My South African Wine Road

As a South African, I needed a trip to South Africa to make me really appreciate the beauty of my country of birth again. February/March are wonderful months to visit Cape Town, Cape Winelands and the Garden route. It is summer and it looks like everything is in technicolours, bright and beautiful. Feeling the African sun on my body makes me feel alive.   My first stop on this 3 week holiday to South Africa was Ceres, to visit my parents. It is about an hour inland from Cape Town on the N1, on your way to Worcester that you take the road to Ceres. Well known for Ceres Juice and other fruit farming. Driving there you pass alot of winefarms. I have never been on the Breede River Wineroute and the winery that we stopped at for lunch and winetasting impressed me so much that it will be part of my regular stop whenever I go back to South Africa on holiday again.   Jason Hill is a Private Cellar with a women winemaker. Ivy du Toit is a Fifth generation winemaker. In 2003, Ivy was awarded the Diners Club Young Winemaker of the Year award and in 2004, she was named South Africa’s Woman Winemaker of the Year.   The food in the restaurant was exceptionally good with some traditional South African dishes. And the prices, at South African standards it was good and for me living in Europe now, so cheap. Looking at the wine list, I had to ask them if the Chenin Blanc price was per glass, because at 29 Rand a bottle (about 5.7TL or 2.5 Euros), I could not believe the price.   The Breedekloof Wineroute has a fun weekend every Winter where you go from one farm to another to drink sweet wine and eat soup. What a lovely way to spend a winters day.  

JASON'S HILL PRIVATE CELLAR

Jason's Hill website: www.jasonshill.co.za   Franschhoek is my idea of heaven. Winery after winery surrounded by majestic mountains and vineyards. I always called it my Tuscany in South Africa. When I lived there, I didn't buy wine in the shop, I would drive to my favorite Winefarm, do a tasting and then buy wine direct from the winery. Any day of the week, that was my life!   Visiting there in March, I just had to drive one of my favorite wine roads. The Klapmuts road is a road with great winefarms and lovely restaurants. You can easily spend a day experiencing this short road. Vrede en Lust was my first stop. The views from the tasting room is my favorite in all the wine routes I've been to. It feels like you are sitting in the middle of the vineyards tasting wine and the Franschhoek mountains has this possitive energy that makes you want to stay there forever. The restaurant at Vrede en Lust, Cotage Fromage is a place not to be missed. There you order a adult version of Egg Soldiers(you know where you dip your finger of toast in the soft boiled egg) and the egg is Duck Egg. The menu is original, but also very familiar.  

VREDE en LUST

Intersection R45 & Klapmuts Rd

Simondium

Western Cape

South Africa

Website: www.vnl.co.za Vrede en Lust Facebook: www.facebook.com/VredeEnLust   Next up was Rupert and Rothschild. The Rupert family, one of South Africa's foremost wine families, and Baron Benjamin de Rothschild of France share this prestigious partnership in wine production. ”Make wines the world will take note of” was their challenge. Winetasting is by appointment only, but I admired the beauty of the vineyards and mountains from the gate.  

Rupert and Rothschild

Fredericksburg Farm

Klapmuts Road

Simondium

Franschhoek

Rupert and Rothchild website: www.rupert-rothschildvignerons.com

    I think of Noble Hill in great fondness. Last time I was there was with my best friend, just before we left for Istanbul. It was a rainy cold day in August and we were sitting in the Cosecha restaurant under the heater with blankets on our laps drinking their lovely wine and eating the best Guacamole EVER! The waiter made it in front of us using a mortar and pestle, squashing the Avocado and adding all the secret ingredients. There we sat almost the whole day chatting, drinking wine and scraping every last bit of guacamole with the nachos.  

Noble Hill

Klapmuts Rd

Simondium

Franschhoek

Noble Hill website: www.noblehill.com

At Babylonstoren the garden is at the heart of the farm. Here you enter a working farm and have the privilege to walk around in the wonderful garden, vegetable patches, fruit trees and herb gardens. The place for tea is in the huge Greenhouse at the end of the path. Babylonstoren is spectacular! The Fruit and Vegetable garden supplies the restaurant, Babel. Babel is situated in a converted cowshed and the food here reflects the colours of the season, fresh from the garden. When I was there I bought a Sunhat at the Farmshop and leisurely walked the gardens dipping my feet into the stream to cool down a bit. A place not to miss.

Babylonstoren

Klapmuts Rd

Simondium

Franschhoek

Babylonstoren website: www.babylonstoren.com

  On my trip to South Africa I always knew that I would stop at Backsberg. The Tread Lightly range from Backsberg is the first wine in South Africa to be bottled in the innovative PET soft bottle. PET stands for Polyethylene terephthalate. It continues Backsberg philosophy of care and respect for their land. These soft bottles are fully recyclable and easily crushable. It is shatterproof and weighs only 50g compared to wine in a glass bottle thats 400g. Perfect for traveling and taking South African wine back with me to Istanbul without worry that it may break in my suitcase.

Backsberg

Backsberg website: www.backsberg.co.za

     

Last stop on this Wineroute was Glen Carlou. I remember Glen Carlou from the days studying at the Hotelschool in Cape Town. It has always been one of South Africa's top Winefarm and well known for their Chardonnay. In the tasting room and restaurant you have sweeping views of the valley. My cousin, Johan Erasmus is the General Manager of the winefarm, so please go past and send him my regards.

Glen Carlou

Glen Carlou website: www.glencarlou.co.za

Facebook: www.facebook.com/GlenCarlou

If you are ever in South Africa on your way to the Cape Winelands and my beloved Franschhoek, please feel free to contact me for some tips and advice of where to go and what to see/taste/experience. I would love to share my beautiful valley with you. maddiehugo@gmail.com

For more information on the Franschhoek Wine Valley: www.franschhoek.org.za