Where’s the Grande in Provence?

GRANDE PROVENCE HERITAGE WINE ESTATE Saturday 29 July 2017 http://www.grandeprovence.co.za/ Experience: 3.5/5 Wines: 3.5/5 Grande Provence was the final tram stop on our day out on the Red Line. The tram had taken us from the office in the middle of Franschhoek to Maison, Chamonix and Rickety Bridge. Grande Provence was an estate that I …

Sax ‘n’ Berg at the Vineyard

SAXENBURG WINE ESTATE Monday 7 August 2017 http://saxenburg.co.za/ https://www.vineyard.co.za/ Experience: 4/5 Wines: 4/5 It has been a while since I have been to the Vineyard Hotel, Newlands, for a Monday evening wine tasting. Tonight, it was the turn of Saxenburg to showcase 4 of their wines. I introduced myself to Paula, their representative, as she …

Rickety Tram Passengers at Rickety Bridge

RICKETY BRIDGE Saturday 29 July 2017 http://www.ricketybridgewinery.com/ Experience: 4.5/5 Wines: 4.5/5 Tasting at Rickety Bridge was a ‘no brainer’ for our trip on the Red Line of the Stellenbosch Wine Tram. We had already visited Maison and Chamonix but these had been by tram-bus. Now we had the chance of travelling on the tram itself …

Wine on the Slopes at Chamonix

CHAMONIX WINE FARM Saturday 29 July 2017 http://www.chamonix.co.za/ Experience: 3/5 Wines: 4/5 Shinell, our Wine Tram host, had explained that many Franschhoek wine farms are named after the region in France from where the original Huguenots came. Whilst Chamonix is an area in the Alps to the North of Mont Blanc in France, I am …

House Wine from the Wine Tram

MAISON WINE ESTATE Saturday 29 July 2017 http://www.maisonestate.co.za/ Experience: 3.5/5 Wines: 3.5/5 Maison was our first stop on the Red Line of the Franschhoek Wine Tram. The tram bus parked inside the plain entrance and so it was a short walk to the 1920s farmhouse, complete with classic front stoep and rusting tin roof. The …

Tram-Way to Heaven in Franschhoek

FRANSCHHOEK WINE WEEKEND Saturday 29 July and Sunday 30 July 2017 http://winetram.co.za/ http://www.centre-ville.co.za/ https://www.dutcheast.co.za/ http://tuktukbrew.com/ Experience: 5/5 We managed to leave Cape Town on time despite the burst water pipe in the bathroom. The mains stop cock closed, pipes drained and all mopped up; nothing was going to stop our weekend of wine fun in …

Tastings for August

These are the fun meetings that are coming up over the next few months. We meet monthly on Thursday evenings in Wynberg at 7.00 for 7.30pm. Eight wines are showcased at each meeting. You will receive an information folder and there is a cheeseboard after. The R300 per person fee covers costs. You also have the …

Family Fun in Pairs at Four Cousins

FOUR COUSINS WINES Sunday 9 July 2017 http://www.fourcousins.co.za/Home Experience: 4/5 Wines: 3.5/5 It was a rainy Sunday morning. My partner and I had been enjoying a relaxing weekend at McGregor. It was too wet to walk outside so we headed, on the spur of the moment, to Four Cousins. As a Brit, I do not …

Wine Passions Mounted at Cavalli

CAVALLI WINE AND STUD FARM Thursday 6 July 2017 http://cavallistud.com/ Experience: 5/5 Wines: 5/5 Are you familiar with the phrase ‘Leave the best until last’? I didn’t plan it this way but this is how my day panned out. It began with disappointment. Waterkloof was closed for tasting and, surprisingly, with no alternative arrangement. I headed …