The
photographs were taken on Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday
The menu. You, too, can go and enjoy
this good value winter menu at Harvest restaurant on Laborie
We
learned about this superb winter special when we visited in February and
thought it would be great to bring our wine club here for the weekend. Sadly,
we were informed by the General Manager, Zelda Oelofse-Cornthwaite, that the
offer is now completely sold out, so you will have to wait until next year to
experience this great offer. Or just pay full price and go after September; it
is so worth it. We had an amazing time, starting with dinner at Harvest
restaurant on Friday evening
We all assembled in the Jonkershuis
for a drink and some nibbles at 6 pm on Friday. We had six bottles of the Laborie 2012
Blanc de Blanc Brut, crisp and delicious and a huge bargain at R100 a bottle
from the farm. Laborie generously supplied 4 of them and some hand cut potato
crisps
Then to Harvest for the three course winter special menu, which was included in the price of the weekend. We were seated in a private room with a fireplace. Drinks were for our own account. The wines are very affordably priced. We had three bottles of KWV Mentors Chardonnay (A Decanter trophy winner), two of Laborie Chenin and four KWV Classic Cabernet sauvignon. With coffees and a tip, we spent R90 per head on our beverages at dinner, For our British audience, that was about £4 each
Everyone chatting. The Oenophiles wine
club is one of the oldest in the Cape and we have all known each other for a
long time. We did have four guests with us for the weekend
Chicken liver paté with sticky onion and raisin chutney and a toasted baguette
An enormous portion of hearty goulash
soup
Most people chose the grass fed sirloin steak with either a mushroom and sherry or brandy and peppercorn sauce. This came with classic French fries and a good portion of baby vegetables
Lynne chose the Tempura hake goujons, quite salty with a good tartar sauce and crisp chips and a rocket salad
The apple tart Tatin was very popular and had nice crisp pastry
This was the traditional Cape Brandy pudding with a honey Anglaise custard
Morning at Laborie. This is the row of
suites, each with its own stoep
Under Paarl Rock
Cellar, the Laborie cat, is rather
affectionate, but only after a little bribery; she can scratch. Magnificent winter coat
The full English breakfast, cooked
fresh
Scrambled egg, topped with smoked
trout
Everyone tucking in at the Langtafel
John’s cheese omelette and bacon
Early morning meeting
Distant view across the Paarl valley
Bare branches on the pecan tree
The back of the Laborie manor house
There are still lots of squirrels in the Laborie
trees
In the late afternoon on Saturday, there was rugby in the
Bar di Bar craft beer tavern. The Springboks played well against the All Blacks, but not well enough and the result was disappointing. Afterwards, we
enjoyed a beer tasting of 6 of their beers (included in the special offer
price)
Then we went to Taste Restaurant in
the tasting room and enjoyed a meal of three tapas each. Every couple shared a
bottle of wine. All were included in the special
You can picnic under these trees in
the summer
Bare winter vines on Laborie
Also included in the weekend special
was a chocolate and wine pairing which we enjoyed after breakfast on Sunday after we
had checked out of our rooms. This was on the terrace of Taste restaurant
The four glasses paired with the
appropriate chocolate which is made by Marionette. Top left: Laborie Chardonnay
with White Lemon Verbena; below it, Laborie Cabernet Sauvignon with Dark Cherry
Tobacco - this is an incredibly good match, despite having to taste tobacco!
Then, on the right, is a glass of Pineau de Laborie, paired with the white plum
and Vanilla chocolate, again a great match, the plum flavours really sing. And
finally, Lynne’s favourite SA brandy, the Laborie Alambic (world's best Brandy
in 2010) paired with the Dark Orange chocolate. The brandy rather overtakes the
chocolate; it is so special, but if you melt it slowly on your tongue, it works
very well.
Gleaming glasses
Zizipho Veliti, ably and humorously, guided us through the tasting
The view from the Taste deck
The menu for lunch - they are child
friendly and there is a jungle gym below the terrace
Lovely summer’s morning again – in winter
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