A visit to Tulbagh - Saronsberg farm

A Tour of Saronsberg Farm with winemaker Dewaldt Heyns

Dewaldt is a competent cook and, on Women's Day, he made us breakfast with lovely eggs and bacon, croissants and great Chilean black coffee in his house. This feast set us up for a tour of the farm in his twin cab bakkie (utility vehicle). It is a very beautiful, fruitful valley, not only with wine but fruit, some of which is in full blossom at the moment

Our walk to the farmhouse took us past the pasture filled with Nguni cattle, mostly mothers with their newborn calves. This pasture is next to the cottages and we heard the gentle lowing of the cattle in the evening and early morning.

They have such interesting markings, this calf a completely different coloured coat from his mother. They are an ancient African breed, well suited to the warm and dry conditions

Saronsberg has two separate farms, with vineyards that are above on the slopes of this mountain and below on the farm in the alluvial valley

A huge stand of blue gum trees hides the farmhouse

Early morning mist in the valley

Aloes, rather than roses, planted alongside the vines

Aloes flower profusely in winter and are a mainstay food for birds like the sunbirds

The Tulbagh Drostdy or old town hall from 1804. This was destroyed in the 1969 earthquake and has been beautifully restored. It is now part of the KWV vineyards

Up on the mountain, the vineyards are a mixture of bush vine and trellis. They are currently being pruned

The bush vine Grenache is making a bolt with early bud break

We then drove down the valley to the alluvial parts of the farm, where most of the red wines are grown. Saronsberg has over 550 hectares on their two farms combined

Tulbagh has suffered drought, as have most of the West Coast areas this year, but they are lucky to have a lot of water from the mountains and, with the recent rains, lots of the dams are refilling well

Saronsberg vineyards going right up the mountainside

A baby cow taking a break

The mothers watching us carefully. You have to watch out for those horns

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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A visit to Tulbagh - Saronsberg winery

Dewaldt Heyns, the cellarmaster, had the same dreadful cold John was not enjoying, so he was pleased to sit with us in the sun for a while on the terrace and talk about the wines, while we tasted. He is a member of the Cape Winemakers Guild and has wine in this year’s auction

The outside of the winery with the iconic Saronsberg lady of the lake

The tasting room with the art gallery above

The picture on the chimney breast is also used on the Provenance range of wines

Dewaldt pours us a generous glass of their MCC Brut 2011 which has 100% Chardonnay and was on the lees for three years. It is fruity and crisp with a good mousse. It will continue to age beautifully

One of the many pieces of art in the gardens of Saronsberg; many are witty conversation pieces

You will find this statue of a lady on the bottles of Saronsberg wines. The mountain view across the lake is wonderful

Her body emblazoned with a star

Inside the white wine cellar with its many tanks and barrels stacked high

Showing us how high they have to go. They are in the process of building a function centre and Dewaldt has had to make plan for storage of the barrels that were in that space previously.

Pupitres with the bottles of MCC which get riddled (turned and raised a little) on a daily basis by the valued member of staff who has the most experience and ability

There is a lovely soft aroma of oak wood as well as maturing wine

Outside, a statue of leaping impala

And who should we meet checking out after a deserved break over the long weekend but the Mount Nelson Hotel's Executive Chef, Rudi Liebenberg, fwith his wife. They had spent a relaxing time, with the children staying at home with carers

Late afternoon view of the winery with the oaks in front. They are Turkish oaks and they do not lose their leaves in winter

The building on the right hand side is where the function venue is being installed

A lovely place to spend an afternoon by the lake

We love the Saronsberg Rose, so fresh and fruity, dry but full of strawberries and so very like those from Provence

We absolutely loved the 2014 Grenache and Dewaldt let us take it back to the cottage with us. More about this next week

And to finish off a lovely tasting, Dewaldt brought us a bottle of his own 2011 Weathered Hands Chenin Blanc, made from 40 year old Swartland bush vines. It’s full of golden gooseberries and conference pears on the nose, with a full mouth of sweet dried pears with almond notes and good acidity. It has elegant, slightly chalky tannins and will last so well. But it is drinking perfectly now

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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A visit to Tulbagh - The cottages at Saronsberg

To tranquil Tulbagh

We had been invited to visit several places in or near Tulbagh and some of the invitations were more than a year old; we just struggle to cram the many places and invitations we receive into our agenda. We had a reasonably clear week, so we accepted as many as we could. Car problems set us back and the original 5 days planned turned into three, but we had an amazing time with lovely sunny days and chilly late winter nights. Our hired car was great. What follows are various chapters of our lovely three days with the hospitable people of Tulbagh. Besides tasting great wines, it was also rather an eating marathon. Tulbagh is a small historic town nestled up a quiet and beautiful valley one and a half hours drive from Cape Town. You do need to plan a visit, you will love it

We began at Saronsberg

They have several commodious self catering cottages on the farm which they let out all year round and they kindly offered us accommodation there for the two nights we were in Tulbagh. We arrived on Monday morning, settled in and then made for the tasting room.

Our cottage was a two bedroom - one double bedded room and one single. You park outside and all the cottages have outdoor braai areas and terraces

The open fire in the lounge area was welcome and the small self catering kitchen is adequately supplied with both a microwave and a small oven grill

They had provided us with a bottle of Saronsberg 2014 Viognier and a bottle of the much lauded 2014 Shiraz

Our bedroom had both air conditioning, a ceiling fan and an electric fire; the latter worked so well to warm up the room on the cold nights.

The single bedroom

We had stopped off at a Wellington farm stall to buy two pepper steak pies for lunch and we enjoyed these enormous pies (one would probably have been sufficient for both of us!) with the floral Saronsberg Viognier, full of peaches and apricots but fresh and textured. It is wooded but subtly so. The views are magnificent.

Sitting under the vine pergola when it is in leaf in the summer must be lovely

And on Tuesday we had a light lunch on the terrace and an opportunity to taste their superb 2014 Grenache, with slightly wild notes on this robust and friendly red wine that sings of the south. More on that wine next week

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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A visit to Tulbagh - Tasting Rijk's wine with Pierre Wahl

Pierre Wahl has been making wine at Rijks since 2002 and makes some impressive wines. He is also a member of the Cape Winemakers Guild and the farm has excellent terroir to produce good grapes that Pierre turns into exemplary wines. One nice marketing coup they have achieved is to have Rijks wine served in the restaurant at the famous Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam; great product placement. Owner Neville Dorrington bought the farm in 2000 and although advised to plant fruit, went for grapes instead, a fortuitous decision. We spent the afternoon with Pierre and tasted through the wines

Rijks tasting room/ It was here that we began to taste the wines. We started with the zesty 2013 Touch of Oak Chenin blanc, full of citrus and ripe pear layers. This refreshing wine deservedly gets four and a half stars in Platter. The wood is barely visible. The Private Cellar Chenin is much richer and more elegant

The tasting room is large and is nicely furnished with pale laminated modern wood. Next we tasted the 2013 Touch of Oak Pinotage. Aged in old barrels, this is the opposite the those coffee style Pinotages as it shows very little wood influence. It is from younger vines, trellised and night picked with 48 hr maceration

Next a Pinotage Lynne liked, the 2012 Private Cellar with a rich red berry nose, more Pinot than Cinsaut in character, very attractive. Rhubarb and spice on the palate with elegance. The display showcases some of Rijks many awards with the current wines, including their MCC Brut made from 100% Chardonnay.

Time to move outside for some welcome sunshine. You look out onto the vineyards which go over the hill and one of the farm staff cottages. It was time to start tasting the three Shirazes. First the Touch of Wood 2012, full of pepper and fennel on the nose, Sweet raspberry and maraschino cherries fruit lasts on the palate, making this a good food wine

Lynne making copious notes while Pierre introduces the next wine, the 2010 Private Cellar Shiraz. With expensive wood on the nose, this is like a super Tuscan with violets, leather and liquorice. On the palate, salty drop liquorice and rhubarb. Good acidity and length give it aging potential. A great wine to pair with rich red meats

Pierre saved the best till last. The 2011 Reserve Shiraz has that expensive oak incense with a silky soft texture of salty liquorice, delicate spicing and intense black cherries. It is very, very elegant, with long after flavours, ending in dark toasted wood. The ultimate food wine, drinking so well now. They always keep this Shiraz in reserve for four years. This vintage is running out quickly and the 2012 will be released at the end of this year. Buy now

The winemaker with his wine. He very kindly gave us the rest of the Reserve Shiraz to have with our dinner that night

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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A visit to Tulbagh - Supper at Readers Restaurant

We met owner Carol Collins recently at an event at Den Anker and she asked us to come to supper at Readers, her restaurant in Tulbagh. It also is a serious cat lovers gift shop and, while you eat, various charming moggies visit your feet and the fireplace. They are not allowed on the tables. The restaurant is in the oldest house on Church Street (c.1849), the famous Cape street that was destroyed in the 1969 earthquake which has been beautifully and historically restored

How charming the old building looks at night

The cat collection in the shop at the entrance

More in a farther room

There is a dining room on either side of the entrance hall

We had a table in the warm corner, next to the fire. The nights in Tulbagh are still a bit chilly

The menu for that evening

Lynne ordered the pork chops topped with slices of warmed apple and camembert. It was an enormous serving with two huge pork chops. This is country food, they don’t mess about with small portions. It was served with three roast potatoes. And we shared a dish of mixed vegetables

John chose the Lamb Strudel, which was crisp pastry filled with minced lamb. This was topped with some cream cheese and served with red cabbage and roast potatoes. Also a very generous portion

We were rather full after our main courses and asked to share a dish of ice cream. It turns out that Carol is famous for her interesting and adventurous ice creams. We were given three flavours: Balsamic vinegar, interestingly fruity and not at all vinegary; Coconut, ginger and honey with lots of coconut; and Curry and cumin - spicy rather than curried. All are creamy and rich

Then she insisted we try the Cape Brandy pudding which has ginger pieces in it and each portion had a different flavour of ice cream. We swopped to taste both. One was a lovely dark and rich Christmas pudding, a huge success and a great alternative at our warm Christmas tide to the real thing. The other flavour was lemon, honey and poppy seed with rooibos tea, ice cream with a crunch

We had a very gemütliche evening chatting to the other guests in the small room and to Carol at the end or her service. Thank you Carol

John spotted these local craft beers as we left. We will have to try them soon. We know Miss Molly as an MCC brut wine, now for the beer

Note: we do not use flash in restaurants because it can be very disturbing to other guests when we take numerous photographs. In situations like this, when light levels are very low (candles), picture quality suffers

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© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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