This annual festival was held on the grass at L'
Avenir last weekend. It is a chance to taste some Cape Pinotages and lots of
biltong. The days are still quite hot, so the wine farms were also encouraged
to bring a chilled white wine or a rosé so there would
be something for every taste. It was good value at R200 a ticket. This festival
will be held in Gauteng on the 14th and 15th of October this year at the Leriba
Hotel, Centurion. Tickets will cost R250
Despite the confusing sign it
was Pinotage not Pinot Noir
The ticket queue
How it works: You were given
this card with the list of the Pinotages you can taste. They tick them off as
you taste them. Every wine is paired with biltongs from two suppliers: Boschendal
with their Black Angus Beef Biltong and Dad's Choice, so you got to taste each
biltong twice. You were given a very small bamboo tray that took 3 or 4 pieces
of biltong. There was quite a selection of different biltong - some delicious
and some rather weird. If we never taste chicken or bacon biltong again we will
not mind. All other wines on the stands could be tasted without ticking a card
L' Avenir's tasting room, with
outdoor seating
They had a cheese board on offer for
R100
On the Lanzerac stand, Zelda Furstenburg
and her colleague. Lynne enjoyed their Rosé
Knorhoek had an interesting
Pinotage, which John liked
Nice moist Lemon Pepper Biltong
from Boschendal. They were generous with their portions
Lots of places to sit and
thankfully as it was a hot day, lots and lots of umbrellas giving shade
Mellasat showed their white
Pinotage. We like the new packaging
Stellenbosch Vineyards had a
very enjoyable bubbly, their rich and nutty Infinity Brut MCC made from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier on sale at a very
special price
Now that's fast food
There were some food stalls
We had Boerewors rolls from
Boschendal which has the meat steeped in Pinotage. Good flavour but, sadly, they
were a bit overcooked and dry
Great views of the lake and the
Simonsberg
The band was great and played
music to bop to all day
Our celebrity shot! Two members
of the media we see often: Sue-Ann Allen, (Masterchef SA 2012 runner up) and
Broadcaster John Meinking of #Hashtag Radio
A very important, award winning
Stellenbosch winemaker visiting the festival gave Lynne a tip, "Go and
taste the Wellington Wines". He was so right, they are doing some really
good things to taste, leading with two good Pinotages
Chilling under the oaks
Still lush vineyards
Altydgedacht with their
Pinotage delighted us
More enjoyment. It’s a very
chilled festival
Where next?
Asking questions about the Paradyskloof wine
Leipzig pouring wine
It’s a Platter 4 star
The L' Avenir wine cellar
Girls having fun with
Vriesenhof’s Paradyskloof Unwooded Chardonnay
We ended the day chatting with
L' Avenir winemaker Dirk Coetzee. Now that Ad Vini, who own L' Avenir, have
bought Le Bonheur wine farm and a share of Forrester Vineyards, Dirk is going
to be very busy. Everyone was talking about his Pinotage rosé, just bottled and
we were very impressed. It still has to be labelled, but will be available very
soon. But the wine that blew our socks off was his Glen Rosé which is our Wine of the Week. Sadly, this is currently sold out off the farm but
might be on good restaurant wine lists or in some of the wine retailers. The
new vintage is on the way
The afternoon draws to a close with happy people still relaxing on the lawn
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment