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Thursday, March 10, 2016

A pit stop at Dassiesfontein on the way home

On our way back from our stay in the Hemel and Aarde valley we stopped off at this crazy, fun place on the N2 between Caledon and Bot River. There are rooms and more rooms, bursting full of different things to buy, old and new, interesting and strange. It is a bit like watching one of those compulsive hoarder programmes, but you can help! You can also visit their rustic restaurant for some traditional South African food

Moerkoffie op die kaggel. (Translation: Moer is ground but you can also threaten to moer 'grind' someone. (Colloquial). A kaggel is a wood burning stove). Traditional coffee grounds boiled in an enamel pot on a stove; as the pioneers made it

And all sorts of pots and pans and potjies (three legged cauldrons) to cook on or in your kaggel or braai fire

Pick a chandelier while having lunch or some Moerkoffie

A room crowded full of bric-à-brac or gift items

A menu on the cooker hood and, yes, they have caught up with modern days, as they offer a banting menu, and a rather good one at that. Don't be disconcerted if a very pretty live chicken or two joins your table

A huge scone with jam and cream and a cup of tea for one of us

Toasties for the rest of us. Lots of ham in this one

Just cheese and it is on traditional farm made bread

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Still and sparkling wines in a wonderful landscape at Domaine des Dieux

Domaine des Dieux (the Land of the Gods) has marvellous MCC wines and some others to sample at their tasting room in the Hemel and Aarde which we know from tasting outside the valley at festivals, award ceremonies and restaurants. We went exploring to find another as yet undiscovered venue.

The winding road from Hermanus to Caledon has finally been finished and tarred. It is still a work in progress, as they need to finish the double carriage way and the road markings are missing, but it has made travelling in the area a pleasure instead of a pain

The view over Domaine des Dieux vineyards towards those of Creation, with its winery in the distance

And you can see right across the valley to Ataraxia's Greek style tasting room - no, it is not a church

or the tiny cottage at the edge of the woods

You are so high you can see wonderful raptors soaring above

Their tasting room is rather like a pavilion which opens up on two sides. And you can laze on sofas and enjoy tasting the wines and the marvellous views

Views of the countryside towards Tesselaarsdal and Caledon

Last year the mountains on the other side of the valley were badly burnt and they are still recovering

Domaine de Dieux vines. They grow Chardonnay, Pinot Noir - mostly for their MCC's, Shiraz and Mourvedre. The wines are made for them by several different local winemakers: Kevin Grant at Ataraxia, Gerhard Smith from La Vierge and Niels Verburg from Luddite in Botrivier

The two MCC's. Both 4 star Platter wines. The Claudia Brut and the Rose of Sharon Brut Rose. Both excellent wines

There is some outside seating

The current range of wines available

How strange to find a Scottish thistle growing in the valley

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Wine tasting: Creation revisited

Our Dutch friends love Creation's wines, so we took them for another visit to replenish their cellar

No not this time but it is tempting. A double magnum of the 2014 Syrah Grenache

Going for a long walk home?

Danielle guided us through the tasting

The chefs were doing some menu planning. We hear that they are doing some amazing food using foraged local flora and fauna

JC Martin briefing his staff. They are in the middle of harvesting their red grapes, the Cabernet and the Grenache seem ready to pick

Looking at the wine list

and deciding what to buy

Prices in Holland are high but worth paying if you love the wine and it is as good as this, said our Dutch friends. They ordered 10 cases of assorted wines and say it might just last a year

Carolyn Martin looking very pretty

A beautiful erica in the indigenous garden

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Fish lunch at Bientang's Cave, Hermanus

To Bientang's Cave for lunch and a view of the Ocean

This is where you want to lunch in Whale season; they will swim almost up to the rocks in front

We didn’t see any in Hermanus this time, although there are lots on the Atlantic seaboard at the moment

as they return from the Antarctic with their newly born calves and head north

You should know that it is quite a steep climb down to the restaurant and a huge one back up

but we did discover a much easier path a little way to the right of this entrance

It is definitely worth the trip. Lynne nearly at the bottom

Two tiers of tables and umbrellas, and plenty of room inside if it should rain

You have 180 degree views of Walker Bay

A bottle of one of our favourite Chenins, from Ken Forrester

This 2015 Old Vine Reserve went beautifully with the seafood

Crisp calamari and not so crisp chips, served with tartare sauce. However, they use cucumber in it rather than gherkins, not right

Lynne chose a salad rather than chips and it was generous

Most chose the battered hake and chips

This is the easier pathway along the cliffs, with smaller steps and not so steep

A very large Dassie (rock rabbit or hyrax) sunning itself on a wall

He seems to be saying "Make my Day!" in a Clint Eastwood sort of voice....

and a flight of Antarctic terns above the rocks

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Restless River in the Hemel en Aarde Valley

They have coots in the farm dam

and lots of the indigenous blue water lilies

A well thought out indigenous waterwise garden

Although it looks like an old building, Anne and her husband Craig built this house when they bought the farm in 2004. They have 20 hectares. Some of the vines were already there when they arrived, having been planted by the previous owner in 1999, making them the oldest Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay vines in the valley.

Lightning must have hit this gum tree and cleaved it

Wonderful views of the Babylonstoren mountains

It's not all fun!

The small barrel cellar, which contains the currently fermenting Chardonnay. this will stay in barrel for 8 - 9 months. The Cabernet Sauvignon is fermented on the skins in open tanks then fed to the basket press and then into 225 L French oak barrels, some new. Since 2013 the wines have scored 4 or 4.5 stars in Platter

and some recreational equipment

It's going through a nice slow fermentation

The house and wine cellar fit so well in the landscape. In 2013 they planted a single vineyard registered block of Pinot Noir. Craig is self taught and makes all the wine himself. He is committed to making only single varietal wines.

We went inside to taste the two wines currently available. The annual production is very small and normally sells out in 3 to 6 months. They are sold in Cape Town at Wine Concepts but most sells from the farm, in good restaurants like the Test Kitchen and La Colombe or overseas

These are the current releases

The 2013 Chardonnay is very French in character, rather like a Chablis, creamy and leesy with limes and melons on the nose, crisp minerality with some soft chalky tannins, the palate has limes, lemons and some soft wood notes on the end. It has elegance and quality. 3866 bottles, all numbered, it sells for R275 a bottle. We liked it immensely

The 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon has cooked plums and herbs on the nose with cassis and plums on the palate and some tight chalky tannins and good wood so it needs time. It sells for R290 a bottle

Some beautiful wall plates a couple of centuries old.

The outside veranda

Its a very elegant place to taste good wine

Their characterful Staffie, Frankie

The ripening Cabernet Sauvignon looks great and nearly ready to pick

Wonderful colour. Anne gave us the two opened bottles to take home and we really enjoyed them with our supper that night. Thank you for taking time to show us your wines

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