Roger Jørgensen's Wellington distillery

We started our visit to the Wellington Wine Festival with an unofficial visit to Roger and Dawn Jørgensen’s distillery

Roger shows us the large range of spirits he makes, which includes absinthe, gin, whisky, vodka and some other more interesting distilled spirits like Aquavit

They are all showcased at his ‘cellar’ at Versailles Farm in Regent Street, Wellington, where he distills them. The tasting room is in their large, wonderful, old and spacious house just off Wellington’s Main Street

Roger took us through to the stoep, where he entertained us with delicious coffee and chocolate torte - and a little taste of

Primitiv Cask Aged Aquavit. Absolutely delicious to drink, but also very necessary if you are making salmon gravadlax.  Roger told Lynne he makes gravadlax using Yellowtail, something she will definitely be trying soon. All our Norwegian and Swedish swallow friends will be delighted to discover this and we hope they visit the Jørgensens on their next visit, to taste and buy

Roger explained his distilling process to our good friend Peter Kampmeinert, who is visiting from Holland

Peter with one of Roger’s rescued ancient copper pot stills. We also covet them, but you need a serious liquor licence to own one and use it

The courtyard entrance to Jørgensens reminds us a little of a Moroccan courtyard

The view from their front porch is totally South African and it is hard to believe that the Main Street is one road away on the other side of the building.  

Do visit and taste for yourself. See them at www.jd7.co.za

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014

Launch of Miles for Style at L'Avenir

On Tuesday we were off again to L’Avenir in Stellenbosch, for the launch of Miles for Style, a loyalty programme tied in with Voyager air miles, where you gain air miles with every R5 spent on your purchase of luxury goods on their on-line shop. This offers an extensive range of top-quality, unique and innovative brands. We were welcomed by a glass of L’Avenir Brut Rosé with blueberries, had a brief tour of the wine cellar with Barend Barnard, L’Avenir Marketing & Sales Manager, and then sat down to brunch and lots of networking chat with many of the people involved and some bloggers who were there to write about the day. We were presented with a great gift bag containing a selection of the products you can purchase on the site. Do check it out : http://www.milesforstyle.com/

We hope you don’t get this confused with David Grier’s Miles for Smiles Foundation http://davidgrier.co.za/miles-for-smiles/, which raises money for the very worthy charity Operation Smile, which changes lives worldwide with operations to repair faces and give back smiles to children with birth and other facial deformities http://southafrica.operationsmile.org/

A lovely welcome from Barend Barnard, L’Avenir Marketing & Sales Manager

Here showing a colleague how to perform sabrage on another bottle of their MCC Rosé, made from Pinotage

who performed sabrage on a bottle

The brunch spread that awaited us

Danish pastries

Scones and croissants with cheese and ham

Mini croissants with smoked salmon

All set up inside the tasting room

We chatted in the garden

and a lot of networking was accomplished

Melissa Delport of Miles for Style explains the system to us

Barend checking to see if we have enough to drink

Yes, those are goodie bags containing some of the products and services of participating companies which are part of the scheme

We tweet and start our cellar tour in the barrel cellar

Barend took us briefly through the wine making process

and then followed this with a visit to the tank cellar where the marvellous smell of fermenting wines pervades, as picking is nearly finished and they are at the wine making stage

We then had a tour of their guest house. This is the swimming pool area

Some of the rooms have their own terraces

This is the comfortable lounge area

The dining room set up for breakfast

The rooms are named after grape varieties

A very comfortable room with en suite bathroom

Another room with a private terrace

One of the large well equipped bathrooms

And the best suite, named after Pinotage, has its own very private outdoor terrace with plunge pool and outdoor shower, very suitable for honeymooners

Some of the guests, imagining what it might be like to stay there

Hotel Manager Julie Vandeventer and receptionist Elmarie Swarts told us all about the Guest house

The view from the dining room out to the pool

The lake in front of L’Avenir winery

The cheese and charcuterie platter in the tasting room

More networking as we eat brunch 

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014

A day in Franschhoek

Our friends, who are visiting from Holland, had requested a trip to Franschhoek, so we had a lovely summer’s day in the country on Monday. We started at Pasch du Plooy’s Dutch East restaurant for some good coffee, as the Dutch like to start their day this way. After five minutes in the shops, the girls were ready to move on. OK, it was a little bit longer and the men had to be patient. Then it was off to JP Colmant for a good taste of his local MCC bubblies. We did see JP briefly and he looks rather exhausted after a very, very busy harvest. Then it was off to show them the beautiful view from Dieu Donné. The menu looked rather tempting, so we opted for a nice table in the shade on the terrace. We had a very enjoyable lunch and then it was off to La Motte to taste and buy some wine there. Next, it was Antonij Rupert’s L’Ormarins Motor museum for the men. The ladies rested themselves on the comfortable sofas and then it was time to drive home

The tasting room at Colmant winery in Franschhoek. We preferred to sit on the terrace outside

We were ably assisted by Schalk Basson, who poured us small glasses of the 3 MCC bubblies. The tasting for four people costs R180

The lunchtime special menu at Roca restaurant on Dieu Donné farm

This restaurant has very, very special views over the entire Franschhoek valley from its shady terrace

Very tender, slow cooked rolled belly of pork with a crispy crackling outer and a very good rich wine jus

Prawn and lemon risotto. There were more prawns hidden inside the risotto

Two of our party ordered the Crispy duck

and one had the ostrich steak and chips

John could not resist the chocolate mousse, which came cleverly ‘wrapped’ in a chocolate space ship.

The soft white chocolate mousse, topped with a strawberry confit, was very sweet and unctuous

Affogato – Ice cream with an espresso coffee which is then poured over the ice cream

The large windows allow a view from inside, which makes this a lovely place to come in cooler weather

Our next call was at La Motte, where only the tasting room is open on a Monday

We tasted through the wines available for tasting and admired the elegance of the tasting room

They provide very good tasting glasses and a fresh roll to clean your palate between wines

The vaulted barrel cellar with lots of excellent La Motte reserve reds to come

Then it was off to the L’Ormarins Motor Museum at Antonij Rupert

This is a 100 year old Model T Ford

One hall has only red cars

Another is dedicated to racing cars

There are several very rare vehicles. This is an Aston Martin DB2/4 from the mid 1950s, with Italian Superleggera coachwork, showing a lot of American influence

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014