Landskroon and Laborie at Paarl's Ommiberg Festival

We decided to give this festival another chance this year and are delighted to report that on the two farms we visited, it was a huge success and great fun. This year they advertised in the Cape Newspapers. We started at Landskroon on the Agter Paarl and then went round “the Pearl” Paarl Rock to Laborie in the centre of Paarl

Landskroon has lovely views across the winelands. In late summer the fields are brown and the dam is emptying

“Would you like to taste our Chenin or our Sauvignon Blancs?” For the price of R110 you received a wine glass and could taste all day at the farms involved. And you get to keep your glass

Busy in the cooler tasting room

You can even sit down and relax while tasting

Some wine to scoop

Live music and lots to eat outside on the porch

Huguette van der Merwe offering a tasting of the red wines

Some visitors intent on getting some grape stomping done

We went to Harvest restaurant at Laborie for lunch and start with a cool glass of their Blanc de Blanc MCC

Peter chooses beautifully cooked rump steak and crisp French fries with mixed vegetables

The girls go for the spicy calamari and chorizo. Just perfect for lunch

John has the starter portion

A “Hey, nice to see you again!” welcome from Zelda Oelofse-Cornthwaite, Laborie’s General Manager

Chilling over lunch

Lots of things for children to do on the lawn

And people enjoying the festival under the trees, and like us buying lots of wine in the tasting room. They had some superb specials on the day. All their MCC’s were reduced to R65 and we bought their splendid Chardonnay for R35 a bottle. So 4 cases went into our boot

Not part of the festival, but as we had to go to Franschhoek to collect something we ended up on the terrace of Rickety Bridge and with the help of our very good wine server, managed to taste a great selection of their wines

She was very helpful and answered a lot of questions. If you buy wine, they waive the tasting fee. A few bottles came home with our visitors

RETURN TO MENU

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

On tour in Franschhoek and Durbanville

John has had some wonderful groups of American tourists in between all the other activities we write about this week. While Lynne was tasting at L'Ormarins, he was touring in Franschhoek, starting at Haute Cabrière, where Eben Kleintjies gave a very eloquent presentation about the production of Mèthode Cape Classique wines

finishing with a demonstration of sabrage, following the tradition set by Cellarmaster Achim von Arnim

After Cabrière, the party moved to Chamonix, where Gottfried Mocke led us through his cellar, starting with the destemmer, where newly harvested Pinot Noir grapes were being brought in and prepared for processing

His explanation of the wine-making process was followed with interest

These concrete eggs are used to ferment part of the premium chardonnay

The maturation cellar is deep under the hillside

and Gottfried told the party about the barrels he uses and the maturation process

The oldest part of the cellar is more than 300 years old and is used to mature his very small production MCC

After the cellar tour, we enjoyed a tutored tasting of the Chamonix wines

Then, as it was time for lunch, we moved on to Foliage Restaurant, where chef Chris Erasmus produces wonderful food using fresh local ingredients. This was his terrine of foie gras, served with a brioche muffin

and the best pork belly John has ever enjoyed, with the most evenly crisp crackling, tender meat and almost no fat

Foliage is waiting for their wine licence, so we brought in the wines Chris will serve as his house wines: Reyneke Organic white and red blends, sold to us by Ludwig Maske at La Cotte wine sales

Then on to La Bri, with apologies to Irene Waller for keeping her waiting while the guests wanted to visit flea markets etc. She was, as ever, the perfect lady and greeted us with her typical charm, enthusiasm and deep knowledge of the wine business, leading us through a tasting of her best wines

showing us the fermenting red grapes in the tank

and even letting the guests try punching down the cap of red grape skins in the fermenting juice

Then, a few days later, off to Durbanville with another group, where Durbanville Hills cellarmaster Martin Moore led us through his 

huge cellar which produces massive quantities of affordable, good quality wines and also smaller quantities of premium quality wines

which were shown to us by Brand Home Manager Kate Jackson

Then on to Nitida, to see how quality wines are produced on a much smaller scale

with tasting room manager Inge taking us through the extensive Nitida range of wines

Winemaker Danie Keulder then took us through his cellar, where we tasted the new sauvignon juice, part fermented  and fully fermented 2015 sauvignon blanc

Time had caught up with us and we had to skip the cellar tour at Altydgedacht, but Nikki led us through a comprehensive tasting of their wines, including the excellent Gewurztraminer. the Barbera and the very newly bottled 2015 Sauvignon blanc

after which we were off through the evening traffic to Constantia to drop the guests off at their guesthouse and continue to L'Avenir in Stellenbosch for the launch of the new Pinotage Lounge. Another beautiful day in the Cape wine country

RETURN TO MENU

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015

The Taj Classic Wine Trophy Awards

This annual competition, where entered South African wines are judged by visiting and local French sommeliers and wine people, is always an interesting occasion which gives insight into what the French palate prefers. There were some very notable winners, some predictable, some not at all. Perhaps if more local farms entered, we might get a broader spectrum of wines in the competition? We believe that 200 wines were entered

The Award ceremony was held at the Taj Cape Town’s new five-star banqueting venue, The Reserve. Trophy winners, media, judges and distinguished guests attended and some tickets were sold to the public. The judges were Olivier Poels, editor and managing partner of La Revue du Vin de France and wine commentator for Europe 1 radio; Olivier Poussier, best sommelier in the world winner, wine consultant, writer and group sommelier of Lenôtre; Claude Gilois, well-known French wine writer, consultant and wine blogger; Thierry Germain, proprietor of Domaine des Roches Neuves, Saumur; Christophe Durand, Taj Classic Wine Trophy organizer and proprietor of Dorrance Wines; Tatiana Marcetteau, sommelier at Taj Cape Town; Stephane Duvernes, proprietor of wine distributor Les Chais St Laurent, Paris ; Germain Lehodey, sommelier of Mosaic restaurant; Xavier Didier, former sommelier at Tantris, Munich; Jerome Faure, corporate sommelier Constance Hotels and Resorts, Mauritius; and Todd Ramsey from Marram wine Importers, Canada

Bubbly and White Wine

·         Secret Cellar Blanc de Blanc MCC NV

·         Boutinot Mon Vieux Sauvignon Blanc 2014

·         Delaire Graff White Blend 2012

·         De Morgenzon Reserve Chenin Blanc 2014

·         Glen Carlou Chardonnay 2014

·         Hamilton Russell Vineyards Chardonnay 2014

Red Wine

·         Sumaridge Pinot Noir 2012

·         Groot Constantia Pinotage 2013

·         Chamonix Greywacke Pinotage 2012

·         Groot Constantia Cabernet Sauvignon 2012

·         Bellingham The Bernard Series Basket Press Syrah 2013

·         Boschkloof Epilogue Shiraz 2012

·         Groot Constantia Merlot 2013

·         Morgenster 2001

·         Webersburg Cabernet Sauvignon/ Merlot/ Petit Verdot          2011

·         Saronsberg Full Circle 2012

The prize for the Most Iconic Entry of 2015 was awarded to Groot Constantia and winemaker Boela Gerber walked away with a pair of new barriques sponsored by distinguished coopers Tonnellerie Claude Gillet and Tonnellerie Darnajou.

In addition, a local judging panel then decided which of the trophy winners presented the best overall value to patrons of the Taj Cape Town and readers of GQ South Africa.

·  Secret Cellar Blanc de Blanc MCC NV - R54.99 from Ultra

·  De Morgenzon Reserve Chenin Blanc 2014 - R225 on the farm Current release 2013

   Hamilton Russell Vineyards Chardonnay 2014 - R305 Wine.co.za. Current release 2013

·  Groot Constantia Merlot 2013 - R174 on the farm

·  Webersburg Cabernet Sauvignon/ Merlot/ Petit Verdot 2011 - R150 on the farm

   Saronsberg Full Circle 2012 - R341 at Caroline’s Fine Wines

The welcome outside the new venue The Reserve on St Georges Mall

Jeanri-Tine van Zyl in the impressive entrance. This used to be a city bank

Collecting name badges then a glass of something bubbly

Parma ham on melon canapés

It's a cool shade of lime green

Into the banqueting hall (It was the banking hall)

The selection of wines did give us clues as to what might have won awards. In fact, we could taste all of them with dinner

Michael Pownall, Taj Cape Town General Manager, chatting to Boela Gerber, winemaker at Groot Constantia

Christophe Durand, Taj Classic Wine Trophy organizer and proprietor of Dorrance Wines, opens proceedings

The menu

The yellowfin tuna tartare was beautifully creamy and buttery

Willem du Toit, Food and Beverage Director of the Taj Cape Town

Lots of guests tasting the wines and enjoying the food

A rather fatty lamb Wellington. Not sure which cut they used, but it wasn't the loin

Time to announce the awards

Germain Lehodey, sommelier of Mosaic restaurant talks about the judging

Dessert was an almond flour financier with granny smith apple and calvados sorbet. Very delicious

Georgie Prout collects the award for Glen Carlou Chardonnay 2014

Boela Gerber of Groot Constantia with his four impressive awards

Petit fours were passed around with coffee and we were still enjoying the wines

The Petit four tray

Gottfried Mocke received an award for his Chamonix Greywacke Pinotage 2012

Boela looking very happy at his stack of awards. Next to him is PRO Emile Joubert

Celebrate!

Germain Lehodey and Michael Pownall

The Vault venue in the basement

RETURN TO MENU

© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2015