shanks with onion and rice

The bacon and blue cheese burger with potato wedges

Tasting at De Wetshof with Peter de Wet

Winemaker Peter de Wet in the tasting room

First the crisp riverside style Sauvignon Blanc and then the very German styled Riesling. Peter trained at Geisenheim, so he does know a lot about making Rieslings. This is a cracker

Next, three well known De Wetshof Chardonnays, each different and showing the terroir they are grown on. Limestone Hill, Bon Vallon and Finesse (we’d tasted the flagship Bateleur Chardonnay the day before), then the elegant but fruit filled Pinot Noir and finally their red Bordeaux blend 2008 Thibault

A view of the spring vines, just beginning to flower, through the tasting room window

Peter spent a lot of his time with us, telling us how he makes the wines, where they are grown and what styles he prefers to make

A view of the beautiful De Wetshof Manor which houses the tasting room and surrounding cellars

Sunday fun at the Wine on the River Festival, Robertson

Arriving at the festival, on a rather gloomy day, but the rain did hold off

Marquees are strung along the grassy riverside so, even if it does rain, you don’t get wet

The view down the Breede River towards Robertson

Wine, Olives, art, all were on show

The tempura prawns were good, the sushi freshly made on the Mimosa Hotel stand

People relaxing and enjoying themselves with wine as the main attraction

Lots of places to sit, to empty your glasses and there are even chandeliers

The band was amazingly good. They played everything from Chris Kristofferson to America, Neil Diamond, Stones, Mammas and Poppas and good rock and had the crowd loudly singing along

Lynne with Colyn Truter at the Arendsig stand. No sign of Arendsig’s owner, Lourens van der Westhuizen, because his wife has just given birth to twins and he was with her

With Bennie Stipp, De Wetshof marketing director, on the De Wetshof stand

The two De Wetshof MCC bubblies

All the Chardonnays, Shirazes and MCC Bubblies of the area were available in the tasting tent, so you could sample them all and find the ones you liked without having to go to the stands trying to taste everything on the show. We thought this a very sensible idea.

The wines were separated into the different characteristics

A short explanation of the wines open for tasting

There are some really wonderful Methode Cap Classiques being produced in Robertson/Bonnievale

More, chilled to taste

Some classic and some interesting Chardonnays to taste

From pale partridge eye to bright pink, these are the Pinot Noir MCC’s

And a selection of Shirazes

Lovely quiet ponies to ride

The children were having a lot of fun

We finally catch up with Elizma Spangenberg-Botha, Manager of the Robertson Wine Valley

Here comes a big hug!

Martin Bruwer, the viticulturalist at Quando, and Estelle, his wife

Our heart stopping lunch, in both meanings of the phrase! Crisp and very greasy onion rings, crisp battered fish and chips for John and two perfectly cooked and seasoned lamb chops for Lynne

Our hosts for the weekend, Philip Jonker, owner of Weltevrede and his affectionate wife, Lindelize

Perhaps not the best day for a trip on the river but normally a fun experience

Karl Uwe Papesch owner and winemaker of Fraai Uitzicht restaurant and vineyard with his helper Tina Chimutashu

Johan van Zyl, winemaker at Springfield Winery

Festival visitors getting into the spirit of the occasion

Time to depart – you can see the rain is finally coming closer.

This is the huge tent stocked to the gunwales with wines of the area to buy and take home at very good discounted prices. Profits go to local charities