Thursday, December 17, 2020

Darling Wine Visits. 1. Ormonde

When Berinda Basson of Ormonde wine estate in Darling read our horror story about our holiday accommodation in Yzerfontein on Facebook, she immediately invited us to their family farm for a tasting and a cheese platter. How could we refuse? We have always enjoyed their company, liked what they do on the farm and the wines are very good indeed
She and Theo, her husband, who is the owner and viticulturist, were there to greet us
We moved down to the tables on the patio to chat and catch up
Theo ordered some flights of wine from the tasting room and we relaxed
The first flight of wines was two different vintages of Chenin Blanc and two Sauvignons. The Chip off the Old Block single vineyard and the Ondine are grown in the cool climate of the area; the vineyards are at high altitude and in close proximity to the sea, so they get good cooling sea breezes. They both have that certain richness and complexity that Chenin can give. The Ondine Chenin was from the 2010 vintage and is incredible for its age; creamy, with the richness of golden fruit in layers of delight with lots of elegance and depth. There is only a small quantity left. Then two Sauvignon Blancs: The Chip off the Old Block Single vineyard is the classic green style we prefer, with asparagus, green fig leaves, and nettles. Crisp and dry on the palate. The Ondine also has asparagus, with riper fruit on the nose. Green capsicum with crisp zesty flavours and some minerality on the palate
The Chip off the Old Block Chenin Blanc
The cheese platter is so, so much more! Crisp bread almost like a lavach, a rich chicken liver paté in a jar, two local cheeses, one a camembert, watermelon konfyt, springbok carpaccio, fresh sourdough bread, two delicious waterblommetjie filo pasty tarts, a warm, deep fried croquette of sweet potato and ham, pears cooked in red wine, local cheese squares that have been marinated in wine and topped with peppadew and a sprig of rosemary, and two superb pecan pies in crisp buttery pastry. We shared one and still could not quite finish it. And it goes so well with all the wines
You need to book if you want to order one
http://www.ormonde.co.za/ or phone 022 492 3540
Then a tasting of some of the red wines. The Ondine Malbec has such richness, elegance, wood, cherries and mulberries; starts soft then becomes a fruit bomb and shouts "Hello I am here!", then finishes with some chalky tannins and class. Love it and have bought it. The Ormonde Merlot 2015 has green and woody notes on the nose, full of dark wood, red berry, plum fruit and some herbal flavours ending with a hint of chocolate mocca. The Ormonde Shiraz has incense wood, dark berry fruit and plums, spice and pepper on the nose and lots of ripe layered fruit on the juicy palate. The Ormonde Cabernet Sauvignon is just classic, with good French oak, complex cassis and dark cherry fruit, some spice and a little black pepper. The flagship 2013 Vernon Basson is a blend of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon and 45% Cabernet Franc from dryland vineyards and is very exciting. Lots of class and future. Savoury black fruit, vanillins from the wood, silky and smooth on the palate and ends with soft dry tannins and dark licorice wood
We sipped, tasted, ate and chatted for hours. What a lovely relaxed way to spend a holiday day
Thank you so much Berinda, Theo and Ormonde

A very tame Common Fiscal, also called Fiscal Shrike, (Lanius collaris) on an aloe leaf next to where we were tasting

All content © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus

Darling Wine Visits 2. Darling Wine Shop and Darling Brewery

If we are in Darling, we always try to visit the Darling Wine Shop. Owner Charles Withington is a friend and it is always good to see him and catch up on the local wines and gossip. We spent some time with him this trip, tasting wine before going off for lunch at the Darling Brewery
We began with a really great wine, Nicky Versveld's 2012 Semillon, made for the Cape Winemakers' Guild Auction. It has peaches on the nose, lovely expected fatness on the palate from the Semillon and mature tastes of a good white port or dry, dry sherry. Scrumptious. If you have some, try it as an apéritif. We wish we had some
Charles is busy blending his Roan Ranger Red and wanted us to taste some of his new blends and comment on them
We had the current 2018 vintage - a blend of Grenache, Cinsault and Mourvèdre
The Cinsault shows first, it has savoury notes with juicy red berries and salty licorice on the end
Then we tasted the new 2019 vintage, which also has those savoury umami notes first, soft and silky with juicy cherries and berries, and long flavours. The two blends A and B are very different. Both good in their own right but we preferred A which has lots of fruit , perfume on the nose. It draws you in, and repeats on the palate; a fruit bomb, and definitely a food wine. B was shyer, the wood shows as expensive oak, perfumed and with dry tannins and supporting fruit acids, this is one to put away to drink later. Charles has still to make his choice, but he said we helped a lot 
We took him to Darling Brewery for lunch (at his recommendation) and were not disappointed
The wines we had at lunch and Kevin Wood, owner of the Darling Brewery, who joined us for a chat
Charles had brought along two of Darling Cellars’ best wines:
Gustus, a complex, fruity and very sophisticated, layered Chenin
and Darling Lime Kilns Chardonnay, Dry and delightful, with crisp citrus flavours
The menu is very good and has quite a few vegetarian options
Lynne fancied fish again, so ordered the very fresh hake in crisp beer batter (what else in a brewery!)
and it came with vinegar, tartar sauce and tomato ketchup
and the most sensationally crisp chips ever, the outside is like glass and they melt inside
John had the famous hamburger which came with bacon and avocado
He'd had it before and knew how good it would be
Layers of bacon and a brioche bun so good that it wasn't left on the board
We were then taken on a tour of the spotless brewery by Kevin Wood
The company's original brewing vessels
and what they use now
KeyKeg, an innovative way of selling draught beer, made in Holland
https://www.keykeg.com/en/home
New steel kegs, costing R1600 each. These have become a problem in lock down,
as they are hired out for a deposit of R400 a time and many have been caught up in restaurant and bar closures. Ouch
Old Bourbon barrels which are used for a limited edition dark beer called ....
..... Arrow Head
and some of the finished product, Bone Crusher, a classic white beer, named for the hyena, ready to go out to the market
The Darling beers are very good, made the correct way with just three ingredients: Water, malted barley and hops

On the beach at Yzerfontein

When you go to Yzerfontein you just have to take walks on the two superb long white beaches
This is the beach we could see from our accommodation, Swept Away,
and it was lovely to watch this man with his small child flying a kite
Just what Lynne and her father used to do when she was this age
Mother and child walking through the edge of the water, with the kite above them


The sound of the waves on the beach is so soporific when you are falling asleep
A family spending the day on the beach below our accommodation, Swept Away, the house in the middle in the top row
One day the south Easter had been blowing and it brings in lots of jelly fish
These are Compass jelly fish, not very dangerous;
the sting is like a bee sting and no one on the beach seemed to be stung while we were there
There were so many of them and they were all beautifully marked; some look just like glass paper weights

Early morning walkers having a chat
On the other beach, called 16 mile beach, the sand is firmer
and the waves are more gentle
We saw this kelp gull devouring a crab
The seagulls were very scarce while we were there and so were the other sea birds. We did wonder why?
Normally you see so many and certainly lots of cormorants

He was really getting every bit out of that shell
Our view across the cold Atlantic Ocean toward Table Mountain and our home on a perfect 'blue' seaside day
Late evening; you can see the South Easter clouds gathering over Table Mountain

All content © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus

Lunch at Rosemead Bakery, Yzerfontein

The Rosemead Bakery Cafe in Yzerfontein is legendary, but it was closed for their holiday when we arrived. However, they opened again midweek, so we were able to take our  friends Loraine and Ronnie there for lunch when they visited us for a day. We had done a quick recce of the other restaurants and this offered the best vegetarian options, with the most choice in the area. We have eaten there before and know how good are the bread, patisserie and sandwiches
The actual bakery is front and centre when you walk in and they are always baking something
The sourdough loaves and pastries sell out very quickly, so we popped in the day before to reserve some for the next day
It is nice and spacious, so tables can be far apart to give good social distancing. All the serving staff are masked
Portioning out loaves
The dough looked amazingly alive and mobile
We were shown to the table on the left
The simple menu is on blackboards and you can have breakfast, interesting sandwiches on bakery bread and salads
They don't mind you bringing wine with you, so we had some Groote Post SeaSalter Sauvignon Blanc,
the perfect accompaniment to what we ate
The toasted Cheesy Green sandwich with artichokes, broccoli, Mozzarella, brie, honey and basil pesto
Superb flavours and the bread is phenomenal; soft, spongy and airy, but crisp on the crust for Ronnie
The Fresh Sandwich with chickpeas and avo, the baby leaves and coriander mayo for Loraine
We ordered two toasted sandwiches, the Free Range chicken with parmesan, mayo and lettuce below
and the Green sandwich with the bacon option. We shared each toasted sandwich; they are delicious and huge
Dessert, back at our accommodation at Swept Away, was a very authentic Pastei de Nata each
And we had ordered two buttery Almond 'Snails' for our breakfast the next morning, as we had an early start
They were very good too

All content © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus