The Wine Tour

Franschhoek, Western Cape, South Africa
Saturday, January 9, 2016

I'm not quite sure where to begin today. It's been such a full day my mind is in something of a whirl. We have had the company of a wine expert by the name of Pietman Retief. An engaging, generous and knowledgeable personality, he has lived all his life in and around Stellenbosch and spent his working years in the wine industry. We have touched every possible aspect of life in South Africa, as well as wine and it has been fascinating.
We began high above Franschoek looking down on the valley settled in the mid 1600s by his French Hugenot ancestors, some nine generations ago, when wild animals roamed the area and life was far tougher than it is now. Dutch settlers were already here and initially nine French families were granted land to make their own. Their farms were unsurprisingly named after their home areas ie Champagne, Versailles, Grand Provence etc. Dutch farms were interestingly named more for the families experiences and emotions ie Great Expectations, Hard Journey etc etc. The land was granted by the then Dutch governor, with the purpose of farmers producing food, to be supplied to the many visiting ships on their way to the East from Europe. Viewed from on high it is a beautiful valley surrounded by the Franschoek mountains in which at least two pairs of leopards still roam.
Descending to the valley floor we viewed the elegant, marble, Hugenot monument in Franschoek whilst the history discussion continued. Having ascertained that we were interested in art and gardens, and politics, Pietman endeavoured to include lots of interesting asides as well as the study of the grape!
We started at Haute Cabriere one of the best makers of South African bubbly. The brand name is Pierre Jourdan and the Belle Rose pink champagne was particularly fine. Grand Provence was next on our list, where the art work, in particular the sculpture, rivalled the bottle. There were lovely gardens set out with sculpture and ceramics, plus two stunning galleries. This was followed by Ricketty Bridge, more for the tremendous amount of restoration the current owners have put into the farm. I should add that these establishments are usually graced by the most superb thatched Cape Dutch Manor Houses, of the type you instantly think of in relation to the winelands of South Africa. La Motte was another huge property with the most fantastic artworks and the red wines were stupendous.
We gradually made our way towards Stellenbosch and had lunch at the University Botanic Gardens, which were another find. On the way is a vintage motor car museum. Johannes Rupert of La Motte fame has over 350 vintage cars as an added interest and I can think of several friends who would be keen to stop here. Stellenbosch itself is the second oldest settlement in the cape and our guide was justifiably proud of his picturesque home town. It has retained most of its original buildings and even the village green. On the way out of town back towards Franschoek Pietman drove us through the Ida Valley to visit the Rustenberg winery, which he thought we would like to see, for the proprietor's wife's English garden as much as the farm. The garden was a revelation, with so many plants thronging the herbaceous borders, both English and South African natives. All around the area you will find oaks, not as strong or as large as their English cousins, due to the climate, but impressive never the less. Twelve thousand saplings were planted in these valleys in the 18th century, many of which are still growing. The Graf estate was next on the list and as Aly remarked to me, this is pure theatre. Over 30million pounds of Graf diamond money has been lavished on restoring this run down farm. What you see now is quite incredible, for its taste, scale and beauty and that's without the wine! Again, the artworks are out of this world and we were quite spellbound. Tokara was our last winery and once more the art was fantastic. The wine production section was state of the art and you might be interested to know that they have an annual competition for local artists to create a painting, simply using the contents of a bottle of red wine, The results had to be seen to be believed.
Approaching Franschoek, we turned off the main road for a final time and tucked in the middle of the countryside is a small prison called Drakenstein. This was where Nelson Mandella was held for the final 18months of his imprisonment. It was from these gates that he made the last 100 yds of his long walk to freedom, greeted by thousands and watched by people on TV all over the world. It is one of the iconic images in time and I suspect we can all remember where we were when we saw it.
What a day.
There are some 80 wineries around Franschoek and approaching 200 in the Stellenbosch area. Millions of pounds have been poured into this area over the last 20 years, mainly by outside investors and this is continuing. The likes of Richard Branson and an Indian Multimillionaire called Singh are the new kids on the block. The investment is huge. One can only hope it will not be overdone.
Our day finished back at La Motte, where we managed to have another shot at their wines accompanied by dinner. It was a tasting menu accompanied by the appropriate wines and it seemed a fitting end to a fabulous day.Read more