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Sunday, October 04, 2015

Stanford Wine Route Launch: Vaalvlei and Panthera Africa

Tuesday saw us up bright and early to gather for breakfast at Vaalvlei. This is the smallest producer on the route with a mere 3 hectares under vines. The farm, established in 2005, belongs to winemaker/viticulturist Naas Terblanche, a passionate conservationist and winemaker

It is the season for pincushion proteas

One of the strangest but most beautiful flowers in the floral kingdom. Each “flower” is actually a bunch of small flowers

Naas is also an expert on frogs and amphibians and he has put the endangered Western Leopard Toad on his wine label. They currently produce a Shiraz, Sauvignon Blanc and a sweet Cape Vintage port style wine. The 2012 shiraz is soft, sweet, mature and quaffable.

They had laid out a substantial breakfast/brunch of quiches

and more quiches

Yoghurt, muesli, honey and fresh fruit

Tiny quiches

Sausages and "oepsies" - a local traditional treat: bacon wrapped cherries, and bacon rolled around skewers

Cooked on the oil drum braai

We sat in the sunshine with coffees and teas and enjoyed the spread

It is Watsonia season and there are great views of the mountains from the farm

Imagine waking up to this view every morning

We went inside for a quick visual presentation by Naas of the frog species found in the area; some are very rare. He goes out at night with his camera and records them and their sounds. We found the presentation very interesting and it has sparked an interest in frogs for us. He certainly knows his subject

A country road

We made a stop at Panthera, a non-profit refuge for rescued wild cats run by South African Lizaene Cornwall and Norwegian Cathrine Nyquist. Their stated aims are No breeding, No trading No interaction. Well meaning

However it is hard not to interact with these magnificent animals and our visit was interaction. While we were there, there was a tour by the local fire department who need to know how to react if there is a bush fire in the area

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Stanford Wine Route Launch: Don Gelato, African Queen

A great finish to Tuesday was a visit to a Gelateria in Stanford, Don Gelato followed by a braai on the African Queen River Boat on the Klein Rivier, which runs through Stanford and empties into the lagoon

Don Gelato is in the centre of Stanford so easy to find in Queen Victoria Street

Lionello Giovannetti immigrated here from Naples a few years ago and wanted to get South Africa to taste real gelato. To quote Wikipedia : "Gelato is a type of soft ice cream containing a relatively small amount of air. Gelato can be made with milk, cream, various sugars, and flavouring such as fresh fruit and nut purees. It is generally lower in calories, fat and sugar than other styles of ice cream. By statute, gelato in Italy must have at least 3.5% butterfat, with no upper limit established"

The also sell coffee so you can enjoy an Affogato (in Italian, 'drowned') - an espresso with a dollop of ice cream (and it sometimes has a shot of liqueur or grappa but I don't think he has a licence)

Some of the selection of flavours

Inside and, in good weather, outside seating as well

Midweek main street in Stanford. It's a nice sleepy little town during the week

There are some very old and interesting buildings in the village

You find them on the Wandelpad at the riverside on the edge of town. There is plenty of parking

The African Queen. The trip on the river was a wonderful experience, one we hope to be back to enjoy again in the summer

Lots of bird life along the river. We hoped to see kingfishers but it was too late in the day

The sound of wind in the reeds is marvellous

Overhanging trees about to break into bud

Shimmering water

Reeds colonising the waterway

All the members of the Stanford wine route joined our party and they had all added some of their wines to make the party swing

It can be windy in Stanford, but this was a perfectly still evening as we floated down the river

Tariro Masayiti, Chairman of the Wine Route, officially opening the Stanford Wine Route. the 21st in the Cape

We celebrated with an MCC which was ably sabraged by Jorika Dreyer

Ducks taking off with the Misty Mountains in the background

Soon there will be some local MCC, but tonight we celebrated with some Woolworths Villiera MCC Brut

Sunset over the silent water

Ripples and birdlife

It was like being in a watercolour

It’s a painters dream

and so still and quiet, when the boat's engine is turned off! Although it is not that noisy

We dropped anchor to have supper as the twilight died

Someone was having a party at their house on the riverside

Salads out for supper

They have two metal braais (barbeques) suspended from the rails of the boat, so they can cater for a lot of people and the smoke doesn't seem to come into the boat, as their chimneys vent above it