Saturday 8 February 2025

Exactly 6 days after returning from Piemonte, David and I were catching yet another train to an airport – Gatwick this time. Mid afternoon is a good time to travel! We were checked in by a garrulous Norse employee on Premium Economy desk, and were through security in no time, as everything now remains inside hand luggage – including small liquids, phones and laptops. 

Wagamamas again for a meal and to pass the time until boarding, which happened as advertised, and we were entering the plane (serious advantage of Premium Economy) dead on time. Norse is a relatively new low-cost long haul company, which exceeded expectations – their evening meal was surprisingly tasty! 

The crew (and the passengers) kept their cool during a painful half hour at departure when a seriously disabled woman filled the cabin with distressing keening and increasingly loud if inarticulate rage. Her companions only just held their nerve; until finally the engine noise and a phone screen distracted or placated her. That none of her fellow passengers behaved badly was astonishing. 

The seating did feel spacious; though it never feels easy to sleep in recline. I managed three or four naps of mixed lengths; David did less well, and only succeeded when in an upright position. 

The windows allowed viewing the earth and clouds beneath us while also filtering the sun as it appeared on the horizon at 04.00. The brilliant red disc was astonishing to watch as it ascended the dark sky. 

Sunday 9 February 2025

After more than 11 hours the plane landed in Cape Town on time, two hours ahead of GMT at 10.10. Passports were quickly checked; the luggage – masses of large heavy cases – arrived quickly (though it seemed a long wait for ours to appear on the carousel) and we were in the foyer being greeting by Ronnie Messias of Foundation Tour Services, who also took care of us six years ago. 

Ronnie now runs his own business, no longer employed by WOSA. Wines of South Africa have organised our itinerary, though WSET are financing the visit to enable David to update both level 3 and the Diploma material. I am taking advantage of the hotels and the transfers, though paying my way with flights and meals. A deal that would be very difficult – and churlish – to turn down. 

Ronnie drove us to the Eedracht Hotel, on Dorp Street in Stellenbosch, which he rightly described as ‘cosy’ in that it is small, solid and architecturally old-fashioned, if recent, having been based on an earlier build.  Our room was small though the ceilings were high – but it had a bath, which I enjoyed using. We filled in the couple of hours looking for and trying to suss an ATM, ( choose ‘savings account’) before having a very substantial lunch in the Stellenbosch Kitchen  down the road. Once the room was available, we both immediately fell asleep for 45 minutes!

After unpacking there followed an hour or two of preparation for the coming week’s visits – of which there are 17 visits or meetings with producers or organisations. On Thursday evening we go to Hermanus for a long weekend by the sea. It will be very welcome! In the next week, beginning on Tuesday 18 February we start again with 13 more visits, until Friday evening when we have 36 hours at the Jordan Wine Estate before flying to Gatwick during Sunday 23 February. 

A walk in the evening helped us get our bearings, and see some of the early settlers’ architecture, many with pretty wrought-iron verandas, and neat thatched roofs, which eventually gave way to corrugated iron. We ate in the Wine Glass. 

Monday 10 February

We walked to the offices of Cape Wine Academy for 10.00  to meet Caroline van Schalkwyk and Jeff Grier, formerly of Villiera wines representing the Cap Classique Producers  who gave us a great introduction to this iconic sparkling wine, and lunch, after which Ronnie picked us up at 13.00 to drove us to Stellenbosch Agripark to meet Mick Craven, a very friendly and much-travelled Australian, at Craven wines who focus on Cinsault either Stellenbosch Agripark. This is a newish industrial estate which works perfectly as the cellar for Mick and Jeanine (also a trained winemaker – they met in California!)  and their ‘honest pure wines from single vineyards’

Compagniesdrift – is a storage facility and Wine Shop set up as a social project (part of the Black Empowerment initiative)  by a neighbouring large wine company, and which is managed by Ilise Ruthford and owned by the estate workers. It is a struggle, of course, to make the business work, and Ilse is keen to concentrate on the storage component, which is slowly expanding. Ronnie is at the far right of the first photo below

We had a short break, and a sleep at the Eendracht before Ronnie drove us to Neil Wines to meet Billie Lambrechts and a very competent Deirdré Taylor alongside Warren Neil, who heads the Stellenbosch Cabernet Collective’s technical committee. We tasted, and talked, and enjoyed Warren’s braai. Neither of us took photos – it had gone dark!

Tuesday 11 February 

We checked out and departed at 08.00 after breakfast to drive to the Vinpro offices to meet Etienne Terblanche and two other staff members of this research and promotional body. They do a great job, producing high quality, up to date and very informative data on the wines of South Africa. Karien O’Kennedy’s doctorate focussed on how information is communicated, and she remains committed to hard copy materials as well as electronic forms. It fosters ‘accidental learning’. I know! 

At 11.00 we met Beyers Truter of Beyerskloof, representing the Pinotage Association, who greeted us warmly, and to my relief, apologised that he had business at 12.00, and led us through a tasting of Pinotages that I felt were a great improvement on those heavy tough numbers of six years ago. He was particularly proud of a pinotage blend with its parents, Pinot Noir and Cinsault. 

We ate a delightful light Lunch at Redleaf restaurant, part of the Beyerskloof’s offering. 

We drove back to the crowded and busy area of Stellenbosch University, to meet Prof Maret du Toit at 13.45. She treated us to her reflections on the progress of wine production within South African and a detailed account of her and the enology department’s work with wine students. 

The 15.00 departure time was critical to avoid the daily snarl-up that is Stellenbosch’s traffic, the result of wealthy still largely white kids each having a car and commuting to university daily. We arrived at  Beaumont Family Wines at 16.30 for a tasting with Sebastian Beaumont, whose recent back operation didn’t prevent his joining us, though he was visibly uncomfortable by the end of an hour and a half’s standing up to talk to us. Better than sitting, it seems. 

It was a really interesting session hearing about a family wine business which his mother had a big hand in developing. She had grown Pinot Noir for many years as her personal side line – for family consumption.  We stayed in one of their Stables apartments, and ate prawns at a small but very popular Portuguese restaurant called Mannie’s in the local village square.  

Wednesday 12 February 

Ronnie appeared next morning at 08.30 to take us to Storm wines high up the Hemel en Aarde valley between Creation and Seven Springs to meet Natalia partner of Hannes Storm who was busy with the harvest. After a well-paced start, all the grapes have suddenly reached ripeness and this little barely finished winery was overwhelmed with grapes, builders, power cuts and diesel shortages (for the generator).

Their seven year old daughter had slept the previous night on a camping mattress on the mezzanine tasting room floor as her parents struggled to process the day’s pickings. Their old too small winery building stood 100m away. Their wines were delicious and the mood positive! 

At 10.30 we moved lower down the valley to the Hasher Family Estate to meet Céline Haspeslagh who took us in the farm’s enormous Defender land rover to the vine yard to meet her barefoot farm manager who filled us in on his particular passion: worm farming – to produce compost tea. We had a fascinating fynbos explanation from Céline who despite having only moved here three years ago from Holland (where her parents are large scale vegetable producers) is wholly committed to and very knowledgeable about regenerative farming. 

They are pulling out as many ‘alien’ species as possible to encourage the native fynbos, which, though it succumbs to ‘natural’ ie spontaneous fires every eight years or so, it burns quickly and at a far lower (and less destructive) temperature. Wildfire  is very much on people’s minds. We briefly met their young and busy wine maker, Natasha Williams who is one of the ‘South Coasters’  (see below) 

Unusually we had time  on our hands, and at 14.00 Ronnie suggested calling into Hamilton Russell’s tasting room. David had a brief tasting, I slept on the couch, and Ronnie chatted up the ladies. 

15.30 – 17.45 ! South coasters: A New Wave from the Cape South Coast an Mannschijn with five bright big men and the purist Jessica Saurwein who was very intense: eg the soil will be dead in 60 years. It was a fun couple of hours with all of them keen for us to hear their stories and taste their wines. We were late leaving for the longish drive (partly along white road through an empty, vast landscape to cut a corner and save 17km) in the setting sun. 

We drove through Elim – a small originally Mennonite community with its distinctive thatched cottages, to meet some Agulhas Wine triangle producers at Black Oystercatcher wines where Denzel Swarts chaired as the owner himself was unwell. 

The owner’s daughter, Jennette, is doing the WSET diploma in Cape Town and to whom we passed the two wine bottles from the UK requested by Cathy Marsden. We ate the hostess’ delicious home grown vegetables and an excellent indoor braai. Denzel was helpful and informative;  a young black woman nervously presented a neighbouring family’s wine, and we discussed gooseberry flavours – Cape or European ? 

We spent that night in their cottage, aware that Cape Agulhas is the most southerly point of the African continent. We hardly saw a car on either journey, but we did see Ostrich and Springbok (though no Cape Leopard, snakes or Black Oystercatchers; the two below are from paintings at the winery!) – so different from the crowds and traffic of Somerset West and Stellenbosch.

Thursday 13 February 

Ronnie was up early, cleaning the car (again) and we left at 08.15 for Lomond Wine Estate.  The winery is alongside a dam, and we were ten minutes ahead of Anné Van Heerden, the wine maker who was really clear, down to earth and informative. 

We were a little early for Springfontein Wine Estate whose owner Johst Weber shook on its purchase 30 years ago on his second day ever in SA having seen an advert for it in Decanter! He was drawn to growing vines in this milder maritime climate on an unusual outcrop of limestone which stretches from Johannesburg, and under which is the pure fresh water of the huge natural reservoir. 

His son, Emil, a gauche 30 year old with an engineering background, took us to the spring itself, and then onto the crown of the peninsular with views out to sea and across Walker Bay, into which the river flows when the lagoon is breached. We drove through the fynbos down to the river, to the double height jetty (to cater for the occasions when the water levels of the lagoon become tide-affected) to what Emil described as a wildlife paradise. It is certainly a relatively untouched,  and sensitively managed environment. 

His father, Johst, was not pleased that we returned late from the farm tour, for he had generously arranged a four course lunch in the tasting room, to accompany his wines. And of course it was delicious, and the occasion very mannered, though my declining the steak brought incredulity. 

We skipped the dessert, to the chef’s dismay, in order not to be too late for La Vierge, expecting us at 14.00. We had already decided to check into our hotel and leave luggage as we drove through Hermanus, so Ronnie warned them of our tardiness. Fortunately the wine-maker was also delayed, so we were able to draw breath in their tasting room and admire another wonderful view across the Hemel en Aarde valley towards Newton-Johnson and Bouchard-Findlayson vineyards.

The wine-maker tells us this is a winery which has matured in many ways in its twenty years. The slightly erotic overtones of its early labelling (eg Jezebelle, Seduction and so on) were a response to its name – and Ronnie tells us that though it used to be painted in a loud pink, he much prefers the present more elegant grey. Its business ambition and seriousness have also grown up, as it responds to its fortunate place in the successful, world famous, affluent Hemel en Aarde region. 

Yesterday a large baboon had settled on the restaurant’s roof, peering through the glass, until shooed away by a loud bird scarer. The colony occupies a grove beneath the winery, around a small pond. Baboons are a constant problem along the roads of this coast, and increasingly explore the eastern end of Hermanus’ suburbs. They understand handbags, car doors and kitchen fridges as potential food repositories, and their strength, size and determination make them dangerous neighbours.

This winery overlooks Bouchard-Finlayson, where Lizette Kuhn greeted us warmly at 15.45 and walked with us to the immaculate vineyard alongside to speak with the Farm Manager, who gave David a full account of the practicalities facing them. The single-use, recyclable blue netting is (at the moment) successfully fending off the most problematic and numerous birds – alien starlings, whose murmurations entrance as well as menace. The smaller indigenous birds still manage to wiggle in and out! 

The estate was sold in the early 2000s and the group who bought built a large house, which despite being fully serviced every day, is hardly used! Lizette hopes it will find a more creative purpose than a one-night-a-year stay by its owners. Lizette is a wonderful host, and having worked in London for Majestic, benefitting from its use of WSET courses to train its staff, led a really interesting tasting in the cellar, before the wine-maker arrived, and joined in, encouraging us to taste his Italian blend of Sangiovese, Nebbiolo, Barbara, Mourvèdre and Pinot Noir. Well! 

En route to our last tasting at Creation, further up this amazing valley, Ronnie set 22.00 as our likely finishing time, filling us in on the remarkable Caroline, with whom we were to spend the evening. And of course he was right! 

Caroline had flown in this morning from WineParis where she had attended various seminars on education and learning, and despite being seriously sleep-deprived, she embarked on an extraordinary introduction to the biome, and the intimate relationship between our senses – not only taste, but sight and touch, even hearing (sea shells were available for ocean white-noise to accompany a sparkling wine). She is a passionate advocate of so many causes. The winery’s commitment to the economic, physical, emotional and psychological health and well-being of all the staff is impressive, along with their professional development.

Jean-Claude joined us from the cellar where he and his workers had been processing the newly harvested grapes, and eating supper. Every worker is provided with breakfast, lunch and supper each day. He reported what we had already heard many times: that all the grapes were now ripe and harvest-ready, to their surprise the final ripening has happened quickly and simultaneously. Quite a challenge for the winery and the picking teams. 

We left shortly before 22.00, Ronnie driving us back to the Port del Mar guest house in Hermanus and making sure we were safely within the gates before heading home. To our dismay, the building itself was locked up and we had an anxious and annoying hour trying every door, able to see our luggage through windows, but with no lights showing anywhere and no-one responding to the so-called after hours number at 23.00 we resorted to phoning a nearby hotel to see if they had a room. We were saved by the young woman standing in for her hospitalised mother at its reception, who despite there not being any space, searched out a personal phone number for our host, and rang him on our behalf. 

The proprietor was angry and rude when he appeared in his underpants. It was an unpleasant encounter for which he did apologise the following morning, but only after his own new receptionist had understood our predicament, and intervened. He was most worried about his booking.com review – as well he might be – and seemed very jumpy for the rest of our stay.