Professional Wine photos by Shooting Range

Wino Forever
Johnny Depp
(The tattoo once read 'Winona Forever'!)

 

... the odour of Burgundy, and the smell of French sauces, and the sight of clean napkins and long loaves, knocked as a very welcome visitor at the door of our inner man.
Jerome K. Jerome
Three Men in a Boat

Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need - a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing.
Jerome K. Jerome
Three Men in a Boat

The smell of wine, oh how much more delicate, cheerful, gratifying, celestial and delicious it is than that of oil.
Rabelias
Gargantua

He said that few people had intellectual resources sufficient to forgo the pleasures of wine. They could not otherwise contrive how to fill the interval between dinner and supper.
Samuel Johnson
Boswell's Life of Johnson

I can certainly see that you know your wine. Most of the guests who stay here wouldn't know the difference between Bordeaux and Claret.
John Cleese (Basil Fawlty)
Fawlty Towers 





 

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Parlez vouz vino January2011 by Lianda Beyers-Cronje


STRANDVELD – ALL BARREN BEAUTY

Largely barren and tempered by relentless winds from Cape Agulhas, Strandveld Wines is part of the Elim wine ward. The estate can not only lay claim to the fact that it is Africa’s southernmost winery, but one of its wines, the Adamastor 2009 recently became the first wine from the vineyard to earn a five star Platter’s rating.

Although the new kid on the wine block, wines from the Elim wine ward is creating a stir among wine circles, mainly because of its unique terroir and the unusual and interesting climatic factors converging on vineyards in the area to develop explosive flavours that titillate the palates of even the most seasoned wine connoisseurs.
Wine growers in the area believe that the minerality in the wines is so distinctive that one can taste a “glass of Elim” anywhere in the world.

I visited Strandveld Wines, home of the easy-drinking First Sighting range and the flagship Strandveld Vineyard wines, in the week between Christmas and New Year. When I made the appointment, Danie Pretorius, marketing services manager of the estate was very excited about the unexpectedly huge influx of visitors hosted by the winery over the festive period.
“The record number of visitors this year has caught us unaware but we believe that our wines are becoming known among wine lovers and we are very pleased,” he said.

 

Believing in personal tutored tastings, Danie guided us through a full tasting experience of both the First Sighting foundation range and the Strandveld Vineyards premium range, made from selected grapes from single vineyards. We started off with the First Sighting Sauvignon Blanc which features flavours of asparagus, wild gooseberry and capsicum and offers incredible value for money at only R57 a bottle. Described as one of South Africa’s greatest Sauvignon Blancs, the Strandveld Sauvignon Blanc boasts asparagus, nettle and green pepper aromas with a distinctive minerality on the aftertaste. I have tasted the Strandveld Sauvignon Blanc before at De Hoop Reserve and I love it! We then tried the First Sighting Chardonnay Semillon Viognier blend with its burst of fresh citrus and crisp apple flavours. At just R50 a bottle it is a wonderful every day drinking wine that will add lustre to any picnic or lunch.
The flagship Strandveld Adamastor 2009 with its five star Platter’s rating is of course a wine in a class of its own. On the nose it is wet gravel with an intense flintiness combined with green fig aromas. A perfect pairing with oysters and seafood, this is a wine that will age well for at least three years or more.

Danie believes that the First Sighting Pinot Noir shows all the promise to become a really great wine. We tasted the Pinot Noir 2008 but the 2009 vintage that will only be introduced to the market in July this year, is already nearly sold out. It is a complex wine with exuberant cherry fruit flavours and a fragrant spiciness that becomes more delicate with time.
I loved the First Sighting Shiraz 2008, a full-bodied wine with rich and lingering pepper, mocha and chocolate aromas but the first prize goes to the Strandveld Syrah 2008. A full-bodied wine with pronounced black pepper and white spice aromas, layered with intense black berry fruit aromas, the complex wine won a gold Veritas award with its first vintage and it is getting better every year!
We decided to linger a bit on the stoep in front of the tasting room and ordered a bottle of First Sighting Chardonnay Semillon Viognier to enjoy with a cheese platter and freshly baked ciabatta rolls while appreciating the winery’s garden, an oasis in the barren Strandveld landscape,

From Hermanus, it is a scenic hour’s drive along the coast past Gansbaai and Pearly Beach to Die Dam where one turns left to Struisbaai/Agulhas and then right and right again to Strandveld Vineyards. The day of our visit was misty and cool with intermittent rain but that did not deter the crowd who visited the farm while we were there. Stripped of pretension, Strandveld Vineyard’s tasting room is situated in a restored stable built in the Overberg architectural style. You can stay overnight in one of the two workers’ cottages that have been transformed in self-catering accommodation where you can experience the ultimate luxury – silence. One comes here to be one with your senses and nature. There is no television, city lights or other temptations to detract from the experience. The only restaurant in the area is situated at nearby wine estate Black Oystercatcher and it is only open for lunch.

 

I would suggest making the trip to Strandveld Wines on a Friday afternoon, get some fresh fish at the harbour at Gansbaai on the way and be in time to stock-up with some of the delectable wine from the Strandveld tasting room. Fresh fish on the coals, wine fit for a king, a starry Strandveld sky, the kind of silence in which you can hear angels tread and you make memories to last a lifetime. A trip like this is definitely on my agenda for the near future. One can visit nearby star-studded wineries The Berrio, Zoetendal and Black Oystercatcher on the Saturday and end the trip with a leisurely lunch at the restaurant before heading for home or staying over another night in this special area.

In order to preserve the exceptional bio-diversity of the area, the Elim Winegrowers have incorporated their farms into the Nuwejaars Wetland Special Management Area Initiative, a project established by 25 landowners in the area to develop a sustainable ecology in harmony with farming in the Nuwejaars Wetland Ecosystem. In accordance with international standards, the project aims to preserve the unique fauna and flora of the Agulhas coastal plains, some of which are listed on the Red Data endangered list. In addition to several buck species, buffalo and hippopotamus have been introduced to the area and currently, one can go on guided tours to observe the feeding of the buffalo. Local communities have been involved in job-creating projects to eradicate alien vegetation in the area.

Right on our doorstep, the Elim wine ward offers an exceptional and totally different wine experience to the wine lover. If you don’t want to stay over on one of the wine farms, venture a little bit further to De Hoop Nature Reserve with its choice of luxury and more informal accommodation and unique wildlife experience. Why not making a trip like this one of your New Year’s resolutions! Enjoy!


 

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 Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities
1 Timothy, 5:23

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