Wine Acquisition Road Trip
October 31, 2007
The Muso and I decided to embark on a ‘Wine Acquisition Road Trip’ this past Saturday - which I suppose is always a little dangerous the day after payday!
It was a fantastic day out and possibly the thing I love doing the most in Cape Town - and in the Muso’s own words:
“It’s days like yesterday (spent wandering around the cape winelands in beautiful summer weather) that make one realise just how much we have to write about in this little corner of the world.”
With the finest indie tunes providing the soundtrack - we visited the following four wine farms:
A well polished tasting venue that stinks of the International Hess Group trust fund. It’s a beautiful setting but it felt like I had to watch how I walked out of fear of having my posture critiqued!
The wines also didn’t offer much other than overt wood notes in the red’s and one exceptional Chardonnay 2006. The Muso enjoyed the Syrah 2005 but noted that none of the wines were convincing enough for him to buy any - which is not a good sign when you have two people itching to burn some plastic magic.
This is a rustic and welcoming neck of the woods - especially when you’re sitting under a 300yr old oak tree tasting exceptional wine! Solm’s has a charm and history that I hope they never lose - it’s the type of place you’ll think about with fondness whenever & wherever you’re enjoying one of their wines.
Each and every wine is special in some way - but look out for the following gobsmackers: Solms Wijn de Caab Hiervandaan 2005 & Solms Hegewisch Africana 2005
A stunning wine farm with an ethereal setting at the top of the Helshoogte pass. The wines are just a refined, delicate and heavenly as the setting. The Merlot Reserve 2005 really impressed with a celestial concoction of concentrated fruit and ‘The Mint’ Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 is always a pleasure.
I have spoken about Camberley and its honest hospitality on many occasions - it quite simply never fails to deliver. We completely lost track of time as we sat with owner/winemaker John Nel - discussing everything from the merits of reality television to the quality of the wine in front of us.
He treated us to a sneek preview and free bottle of the soon to be released Philosophers Stone, as well as a lucky tasting of the already sold out Shiraz 2005! Both very impressive indeed.
We even sat watching YouTube clips of Paul Potts singing Nessun Dorma on “Britian’s got Talent” - while sipping on a 500ml bottle of the Cab Sav Merlot 2003 nog al!
If you haven’t visited Camberley yet - do yourself a favour and do it soon.
Well if that hasn’t persuaded you to book a flight out to South Africa or pencil in a day in the Cape Winelands - well then, I don’t know what will (but I’ll keep trying).
Cru Master
Posted in Wine Routes
December 11th, 2007 at 11:50 am
Wow, guess it’s gr8 f you live among the cape vineyards