Before going any further let me make it clear before Julian and Jane Mawl proprietors of the Abbotsford Country House get lynched by their neighbours for harbouring foxes the foxes are not actually on Abbotsford land and were indeed several fields distant when we saw them first. Foxes you understand are not welcome friends but vermin as far as local farmers are concerned.
We saw them from the road playing just beside a dry stream with a hedge and a large tree with branches to the ground for cover nearby. There were a vixen and three small cubs when we first saw them. When we stopped the three cubs disappeared under the tree and the vixen watched us very carefully. I left Marion there with her camera and drove quietly off. After a little time the cubs started to reappear and play again and Marion was able to get some photographs which you can view on www.picasaweb.google.co.uk/idurrellmeister .
Having advertised their presence that the local farmers Will by now have laid poison down to kill them as they take a large number of lambs each year. Incidentally, in thus regard in the field next to Abbotsford there was a flock of alpacas which are kept and used for guarding sheep. Apparently they are far more effective than dogs and have the merit of producing extra revenue from their highly prized wool.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
The Basildene Mob
When we had arrived at Basildene and been taken round the property on an introduction to the property it was explained that sometimes in the evening we could see some kangaroos in the fields on the opposite side of the little valley upon which the property was located. These roos were members of a much larger mob which inhabitted the area.
One late afternoon we were coming back to Basildene when Marion spotted some roos in a field just before we reached Basildene. We quickly stopped to watch and then realised that there were enormous number of them. Like the size of the fish you just caught I suppose there is a natural tendancy to overestimate the number in the mob but I seriously can not see it as being less than fifty and perhaps as much as a hundred. I got out and quietly moved nearer to them. They watched me nervously but went back to there activities when I was halted permanently by the fence. I took some photos, which you can find on www.picasaweb.google.co.uk/idurrellmeister . Though they do not show the size of the mob well but they do show a few at play and eating.
One late afternoon we were coming back to Basildene when Marion spotted some roos in a field just before we reached Basildene. We quickly stopped to watch and then realised that there were enormous number of them. Like the size of the fish you just caught I suppose there is a natural tendancy to overestimate the number in the mob but I seriously can not see it as being less than fifty and perhaps as much as a hundred. I got out and quietly moved nearer to them. They watched me nervously but went back to there activities when I was halted permanently by the fence. I took some photos, which you can find on www.picasaweb.google.co.uk/idurrellmeister . Though they do not show the size of the mob well but they do show a few at play and eating.
Blog Comment
Thanks to one of the followers who spotted references to non existing events we discovered that two blogs were missing. Fortunately I had copies in my word processor and so with a couple of quick copy and pastes I was able to resurrect them. I have no idea what happened to the originals. This means that the two posts before this shoud be read in the context of an earlier part of the trip. Actually, posts being out of order will be come more and more common as I catch up on earlier events.
Johannesburg
Jo’burg was never intended to be a destination in our trip. It enjoys a very poor reputation for tourists, indeed, as you try to make bookings you find yourself forced to consider alternatives like Pretoria. Further, my original intention was to arrive in Jo’burg at midday and fly out to Perth in the early evening. However, the Perth flight was full so an overnight stay was mandated. This turned out to be fortuitous as it was here that we discovered the fraud covered in another post, probably at least 24hours earlier than if we had flown on directly to Perth because our guest house in Margaret River did not have wi-fi so it would have been very difficult to have done all the things I had to do related to the fraud let alone discover the fraud in the first place.
We stayed at The Grace Hotel at Rosebank. This is perhaps more used to handling business travellers but it has the benefit of being in a relatively secure area. It is also connected to a very good shopping mall so shopping is also secure.
We had already decided that we would use Johannesburg as a rest day so we just anticipated using the time to catch up on blogging plus some telephone calls via Skype. In the event things turned out somewhat differently.
In the early afternoon we went round the mall which was sort of OK. On arriving back at our room I decided that I would follow up on my promise to the guy who had let us on to the train to Jo’burg to get as many details of our payment and forward them to him. This is when we discovered the fraud, which is covered in one or our other posts. Suffice it to say that I was on the phone for some considerable time. Thank heavens for Skype! If I had had to use my mobile or the hotel phone the costs would have been horrendous, I shudder to think. We pretty much got the fraud issue put to bed in a couple of hours. All I had to do was to wait for a fax, get both Marion and I to sign it and return it to our bank. This we got done before we went to dinner. What we did not complete was getting all the information on my payment to the train company. To do this we would have to go to the Jo’burg agent of the bank tomorrow and retrieve a fax with giving the required information, the bank not being allowed to fax it to me direct at the hotel.
In the meantime we decided to take evening dinner in the hotel. We went down to the restaurant only to discover we were the only guests, not a good omen we thought. However, no excuse for bad service at least and we quickly had our menus. The menu turned out to be one of those upmarket hotel pretentious menus which baffled you with what you were actually being offered by using an almost totally unknown vocabulary. Why is it that restaurants feel obliged to baffle the punter with obscure terms in a different language which when translated still do not make sense and often which their own waiters can not translate.
This was exacerbated by an overpriced wine list which was headed by a wine recently released and which I had tasted three days earlier and had found no great merit in. It cost R1,650 or Sterling 120 in real money. While this wine is being promoted by the winery that produced it as something stellar in my view it is reasonable but nothing spectacular. It is all very well a winemaker trying to do something new, in this case blend I think it is 9 grape types, some from the Bordeaux region and several more from the hotter Mediterranean regions. Perhaps I am wrong but at Sterling 120 a bottle and a very poor tasting I am not impressed
and I am a little surprised that any sommellier worth his salt is buying it. Wine makers should be allowed to experiment but sommelliers should protect the public from their less successful experiments.
Actually we ended up by having a pretty reasonable meal and with a good red wine whose name seems to have escaped my notes. And so to bed.
Next morning we caught up on some blogging and e-mails after which we had to go to the banks partner in Jo’burg to get my fax. I assumed I would need to be at the bank for a maximum of 30 minutes. Wrong! A bank seems incapable of doing anything in reasonable time. It turned out that the fax machines in the UK and Jo’burg were incompatible and so in the end e-mails had to be used which caused some security hiccups to start off with. Thirty minutes turned into about ninety,
We waited in a visitors room in one those very quiet visitor offices in a beautiful designer building in a landscaped environment. All the employees moved about quietly and with quiet intent written in their step and demeanour. The dress code was very business oriented and the young lady we were looked after by was the sole of discretion and efficiency. She kept us informed of what was happening and eventually triumphed having used her intelligence to produce a better solution to my problem than had originally been envisaged.
Back at the hotel we hurriedly faxed the bank details to the railway manager, we grabbed a quick late lunch, made a few necessary small purchases and got back to our rooms to collect our bags and book out. We were on our way to Perth.
We stayed at The Grace Hotel at Rosebank. This is perhaps more used to handling business travellers but it has the benefit of being in a relatively secure area. It is also connected to a very good shopping mall so shopping is also secure.
We had already decided that we would use Johannesburg as a rest day so we just anticipated using the time to catch up on blogging plus some telephone calls via Skype. In the event things turned out somewhat differently.
In the early afternoon we went round the mall which was sort of OK. On arriving back at our room I decided that I would follow up on my promise to the guy who had let us on to the train to Jo’burg to get as many details of our payment and forward them to him. This is when we discovered the fraud, which is covered in one or our other posts. Suffice it to say that I was on the phone for some considerable time. Thank heavens for Skype! If I had had to use my mobile or the hotel phone the costs would have been horrendous, I shudder to think. We pretty much got the fraud issue put to bed in a couple of hours. All I had to do was to wait for a fax, get both Marion and I to sign it and return it to our bank. This we got done before we went to dinner. What we did not complete was getting all the information on my payment to the train company. To do this we would have to go to the Jo’burg agent of the bank tomorrow and retrieve a fax with giving the required information, the bank not being allowed to fax it to me direct at the hotel.
In the meantime we decided to take evening dinner in the hotel. We went down to the restaurant only to discover we were the only guests, not a good omen we thought. However, no excuse for bad service at least and we quickly had our menus. The menu turned out to be one of those upmarket hotel pretentious menus which baffled you with what you were actually being offered by using an almost totally unknown vocabulary. Why is it that restaurants feel obliged to baffle the punter with obscure terms in a different language which when translated still do not make sense and often which their own waiters can not translate.
This was exacerbated by an overpriced wine list which was headed by a wine recently released and which I had tasted three days earlier and had found no great merit in. It cost R1,650 or Sterling 120 in real money. While this wine is being promoted by the winery that produced it as something stellar in my view it is reasonable but nothing spectacular. It is all very well a winemaker trying to do something new, in this case blend I think it is 9 grape types, some from the Bordeaux region and several more from the hotter Mediterranean regions. Perhaps I am wrong but at Sterling 120 a bottle and a very poor tasting I am not impressed
and I am a little surprised that any sommellier worth his salt is buying it. Wine makers should be allowed to experiment but sommelliers should protect the public from their less successful experiments.
Actually we ended up by having a pretty reasonable meal and with a good red wine whose name seems to have escaped my notes. And so to bed.
Next morning we caught up on some blogging and e-mails after which we had to go to the banks partner in Jo’burg to get my fax. I assumed I would need to be at the bank for a maximum of 30 minutes. Wrong! A bank seems incapable of doing anything in reasonable time. It turned out that the fax machines in the UK and Jo’burg were incompatible and so in the end e-mails had to be used which caused some security hiccups to start off with. Thirty minutes turned into about ninety,
We waited in a visitors room in one those very quiet visitor offices in a beautiful designer building in a landscaped environment. All the employees moved about quietly and with quiet intent written in their step and demeanour. The dress code was very business oriented and the young lady we were looked after by was the sole of discretion and efficiency. She kept us informed of what was happening and eventually triumphed having used her intelligence to produce a better solution to my problem than had originally been envisaged.
Back at the hotel we hurriedly faxed the bank details to the railway manager, we grabbed a quick late lunch, made a few necessary small purchases and got back to our rooms to collect our bags and book out. We were on our way to Perth.
Were They Connected?
Not everything is going to go right on a trip like this and it didn’t. I woke up Monday morning and went to the computer to get any e-mail and to update photos and maybe do another blog posting. I switched on and immediately got a message saying the system could not load windows. The message said it may be possible to repair but I would need to reload windows from the original disks. No chance of that then. Who carries their windows disks with them on their travels.
This was pretty serious stuff since I do virtually everything with or through the computer but fortunately not a complete brick wall. I knew I had copies of all major major files back on hard disks at home and I could get all my e-mail providing I could find a way onto the Internet. Also fortunately I had copies of all bookings for the trip and everything else about the trip, calendar, itinerary accounts, photos and blogs were in the clouds so I could get them via the Internet.
The Summerwood let me use their computer for that mornings e-mail. The solution was to buy another computer ASAP and I would within limits be back in business. This I would do when we went to Cape Town.
The second problem occurred the next day when we went to book in for the Premier Classe trip. They had no record of my booking and worse still no record of my payment. The papers I did have were enough in the end to persuade them to let us go anyhow. However, the manager asked that when I could get to my bank accounts that I provide him with as much payment information as possible so he could trace our payment. He gave me his fax number and I promised I would do my best.
Fast forward to The Grace Hotel in Johannesburg on Wednesday evening having booked in and with a few minutes time before dinner I decided to go into my bank accounts and look for the transaction in my bank statements online. I knew the date that I thought I had paid as I had written that on my booking confirmation form. By this time I had a new computer and so I could easily connect to the Internet. I had no problem getting in but unfortunately could not get back far enough to see the statement. I was about to log out when I thought that my account total was somewhat lower than I would have expected. On closer inspection I could see 2 transfers that made no sense and were for a fair amount of money. Further, they were to a payee I did not recognise. Alarms were now ringing very loud. I called the bank back in England and after going through their call centre and giving the information they wanted I was called back within minutes by the fraud department who were able after perhaps 10 minutes to confirm my worst suspicions that 5the transfers were indeed fraudulent. They actually were to someone in Australia. When the fraud executive discovered that my pc had gone down on the same morning that the first transfer was made she said that there was a strong likelihood that the fraud was perpetrated through the use of a virus and that the virus had then wiped out the machine.
So were the three problems connected? Certainly if I did not have the problem with the train booking I would not have been looking at my bank account and so would not have found the fraudulent transfer entries in my account. And if the fraud executive is to be believed then the pc crash was as a result of the virus used for the fraud and the three misadventures were connected. Time may tell us if we were right particularly as in this case the first payment was made only 2 days before I found it and the second on the day I found it.
Oh in case any of you were wondering the bank says no matter what happens I will get my money back.
This was pretty serious stuff since I do virtually everything with or through the computer but fortunately not a complete brick wall. I knew I had copies of all major major files back on hard disks at home and I could get all my e-mail providing I could find a way onto the Internet. Also fortunately I had copies of all bookings for the trip and everything else about the trip, calendar, itinerary accounts, photos and blogs were in the clouds so I could get them via the Internet.
The Summerwood let me use their computer for that mornings e-mail. The solution was to buy another computer ASAP and I would within limits be back in business. This I would do when we went to Cape Town.
The second problem occurred the next day when we went to book in for the Premier Classe trip. They had no record of my booking and worse still no record of my payment. The papers I did have were enough in the end to persuade them to let us go anyhow. However, the manager asked that when I could get to my bank accounts that I provide him with as much payment information as possible so he could trace our payment. He gave me his fax number and I promised I would do my best.
Fast forward to The Grace Hotel in Johannesburg on Wednesday evening having booked in and with a few minutes time before dinner I decided to go into my bank accounts and look for the transaction in my bank statements online. I knew the date that I thought I had paid as I had written that on my booking confirmation form. By this time I had a new computer and so I could easily connect to the Internet. I had no problem getting in but unfortunately could not get back far enough to see the statement. I was about to log out when I thought that my account total was somewhat lower than I would have expected. On closer inspection I could see 2 transfers that made no sense and were for a fair amount of money. Further, they were to a payee I did not recognise. Alarms were now ringing very loud. I called the bank back in England and after going through their call centre and giving the information they wanted I was called back within minutes by the fraud department who were able after perhaps 10 minutes to confirm my worst suspicions that 5the transfers were indeed fraudulent. They actually were to someone in Australia. When the fraud executive discovered that my pc had gone down on the same morning that the first transfer was made she said that there was a strong likelihood that the fraud was perpetrated through the use of a virus and that the virus had then wiped out the machine.
So were the three problems connected? Certainly if I did not have the problem with the train booking I would not have been looking at my bank account and so would not have found the fraudulent transfer entries in my account. And if the fraud executive is to be believed then the pc crash was as a result of the virus used for the fraud and the three misadventures were connected. Time may tell us if we were right particularly as in this case the first payment was made only 2 days before I found it and the second on the day I found it.
Oh in case any of you were wondering the bank says no matter what happens I will get my money back.
Wine Tasting
Marion and I have managed to do about 22 separate wine tastings of over 150 separate wines, mostly at what in Australia is called the cellar door. I'll write a little more on each of the wine tastings on other blogs.
Originally, I had intended to write up my tasting notes which I have religiously kept for all tastings, pretty much as I did for the Rustenberg post, in this Blog. However, looking at my notes they are boring and in many ways full of all the normal pretentious bs that you can read about in any wine in the wine books or wine columns and so what I will do is try to keep my wine tasting posts simple and pretty much just say what we liked about the wine(s) and the tasting(s).
As a sort of mid term report let me just say we haven't tasted a bad wine, and we have tasted some exceptional wines. You already will know of our Hentshke tasting when we tasted the Hill of Grace and Mount Edelstone wines. We have also tasted the Chardonnay from Leeuwin Estate and the Armagh from Jim Barry wines. These are world class wines and it would be invidious to choose between them.
It is easy to write about these iconic wines but not very profitable as I am only repeating what can be read in any wine magazine or book. What is better in many ways is coming across wines that I did not know before or perhaps only knew of one example from a winery. I am thinking now of the wines from Charles Cimicky and Charles Melton in the Barossa Valley, the excellent wines that I tasted only this afternoon from the Moorooduc Estate in the Mornington Peninsular, the very good Cabernet Sauvignon from Brookward in the Margaret River, and what I think will be a great Cabernet Franc from Rainbows End in Stellenbosch. It was also a little sad to taste at the winery whose wine had got me on to Barossa Shiraz style wines back in the mid '90s where the wines did not match up to my memories. Actually we then drank an older version of their wine in the restaurant the evening of the tasting and that was in no way disappointing.
We have one more tasting day down here in the Melbourne area and then one day in the Hunter Valley north of Sydney and then on to New Zealand. We are looking forward to these tastings, it is dirty work but some one has to do it, and I will write another summary report after that. In the meantime I will try to catch up on posting write ups on the individual tasting events.
Originally, I had intended to write up my tasting notes which I have religiously kept for all tastings, pretty much as I did for the Rustenberg post, in this Blog. However, looking at my notes they are boring and in many ways full of all the normal pretentious bs that you can read about in any wine in the wine books or wine columns and so what I will do is try to keep my wine tasting posts simple and pretty much just say what we liked about the wine(s) and the tasting(s).
As a sort of mid term report let me just say we haven't tasted a bad wine, and we have tasted some exceptional wines. You already will know of our Hentshke tasting when we tasted the Hill of Grace and Mount Edelstone wines. We have also tasted the Chardonnay from Leeuwin Estate and the Armagh from Jim Barry wines. These are world class wines and it would be invidious to choose between them.
It is easy to write about these iconic wines but not very profitable as I am only repeating what can be read in any wine magazine or book. What is better in many ways is coming across wines that I did not know before or perhaps only knew of one example from a winery. I am thinking now of the wines from Charles Cimicky and Charles Melton in the Barossa Valley, the excellent wines that I tasted only this afternoon from the Moorooduc Estate in the Mornington Peninsular, the very good Cabernet Sauvignon from Brookward in the Margaret River, and what I think will be a great Cabernet Franc from Rainbows End in Stellenbosch. It was also a little sad to taste at the winery whose wine had got me on to Barossa Shiraz style wines back in the mid '90s where the wines did not match up to my memories. Actually we then drank an older version of their wine in the restaurant the evening of the tasting and that was in no way disappointing.
We have one more tasting day down here in the Melbourne area and then one day in the Hunter Valley north of Sydney and then on to New Zealand. We are looking forward to these tastings, it is dirty work but some one has to do it, and I will write another summary report after that. In the meantime I will try to catch up on posting write ups on the individual tasting events.
Photographs
Photographs that are related to this Blog can be found on http://www.picasaweb.google.go.uk/idurrellmeister . They are up to date as of 29 Nov 2008. There are some 36 albums, many very small, each relating to some event or series of events on the trip.
There is a coding structure to each album name. You can ignore the first 2 sections of the album name,they are always the same. The third section is the date in the form of mmdd . The fourth section is a code for the type of event: WT = wine tasting, ES = wine estate views, GD = garden views, HO = hotel views, JO = journey views, SC = general views. This is then always followed by a plain English name of the specific view.
I am much farther ahead in managing the photographs than the Blogs. I hope to catch up on the Blogs in the next week as well as keep up to date with publishing the photographs
There is a coding structure to each album name. You can ignore the first 2 sections of the album name,they are always the same. The third section is the date in the form of mmdd . The fourth section is a code for the type of event: WT = wine tasting, ES = wine estate views, GD = garden views, HO = hotel views, JO = journey views, SC = general views. This is then always followed by a plain English name of the specific view.
I am much farther ahead in managing the photographs than the Blogs. I hope to catch up on the Blogs in the next week as well as keep up to date with publishing the photographs
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
A Great Day (plus a bit)
We arrived at Adelaide airport off a none too pleasant Quantas flight, a packed 737, late off the ground, bumpy off the ground, bumpy on landing and over zealous cabin attendants. However, our bags were pretty quick, the car hire office found easily, a second clerk materializes out of thin air so no wait and to cap it all an upgrade. The drive out to Barossa was straight forward and although our final destination, Abbotsford Country House, was up dirt roads, and it had turned dark, we had absolutely no problem in finding it. Great instructions.
A cheese and meat platter awaited after we had been introduced to a very spacious room in one of two custom built annexes for guests. The repas was served over in the main homestead in a delightful and enormous living room which must be 150sq metres in size and is pretty much only for the use of guests. We were asked if we wanted to take a bottle of wine with the meal and with the help of Julian Mawl chief assistant to his wife, Jane, the guiding light to the guest house side of the Mawl family fortunes, we chose a Yalumba 2006 Shiraz. Great choice! The Yalumba was a real Barossa wine. Deep dark crimson, bags of fruit and very smooth for a two year old wine. It complemented the cheese and meat plate wonderfully.
The only sour note was that Julian had major problems with his wi-fi and it was unavailable. However, if we needed to get to our e-mails then we could do it at the local library for free. While that did not help much with my blogging exploits it would at least mean I could communicate.
After a very comfortable nights sleep, I actually did not get up until past 8:30am, we went across for breakfast to an enormous kitchen where Jane was preparing breakfast for another English couple. They were tucking in to a very English breakfast and we were not slow in joining them.
Chris and Patty were from the Isle of Man and were out visiting their daughter and were taking a couple of days off to renew acquaintances with Barossa wine. He had been an International Banker and we swapped wine inspired travel and work experiences interspersed with conversations about where we might go and what we should plan to see, all aided and abetted by Jane.
Our new found friends soon left and we quickly followed. As the wi-fi still did not work we went down to Lyndoch and found the library where I was able to do my e-mail and also to finally get my post on our Rainbows End wine tasting of over a week ago actually on to the blog.
Leaving Lyndoch we decided to first visit Bethany wines in Bethany. Bethany wine was the first Australian wine that I had knowingly drunk. I loved it and bought quite a lot more over the years. Wonderfully sited just above the old German village of Bethany with commanding views over the Barossa, the wine tasting takes place in a down to earth building exactly right for tasting and not connected to the actual winery itself. I did a tasting of several wines, all reds except for the one Riesling desert wine. Actually, I was a bit disappointed and all the wines and with exception of the Riesling which just tasted sweet to me , they all tasted sharp and lacking in fruit. I began to suspect it was me rather than the wine. Do not get me wrong they were good wines but just not as good as I was expecting.
We decided to move on from Bethany to Henschke wines. This is the winery that is famous for the iconic Hill of Grace wine. Bethaney had not let me taste their top three reserve wines so I figured my chances of sampling Hill of Grace were slim to none. Nevertheless we decided that it was worth the trip, we could but ask!
Henschke wines is really outside the Barossa but I guess that they are so famous that Barossa is pleased to include them in the Barossa wine maps. They sit out there by themselves in the hills and the ride to get there is beautiful, much of it over and through the hills on dirt roads. We stopped a couple of times to take in the views or stop to look at the animals. Eventually we arrived at what is a nice, clearly prosperous winery but all understated.
We alighted and quickly found our way to the tasting room which turned out to be right next door to the open fermentation vats and the other storage vats. Marion was not tasting to day so wandered of round the grounds as she had done at Bethaney. I was the only punter in the tasting room. I was quickly given a wine card and was asked what I wanted to taste. What a question! “ I would like to taste the one you won’t let me taste” I lightly rejoined. “How do you know what we will let you taste. You never know! Now what is it you would like to taste”, “Hill of Grace of course, is that possible?” “We will see” and she disappeared. I heard a muted conversation in the back office and what I took for the senior wine tasting person, a lady called Sussana, appeared and said she understood I wanted to taste the Hill of Grace. Where did I want to start. I said that I wasn’t so interested in either the whites or the fun reds but I was keen to taste the serious reds. It was then that I saw a pinot noir and thought it to be so out of place in the home of the iconic Hill of Grace. I said lets start with that out of interest and then go to the serious reds, five wines in all.
You can read about the wines in my tasting posts when I produce them. Suffice it to say that the pinot was really a fun wine but the four serious wines were super. Starting with Euphonium, then the Growers Shiraz, then Mount Eddlestone and then holy of holys the Hill of Grace. Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful. The fruit both in the nose and to the taste of both the last two was fabulous and there was a special perfume to the Hill of Grace which was sublime. This from 100 year old grapes for the first and 150 year old grapes for the Hill of Grace itself. What a day it was turning into.
We then decided to have an afternoon tea in Angaston a local Barossa town, but we would go by the actual Hill of Grace vines. A short journey found us in front of the small church which stands at the bottom of the Hill of Grace vines. These were 150 year old vines all by themselves and not with any other vines anywhere near them. Not a big area, it looked like 5 or 6 acres to me but I expect that information is available somewhere else. All the vines had straw piled around them to help preserve as much water as possible. The Barossa does have a problem with water from time to time and where the Hill of Grace is located even more so. This year is particularly bad around the Hill of Grace location and indeed where most of the Henschke wines from, We took our pictures and then left.
When we got to Angaston we discovered a little sort of deli café and ordered tea and cakes and then as we ate and drank them I availed myself of the public internet PC that the café owner had installed for the townsfolk’s use. Something about helping drag them into the 21st century. I caught up on my e-mails.
The deli owner turned out to be a real character and gave us a really good update on the history of the town. After telling us about the history of his building and those other buildings we could see around us, he also told us of a couple of buildings we should visit and then mentioned an old cemetery which was about 100m from where we were standing. He said that was worth a visit as indeed it was.
The plaque in front of the cemetery had a list of all who were buried there. There were some 223 people that had been laid to rest there between 1843 and 1869. Over 60% of them were children. We could only count 6 people who had reached an age greater than that of ourselves. It was sobering to think that it was highly unlikely that anyone buried there had seen their ruby wedding anniversary. How things have moved on. We should be thankful for small mercies.
We returned to Abbotsford. We prevailed upon the Maul’s to suggest a restaurant for us. They suggested “Tonic” a restaurant that was part of a motel. We were just a tad concerned but they reassured us that the food was good and it had the merit of being close by. They were right. We had a really good meal, complimented by 2006 Cimicky Shiraz which turned out be really good. We met the chef ,a lady, who with her husband and two others had recently bought the property from its long time owner. Apparently, there is much to do and the property comes with a 15 acre rose garden which I am absolutely certain Marion will visit before we leave. A port was offered and accepted and the chef Kas and her daughter in law, the waitress, stood and told us tales of the Barossa and its wines.
On returning to Abbotsford I needed to at least get something productive done on the blogging and photo recording front. Switched on my PC and “voila” the wi-fi is working. I was able to catch up on lots of things including make some necessary calls back to UK using Skype. In the spirit of the day there was some good news related to unfinished business back there.
After the calls I managed a little blogging and a long conversation with Julian Mawl on wine and in particular S. Australian wine for which he seemed to have a pretty encyclopaedic knowledge. We discussed the Hill of Grace tasting and he remarked we were the first non press customer who had stayed with them in six years who had had such a tasting.
Off to bed, it had been a great day.
A cheese and meat platter awaited after we had been introduced to a very spacious room in one of two custom built annexes for guests. The repas was served over in the main homestead in a delightful and enormous living room which must be 150sq metres in size and is pretty much only for the use of guests. We were asked if we wanted to take a bottle of wine with the meal and with the help of Julian Mawl chief assistant to his wife, Jane, the guiding light to the guest house side of the Mawl family fortunes, we chose a Yalumba 2006 Shiraz. Great choice! The Yalumba was a real Barossa wine. Deep dark crimson, bags of fruit and very smooth for a two year old wine. It complemented the cheese and meat plate wonderfully.
The only sour note was that Julian had major problems with his wi-fi and it was unavailable. However, if we needed to get to our e-mails then we could do it at the local library for free. While that did not help much with my blogging exploits it would at least mean I could communicate.
After a very comfortable nights sleep, I actually did not get up until past 8:30am, we went across for breakfast to an enormous kitchen where Jane was preparing breakfast for another English couple. They were tucking in to a very English breakfast and we were not slow in joining them.
Chris and Patty were from the Isle of Man and were out visiting their daughter and were taking a couple of days off to renew acquaintances with Barossa wine. He had been an International Banker and we swapped wine inspired travel and work experiences interspersed with conversations about where we might go and what we should plan to see, all aided and abetted by Jane.
Our new found friends soon left and we quickly followed. As the wi-fi still did not work we went down to Lyndoch and found the library where I was able to do my e-mail and also to finally get my post on our Rainbows End wine tasting of over a week ago actually on to the blog.
Leaving Lyndoch we decided to first visit Bethany wines in Bethany. Bethany wine was the first Australian wine that I had knowingly drunk. I loved it and bought quite a lot more over the years. Wonderfully sited just above the old German village of Bethany with commanding views over the Barossa, the wine tasting takes place in a down to earth building exactly right for tasting and not connected to the actual winery itself. I did a tasting of several wines, all reds except for the one Riesling desert wine. Actually, I was a bit disappointed and all the wines and with exception of the Riesling which just tasted sweet to me , they all tasted sharp and lacking in fruit. I began to suspect it was me rather than the wine. Do not get me wrong they were good wines but just not as good as I was expecting.
We decided to move on from Bethany to Henschke wines. This is the winery that is famous for the iconic Hill of Grace wine. Bethaney had not let me taste their top three reserve wines so I figured my chances of sampling Hill of Grace were slim to none. Nevertheless we decided that it was worth the trip, we could but ask!
Henschke wines is really outside the Barossa but I guess that they are so famous that Barossa is pleased to include them in the Barossa wine maps. They sit out there by themselves in the hills and the ride to get there is beautiful, much of it over and through the hills on dirt roads. We stopped a couple of times to take in the views or stop to look at the animals. Eventually we arrived at what is a nice, clearly prosperous winery but all understated.
We alighted and quickly found our way to the tasting room which turned out to be right next door to the open fermentation vats and the other storage vats. Marion was not tasting to day so wandered of round the grounds as she had done at Bethaney. I was the only punter in the tasting room. I was quickly given a wine card and was asked what I wanted to taste. What a question! “ I would like to taste the one you won’t let me taste” I lightly rejoined. “How do you know what we will let you taste. You never know! Now what is it you would like to taste”, “Hill of Grace of course, is that possible?” “We will see” and she disappeared. I heard a muted conversation in the back office and what I took for the senior wine tasting person, a lady called Sussana, appeared and said she understood I wanted to taste the Hill of Grace. Where did I want to start. I said that I wasn’t so interested in either the whites or the fun reds but I was keen to taste the serious reds. It was then that I saw a pinot noir and thought it to be so out of place in the home of the iconic Hill of Grace. I said lets start with that out of interest and then go to the serious reds, five wines in all.
You can read about the wines in my tasting posts when I produce them. Suffice it to say that the pinot was really a fun wine but the four serious wines were super. Starting with Euphonium, then the Growers Shiraz, then Mount Eddlestone and then holy of holys the Hill of Grace. Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful. The fruit both in the nose and to the taste of both the last two was fabulous and there was a special perfume to the Hill of Grace which was sublime. This from 100 year old grapes for the first and 150 year old grapes for the Hill of Grace itself. What a day it was turning into.
We then decided to have an afternoon tea in Angaston a local Barossa town, but we would go by the actual Hill of Grace vines. A short journey found us in front of the small church which stands at the bottom of the Hill of Grace vines. These were 150 year old vines all by themselves and not with any other vines anywhere near them. Not a big area, it looked like 5 or 6 acres to me but I expect that information is available somewhere else. All the vines had straw piled around them to help preserve as much water as possible. The Barossa does have a problem with water from time to time and where the Hill of Grace is located even more so. This year is particularly bad around the Hill of Grace location and indeed where most of the Henschke wines from, We took our pictures and then left.
When we got to Angaston we discovered a little sort of deli café and ordered tea and cakes and then as we ate and drank them I availed myself of the public internet PC that the café owner had installed for the townsfolk’s use. Something about helping drag them into the 21st century. I caught up on my e-mails.
The deli owner turned out to be a real character and gave us a really good update on the history of the town. After telling us about the history of his building and those other buildings we could see around us, he also told us of a couple of buildings we should visit and then mentioned an old cemetery which was about 100m from where we were standing. He said that was worth a visit as indeed it was.
The plaque in front of the cemetery had a list of all who were buried there. There were some 223 people that had been laid to rest there between 1843 and 1869. Over 60% of them were children. We could only count 6 people who had reached an age greater than that of ourselves. It was sobering to think that it was highly unlikely that anyone buried there had seen their ruby wedding anniversary. How things have moved on. We should be thankful for small mercies.
We returned to Abbotsford. We prevailed upon the Maul’s to suggest a restaurant for us. They suggested “Tonic” a restaurant that was part of a motel. We were just a tad concerned but they reassured us that the food was good and it had the merit of being close by. They were right. We had a really good meal, complimented by 2006 Cimicky Shiraz which turned out be really good. We met the chef ,a lady, who with her husband and two others had recently bought the property from its long time owner. Apparently, there is much to do and the property comes with a 15 acre rose garden which I am absolutely certain Marion will visit before we leave. A port was offered and accepted and the chef Kas and her daughter in law, the waitress, stood and told us tales of the Barossa and its wines.
On returning to Abbotsford I needed to at least get something productive done on the blogging and photo recording front. Switched on my PC and “voila” the wi-fi is working. I was able to catch up on lots of things including make some necessary calls back to UK using Skype. In the spirit of the day there was some good news related to unfinished business back there.
After the calls I managed a little blogging and a long conversation with Julian Mawl on wine and in particular S. Australian wine for which he seemed to have a pretty encyclopaedic knowledge. We discussed the Hill of Grace tasting and he remarked we were the first non press customer who had stayed with them in six years who had had such a tasting.
Off to bed, it had been a great day.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Rainbows End Wine Tasting - Stellenbosch
What a great wine tasting. Ann, the proprieteuse of Summerwood arranged for us to visit Rainbows End on the side of the Simonsberg Mountains, the 43 hectare wine estate of the Malan family.
To get there we had to be picked up in another winery on the side of R310 and Aton Malan would pick us up. He arrived on time in his solid well used Isuzu truck. we jumped in as well as you can jump into anything when you are over the age of 60. We set off on mettalled roads which soon gave way to dirt roads which soon gave way to large boulder stroon roads which brought us to the estate entrance.
By this point we were well into the background and history of the estate. The estate had been bought by father Jacques, farmed by brother Francois and Anton our guide the wine maker, sales and marketing man. The estate was mostly vines but with a few cash crop fruit trees remaining from yesteryear.
We quickly got into Anton's philosophy which starts with Terroir, Terroir, Terroir. Sounded to me like I was back in France! Anton was the first person to mention the word since we arrived. This was quickly followed by the three longs; "Long on the vine, Long in the skins and Long in the barrel". Next we were introduced to the clones.
Now up to this point in my wine life my total exposure to clones had been when I asked a local french farmer who had half a hectare of vines, principally for personal use, what grapes he had planted and what was I drinking? I importantly asked him, undoubtedly in the manner of those terribly pretentious wine buffs. "No 267" he announced. This led to a long involved conversation which tested my french and beyond, but from which I learned that a farmer in France just has to get a soil sample, take it to the appropriate testing station and he will be told which clone will do best for him. Thats what he gets , thats what he grows and makes his wine from. The system clearly works as the wine drinks easily and quickly and only costs 50cts a litre!
Back to Anton, he had his terroir thoroughly tested and with help chose his varieties and clones. Actually, I had better start using the word that Anton uses which is "cultivars".
Anton then drove us around the estate, stopping now and then to adjust the four wheel drive and differentials, in and out of the rows of vines, right to the top of the estate, from where the views are spectacular. If I hadn't mentioned it already the wine country around Stellenbosch is spectacular and Rainbows End views are as spectacular as any!
Anton had decided only red wine and had planted in roughly equal proportions Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Shiraz and Merlot. He has been pretty comfortable with the results from the first three for some time now, but has only recently become happy with his Merlot. He figures that South Africa his really too hot for Merlot, so has solved the problem by planting his Merlot as high as possible where the air is coolest.
Incidentally, when I say Anton in the context of decisions taken relating to the long term startegy of the estate I should point out that Anton makes it quite clear that it is a family decision.
We eventually arrived at the winery part of the estate. We met both Jacques and Francois before seeing how the harvested grapes were managed and how the wine was made. Lets just say that this is far from the industrialized process one finds on the big estates. It is a very hands on process with meticulous attention to detail. As you might guess Anton picksas late as he can and leaves the grape flesh in contact with the skin as long as he can. He presses the skins. As you might imagine he gets good depth of colour and very good fruit on all his wines. He then leaves the the wine al long as possible in the barrel before bottling.
We then did a tasting of 2008 Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc from the barrel. I was surprised by all three as too how smooth they were already. We actually tasted two different cultivars of the Cabernet Franc. The first had strong fruit on both the nose and the pallet. The second was more structures and what I classified as "spikey". Anton pushed me to say which I preferred and that was for me the second. However, he will blend them roughly 70/30% for the finished wine and I wouldn't mind betting that this wine will get Anton his third gold medal.
We the tasted his Merlot which I guess must have been 2007, followed by a tasting of his Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon followed by a 2004 blend called Complexite. All three were good. Marion really loved the Cabernet Sauvignon and it was probably the stand out wine of our seven tastings for her. However , much to Anton's chagrin I prefered the 2004 Complexite which believe it or not was not as mature as the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon in my view. I think this wine will last for some time and drink very well indeed from about 2 years time. Anton clearly does not agree with me because he is selling aat R60 a bottle which is a give away. The Merlot was for me OK/good but was the poorest of the wines I tasted.
Anton wants to stick with selling single varieties for the time being with the Cabernet Franc being his flagship product.
This was a great visit at which I learned a lot, got to spend a couple of hours with someone very passionate about what he does and willing to share that passion.
To get there we had to be picked up in another winery on the side of R310 and Aton Malan would pick us up. He arrived on time in his solid well used Isuzu truck. we jumped in as well as you can jump into anything when you are over the age of 60. We set off on mettalled roads which soon gave way to dirt roads which soon gave way to large boulder stroon roads which brought us to the estate entrance.
By this point we were well into the background and history of the estate. The estate had been bought by father Jacques, farmed by brother Francois and Anton our guide the wine maker, sales and marketing man. The estate was mostly vines but with a few cash crop fruit trees remaining from yesteryear.
We quickly got into Anton's philosophy which starts with Terroir, Terroir, Terroir. Sounded to me like I was back in France! Anton was the first person to mention the word since we arrived. This was quickly followed by the three longs; "Long on the vine, Long in the skins and Long in the barrel". Next we were introduced to the clones.
Now up to this point in my wine life my total exposure to clones had been when I asked a local french farmer who had half a hectare of vines, principally for personal use, what grapes he had planted and what was I drinking? I importantly asked him, undoubtedly in the manner of those terribly pretentious wine buffs. "No 267" he announced. This led to a long involved conversation which tested my french and beyond, but from which I learned that a farmer in France just has to get a soil sample, take it to the appropriate testing station and he will be told which clone will do best for him. Thats what he gets , thats what he grows and makes his wine from. The system clearly works as the wine drinks easily and quickly and only costs 50cts a litre!
Back to Anton, he had his terroir thoroughly tested and with help chose his varieties and clones. Actually, I had better start using the word that Anton uses which is "cultivars".
Anton then drove us around the estate, stopping now and then to adjust the four wheel drive and differentials, in and out of the rows of vines, right to the top of the estate, from where the views are spectacular. If I hadn't mentioned it already the wine country around Stellenbosch is spectacular and Rainbows End views are as spectacular as any!
Anton had decided only red wine and had planted in roughly equal proportions Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Shiraz and Merlot. He has been pretty comfortable with the results from the first three for some time now, but has only recently become happy with his Merlot. He figures that South Africa his really too hot for Merlot, so has solved the problem by planting his Merlot as high as possible where the air is coolest.
Incidentally, when I say Anton in the context of decisions taken relating to the long term startegy of the estate I should point out that Anton makes it quite clear that it is a family decision.
We eventually arrived at the winery part of the estate. We met both Jacques and Francois before seeing how the harvested grapes were managed and how the wine was made. Lets just say that this is far from the industrialized process one finds on the big estates. It is a very hands on process with meticulous attention to detail. As you might guess Anton picksas late as he can and leaves the grape flesh in contact with the skin as long as he can. He presses the skins. As you might imagine he gets good depth of colour and very good fruit on all his wines. He then leaves the the wine al long as possible in the barrel before bottling.
We then did a tasting of 2008 Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc from the barrel. I was surprised by all three as too how smooth they were already. We actually tasted two different cultivars of the Cabernet Franc. The first had strong fruit on both the nose and the pallet. The second was more structures and what I classified as "spikey". Anton pushed me to say which I preferred and that was for me the second. However, he will blend them roughly 70/30% for the finished wine and I wouldn't mind betting that this wine will get Anton his third gold medal.
We the tasted his Merlot which I guess must have been 2007, followed by a tasting of his Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon followed by a 2004 blend called Complexite. All three were good. Marion really loved the Cabernet Sauvignon and it was probably the stand out wine of our seven tastings for her. However , much to Anton's chagrin I prefered the 2004 Complexite which believe it or not was not as mature as the 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon in my view. I think this wine will last for some time and drink very well indeed from about 2 years time. Anton clearly does not agree with me because he is selling aat R60 a bottle which is a give away. The Merlot was for me OK/good but was the poorest of the wines I tasted.
Anton wants to stick with selling single varieties for the time being with the Cabernet Franc being his flagship product.
This was a great visit at which I learned a lot, got to spend a couple of hours with someone very passionate about what he does and willing to share that passion.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Cape Town Capers
There weren’t any really but I like the title. Originally I planned that we would have a full day in Cape Town but in the event we spent a large part of Sunday visiting the Cape Peninsular and the Kirstenbosch Gardens so we spent Monday morning visiting the Rainbows End Estate and having lunch at Hillcrest Berry Farm just off the R310 and close the by Rainbows End Estate. The Gardens and the Estate visits are recorded under other Posts.
We therefore did not actually arrive in Cape Town until early afternoon and we went straight to our hotel, the Cape Heritage Hotel, (www.capeheritage.co.za), which was mercifully easy to find. The hotel announces itself as a “city centre boutique hotel” and is in a delightfully restored building, one of a complex of buildings from the very earliest days of Cape Town. Everything had been sympathetically restored including the bedrooms and the hotel staff all seemed very proud of the results. Once again we found a very helpful and friendly hotel staff. In particular the young lady who seemed to head up the front office was very knowledgeable about her city, her hotel and a very wide range of other subjects. Indeed we got into a discussion about Cape and South African art ant in particular about the paintings with stuck on objects that I discussed in another post. It turned out that the lady who owned the hotel was an art benefactor and tried to support local artists by giving them wall space in the hotel. In particular she had a largish picture by the artist who started the stick on objects paintings which I had already noticed.
Once we were installed the afternoon was taken over by returning a hire car and buying another computer. The car was the easiest to deal with and the return point turned out to be only 5 minutes away. The computer was less easy to resolve but in the end I ended up with one of the new very small laptops which sometimes rejoice in the name “webtops”. Within the hour of getting it back to the hotel I was reunited with all my tour information which was in the “clouds”. I could once again blog and post photographs to my hearts content.
The hotel made several restaurant recommendations and we elected to try the Savoy Cabbage which was just round the corner from and in the same set of restored buildings as the hotel. This turned out to be a great choice. The owner of the restaurant had decided to “leave” the inside of the restaurant bare, ie. bare bricks, exposed piping including the massive air conditioning pipes. The ceilings were very high, all the tables and the stairs were glass and the lighting subdued. The effect was arresting and very different. The food turned out to be very good. Indeed the steak that both Marion I had was cooked to perfection, truly one of the very best I had ever eaten. We washed it down with a bottle of the 2005 Waterford Kevin Allen Shiraz which was a lot better than I remembered from the tasting we had at the Waterford estate, but that was a 2006. We repaired to our bed very happy.
We therefore did not actually arrive in Cape Town until early afternoon and we went straight to our hotel, the Cape Heritage Hotel, (www.capeheritage.co.za), which was mercifully easy to find. The hotel announces itself as a “city centre boutique hotel” and is in a delightfully restored building, one of a complex of buildings from the very earliest days of Cape Town. Everything had been sympathetically restored including the bedrooms and the hotel staff all seemed very proud of the results. Once again we found a very helpful and friendly hotel staff. In particular the young lady who seemed to head up the front office was very knowledgeable about her city, her hotel and a very wide range of other subjects. Indeed we got into a discussion about Cape and South African art ant in particular about the paintings with stuck on objects that I discussed in another post. It turned out that the lady who owned the hotel was an art benefactor and tried to support local artists by giving them wall space in the hotel. In particular she had a largish picture by the artist who started the stick on objects paintings which I had already noticed.
Once we were installed the afternoon was taken over by returning a hire car and buying another computer. The car was the easiest to deal with and the return point turned out to be only 5 minutes away. The computer was less easy to resolve but in the end I ended up with one of the new very small laptops which sometimes rejoice in the name “webtops”. Within the hour of getting it back to the hotel I was reunited with all my tour information which was in the “clouds”. I could once again blog and post photographs to my hearts content.
The hotel made several restaurant recommendations and we elected to try the Savoy Cabbage which was just round the corner from and in the same set of restored buildings as the hotel. This turned out to be a great choice. The owner of the restaurant had decided to “leave” the inside of the restaurant bare, ie. bare bricks, exposed piping including the massive air conditioning pipes. The ceilings were very high, all the tables and the stairs were glass and the lighting subdued. The effect was arresting and very different. The food turned out to be very good. Indeed the steak that both Marion I had was cooked to perfection, truly one of the very best I had ever eaten. We washed it down with a bottle of the 2005 Waterford Kevin Allen Shiraz which was a lot better than I remembered from the tasting we had at the Waterford estate, but that was a 2006. We repaired to our bed very happy.
Premier Class - Cape Town to Johannesberg
Subtitle -Where are the Elephants?
I had long heard of the famous Blue Train from Cape Town to Johannesburg and in planning the trip it seemed an opportunity too good to miss. I soon discovered that there were two major problems and a possible minor issue. The train turns out to be very expensive and secondly it doesn’t run very often, and oh yes it seemed to go to Pretoria and not Jo’burg. Well I could suck in and ignore the expense, you only have one ruby wedding trip but try as I might I could not make the dates fit to my schedule. I then discovered Premier Classe that runs on the same line but ends up in Jo’burg. It was much more reasonable but claimed to give everything that the Blue Train gave. While I somewhat doubted that the web site did make it look pretty good. It ran twice a week and I could fit into the schedule. The Prenier Classe it would be.
Now you are probably thinking its going to be a disaster, especially considering the performance we had gone through that I related in an earlier post, but no it wasn’t. The train was absolutely fine, comfortable accommodation a more than helpful crew and very reasonable meals with some OK wines. But for other reasons it was in some ways a little disappointing.
The problem is that South Africa is a big country with dramatic and impressive and often beautiful vistas and panoramas to view. But what was dramatic and beautiful when you first saw it turns a little boring after 2 or 5 hours. This wasn’t so bad the first day as there was the initial excitement followed by welcoming drinks followed not so long after by lunch. The there was the first stop at Worcester where you could get out and stretch your legs and actually really view the train, a great purple snake, for the first time. The countryside seemed to be changing at this stage between wild and untamed country and country that was being farmed with either livestock or crops. We saw enormous fields being harvested for cereals and the surprise for me was the very larges acreage of vines. We seemed to take an awfully long time getting passed these vines. Then there were the mountains. I had always thought that Table Mountain was pretty unique. Wrong again. There are lots of flat topped mountains. Then there was the sun setting and the change of colours and the colour of the sky and then darkness followed by dinner and then to some very comfortable beds that had been made up by the staff as we ate. Really not bad at all. I guess it was the following morning after waking up,, having breakfast one was pretty much ready for the journey to end but in fact there was another four or so hours to run. If you walked the train you could see everybody was packed and sitting quietly ignoring the scenery which by his time had turned into a very flat huge expanse of land and I think it was this that just took the edge of the trip.
For me, however there was a second reason. For some reason I had got it into my head that we would see some game. I did not expect to see the big five but perhaps some zebras or gnu or well something. I kept saying to Marion where are the Elephants? She had no such illusions of seeing game. “On the game reserves, you are not going to see anything. Whatever gave you the idea that you would see something?” I couldn’t answer that but I didn’t give up on my false hope. If the train stopped it was because the Elephants were crossing the line, or if we went through a tunnel then the Elephants would be at the far end when we emerged. So the Elephants or the lack of them became part of the trip. Actually I am pretty certain I saw one just before I turned into bed.
In the end, after some 27 hours we arrived in Jo’burg and after a little problem met up with our hotel limousine and we were soon signed into our hotel for the night, The Grace Hotel in Rosebank.
I had long heard of the famous Blue Train from Cape Town to Johannesburg and in planning the trip it seemed an opportunity too good to miss. I soon discovered that there were two major problems and a possible minor issue. The train turns out to be very expensive and secondly it doesn’t run very often, and oh yes it seemed to go to Pretoria and not Jo’burg. Well I could suck in and ignore the expense, you only have one ruby wedding trip but try as I might I could not make the dates fit to my schedule. I then discovered Premier Classe that runs on the same line but ends up in Jo’burg. It was much more reasonable but claimed to give everything that the Blue Train gave. While I somewhat doubted that the web site did make it look pretty good. It ran twice a week and I could fit into the schedule. The Prenier Classe it would be.
Now you are probably thinking its going to be a disaster, especially considering the performance we had gone through that I related in an earlier post, but no it wasn’t. The train was absolutely fine, comfortable accommodation a more than helpful crew and very reasonable meals with some OK wines. But for other reasons it was in some ways a little disappointing.
The problem is that South Africa is a big country with dramatic and impressive and often beautiful vistas and panoramas to view. But what was dramatic and beautiful when you first saw it turns a little boring after 2 or 5 hours. This wasn’t so bad the first day as there was the initial excitement followed by welcoming drinks followed not so long after by lunch. The there was the first stop at Worcester where you could get out and stretch your legs and actually really view the train, a great purple snake, for the first time. The countryside seemed to be changing at this stage between wild and untamed country and country that was being farmed with either livestock or crops. We saw enormous fields being harvested for cereals and the surprise for me was the very larges acreage of vines. We seemed to take an awfully long time getting passed these vines. Then there were the mountains. I had always thought that Table Mountain was pretty unique. Wrong again. There are lots of flat topped mountains. Then there was the sun setting and the change of colours and the colour of the sky and then darkness followed by dinner and then to some very comfortable beds that had been made up by the staff as we ate. Really not bad at all. I guess it was the following morning after waking up,, having breakfast one was pretty much ready for the journey to end but in fact there was another four or so hours to run. If you walked the train you could see everybody was packed and sitting quietly ignoring the scenery which by his time had turned into a very flat huge expanse of land and I think it was this that just took the edge of the trip.
For me, however there was a second reason. For some reason I had got it into my head that we would see some game. I did not expect to see the big five but perhaps some zebras or gnu or well something. I kept saying to Marion where are the Elephants? She had no such illusions of seeing game. “On the game reserves, you are not going to see anything. Whatever gave you the idea that you would see something?” I couldn’t answer that but I didn’t give up on my false hope. If the train stopped it was because the Elephants were crossing the line, or if we went through a tunnel then the Elephants would be at the far end when we emerged. So the Elephants or the lack of them became part of the trip. Actually I am pretty certain I saw one just before I turned into bed.
In the end, after some 27 hours we arrived in Jo’burg and after a little problem met up with our hotel limousine and we were soon signed into our hotel for the night, The Grace Hotel in Rosebank.
Rustenberg Gardens - Stellenbosch
Very distinctly laid out in rooms. Beautiful herbaceous borders set around rectangular lawns. A gazebo covered in fantastic pink roses led to another rectangular area, a large fish pond in the middle was full of colourful, large coia carp, surrounded by lawn with herbaceous borders at either end. Each rectangle is enclosed within low walls with steps leading to other rectangles, the rooms, at differing levels. There are rose covered walkways also leading to other areas.
Interspersed in the borders were tall wooden structures, whose technical name escapes me, supporting climbing roses in a deep magenta colour.
In another area was a very unusual maze. It was completely flat and it was the colour of the bricks that were set into the ground that defined the walk and the maze. As is normal with mazes they lead you to the centre of the maze eventually and then back out. Somehow it seemed that the path in and the path out were completely different as you never seemed to bump into someone going the other way. This was the fourth and last room in the garden.
Most of the flowers I had seen before and were English like. All the seasons, with exception of Spring seemed to have merged into one.
Of course we did a tasting and our notes on that can be found on another post. Our photos can be found on www.picasaweb.google.co.uk/idurrelmeister and the the Rustenberg website is http://www.rustenberg.co.za/ .
Interspersed in the borders were tall wooden structures, whose technical name escapes me, supporting climbing roses in a deep magenta colour.
In another area was a very unusual maze. It was completely flat and it was the colour of the bricks that were set into the ground that defined the walk and the maze. As is normal with mazes they lead you to the centre of the maze eventually and then back out. Somehow it seemed that the path in and the path out were completely different as you never seemed to bump into someone going the other way. This was the fourth and last room in the garden.
Most of the flowers I had seen before and were English like. All the seasons, with exception of Spring seemed to have merged into one.
Of course we did a tasting and our notes on that can be found on another post. Our photos can be found on www.picasaweb.google.co.uk/idurrelmeister and the the Rustenberg website is http://www.rustenberg.co.za/ .
Vergelegen Gardens - Stellenbosch
Entering through a stone gateway, flanked by two huge urns, you have a magnificent view of the old homestead. There are steps leading down to a brick path that takes you to the front door of the homestead. To the left of the path is a walk through pergola covered in bougainvillea. The path to the house has wide herbaceous borders with lawn beyond on either side. Huge camphor trees of considerable age, some planted in the 17th century, dominate the landscape. Gardens are set out in special areas. One of these is planted with David Austin roses. Each large bed has a different variety of rose, all perfumed. Spectacular!
In all the shaded areas are myriads of hydrangeas, unfortunately not yet flowering. Two fish shaped ponds with water lilies in them were either side of a path leading to the library, formerly the wine cellars. A lavender path leads to the modern wine tasting area. On either side behind the lavender are herb beds divided by parterre box hedging.
Behind the house is a large lawn area suitable for large scale entertaining and functions. Indeed the staff were in the process of removing a large marquee obviously used in a recent event. Surrounding and beyond the lawn are a wetlands area and walk followed by a camphor tree forest with designated rest and picnic areas.
Throughout the gardens are a number of both old and new buildings which are part of both the public and private estate, for instance the aforementioned library(old) and wine tasting area(new). Two of the other older buildings are used for eating. There is the Rose Terrace, with another highly perfumed rose garden in front, which is café style eating and then there is the Lady Phillips restaurant with a serious menu. We chose to get serious and found ourselves at a table outside beside a small lawn which had resident peacocks and a cat. The peacocks were well used to visitors, indeed they clearly considered them a significant advantage as they would take food from the hand, the hen more readily than the cock.
We had an excellent lunch which we washed down with a very nice Vergelegan 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon.
We visited the homestead which is open to the public and did a wine tasting in the tasting area and which is covered in another post. Unfortunately the winery tour was completely booked up so we decided to quickly move on to Waterford Estate for another tasting.
You can visit the Vergelegan web site at http://www.vergelegen.co.za/ and the photos can be found at www.picasaweb.google.co.uk/idurrellmeister .
In all the shaded areas are myriads of hydrangeas, unfortunately not yet flowering. Two fish shaped ponds with water lilies in them were either side of a path leading to the library, formerly the wine cellars. A lavender path leads to the modern wine tasting area. On either side behind the lavender are herb beds divided by parterre box hedging.
Behind the house is a large lawn area suitable for large scale entertaining and functions. Indeed the staff were in the process of removing a large marquee obviously used in a recent event. Surrounding and beyond the lawn are a wetlands area and walk followed by a camphor tree forest with designated rest and picnic areas.
Throughout the gardens are a number of both old and new buildings which are part of both the public and private estate, for instance the aforementioned library(old) and wine tasting area(new). Two of the other older buildings are used for eating. There is the Rose Terrace, with another highly perfumed rose garden in front, which is café style eating and then there is the Lady Phillips restaurant with a serious menu. We chose to get serious and found ourselves at a table outside beside a small lawn which had resident peacocks and a cat. The peacocks were well used to visitors, indeed they clearly considered them a significant advantage as they would take food from the hand, the hen more readily than the cock.
We had an excellent lunch which we washed down with a very nice Vergelegan 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon.
We visited the homestead which is open to the public and did a wine tasting in the tasting area and which is covered in another post. Unfortunately the winery tour was completely booked up so we decided to quickly move on to Waterford Estate for another tasting.
You can visit the Vergelegan web site at http://www.vergelegen.co.za/ and the photos can be found at www.picasaweb.google.co.uk/idurrellmeister .
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens - Cape Town
Originally we planned to do more wine tasting. However, a lot of wineries are closed on Sundays and so we switched plans and decided to go to the Cape Peninsular with a strong recommendation from Ann to visit the Kirstenbosch Gardens.
As we approached the peninsular, Table Mountain was in cloud but gradually shook off its shroud the nearer we got to it. We decided to go over the hill to Hout Bay where it turned out to be somewhat overcast, a little chilly and quite windy. Nevertheless we did walk to the end of one of the piers, passing rusting hulks, some no longer serviceable, along the way. On returning we browsed a sea faring bric-a-brac shop.
Marion would then have loved to go on to the Cape of Good Hope via the Chapmans Peak Drive, with its 9 km of vertiginous views and also including some 114 curves. Unfortunately for Marion anything to do with height brings me out in a cold sweat, strange for someone who used to teach rock climbing and mountaineering, so we decided to go directly to the gardens.
The gardens turned out to be fantastic. They are approaching 600 hectares in size and even though the car parks were full the gardens had lots of space and you never felt you were in anything like a crowd. The gardens are laid out in such a manner that there is lots of grass recreational space with visitors encouraged to sit admire the views, the flowers and trees, and even to take picnics and play children’s’ games.
Not being a gardener I really could not give a detailed account of the flowers and trees that we saw. Suffice it to say that Marion was in seventh heaven and we pretty much saw all 600 hectares of the garden.
To get more information and a very detailed view of it try their web site at www.sanbi.org/frames/kirstfram.htm .
We started with an early lunch and finished with afternoon tea. I should also mention that views from the garden over Cape Town were stunning.
Do not forget you can view photographs of each event at www.picasaweb.google.co.uk/idurrellmeister .
As we approached the peninsular, Table Mountain was in cloud but gradually shook off its shroud the nearer we got to it. We decided to go over the hill to Hout Bay where it turned out to be somewhat overcast, a little chilly and quite windy. Nevertheless we did walk to the end of one of the piers, passing rusting hulks, some no longer serviceable, along the way. On returning we browsed a sea faring bric-a-brac shop.
Marion would then have loved to go on to the Cape of Good Hope via the Chapmans Peak Drive, with its 9 km of vertiginous views and also including some 114 curves. Unfortunately for Marion anything to do with height brings me out in a cold sweat, strange for someone who used to teach rock climbing and mountaineering, so we decided to go directly to the gardens.
The gardens turned out to be fantastic. They are approaching 600 hectares in size and even though the car parks were full the gardens had lots of space and you never felt you were in anything like a crowd. The gardens are laid out in such a manner that there is lots of grass recreational space with visitors encouraged to sit admire the views, the flowers and trees, and even to take picnics and play children’s’ games.
Not being a gardener I really could not give a detailed account of the flowers and trees that we saw. Suffice it to say that Marion was in seventh heaven and we pretty much saw all 600 hectares of the garden.
To get more information and a very detailed view of it try their web site at www.sanbi.org/frames/kirstfram.htm .
We started with an early lunch and finished with afternoon tea. I should also mention that views from the garden over Cape Town were stunning.
Do not forget you can view photographs of each event at www.picasaweb.google.co.uk/idurrellmeister .
Stellenbosch
The town of Stellenbosch turned out to be delightful. Located about 40minutes from the airport its sits under the Stellenberg Mountains and is the home to the world renowned Stellenbosch University. More importantly for me is the fact that it is the centre of Cape Wine with its many wineries and close proximity to Franschhoek and Paarl . But more than this it also has many fine restaurants in all sorts of different food and decorative styles. We ate several meals in the town itself and were delighted with all the meals. We also discovered that it is full of art shops/galleries and I am a complete sucker for art shops.
As soon as Marion saw them she was overcome by a feeling of dread in case I bought yet more pictures. We particularly like naïve paintings and would you believe there sitting in the wonderfully named art shop, The Red Teapot, was a painter churning out whimsical, colourful naïve paintings of all shapes and sizes. There were prints of his work, calendars based upon his prints and heavens knows what else. He was sitting there full in the middle of the shop completing yet another painting. I think I would have realised Marion’s worst fears and bought one of his paintings if it had not been for a small matter of price. His work is not cheap, much above auction room prices for price comparable work. At these prices he had to be well known but unfortunately not to me. I decided to do some research on the internet so much to Marion’s relief we walked out of the shop.
We looked through many of the other art shops if not all. We discovered a painting form that I had not seen before where the objects being painted are either painted separately or clipped out of magazines or perhaps if small enough the actual object or a model of it is used and these objects are stuck to the painting. This produces a very different and not unpleasing effect and from what I saw fits well with a naïve painting style.
We ate in four restaurants in Stellenbosch, the Apprentice (formerly the Olive), the Fish Factory, the Winehouse and the de Oewer, all of whom provided very good food with really excellent service. We particularly enjoyed the last with its riverside setting.
Oh yes! And what about the painter in the Red Teapot. Well his name is Portchie and it turns out he is very well know and maybe even South Africa’s most successful commercial artist. You can find him and his work on www.portchie.com. He produces a phenomenal amount of work per year and commands the high prices I had baulked at. Unfortunately, or fortunately from Marion’s point of view, we did not have enough time to revisit the shop when it was open though we did try.
As soon as Marion saw them she was overcome by a feeling of dread in case I bought yet more pictures. We particularly like naïve paintings and would you believe there sitting in the wonderfully named art shop, The Red Teapot, was a painter churning out whimsical, colourful naïve paintings of all shapes and sizes. There were prints of his work, calendars based upon his prints and heavens knows what else. He was sitting there full in the middle of the shop completing yet another painting. I think I would have realised Marion’s worst fears and bought one of his paintings if it had not been for a small matter of price. His work is not cheap, much above auction room prices for price comparable work. At these prices he had to be well known but unfortunately not to me. I decided to do some research on the internet so much to Marion’s relief we walked out of the shop.
We looked through many of the other art shops if not all. We discovered a painting form that I had not seen before where the objects being painted are either painted separately or clipped out of magazines or perhaps if small enough the actual object or a model of it is used and these objects are stuck to the painting. This produces a very different and not unpleasing effect and from what I saw fits well with a naïve painting style.
We ate in four restaurants in Stellenbosch, the Apprentice (formerly the Olive), the Fish Factory, the Winehouse and the de Oewer, all of whom provided very good food with really excellent service. We particularly enjoyed the last with its riverside setting.
Oh yes! And what about the painter in the Red Teapot. Well his name is Portchie and it turns out he is very well know and maybe even South Africa’s most successful commercial artist. You can find him and his work on www.portchie.com. He produces a phenomenal amount of work per year and commands the high prices I had baulked at. Unfortunately, or fortunately from Marion’s point of view, we did not have enough time to revisit the shop when it was open though we did try.
Summerwood Guest House - Stellenbosch
We could not have chosen a better accommodation location for our first resting place where we spent our first four days. The house is delightfully situated in one of Stellenbosch’s best residential areas but within easy walking distance of central Stellenbosch. Our room was a good size, the bed was very large and comfortable and the room had all we needed. However, you can see all this on their website, http://www.summerwood.co.za/ .
The key to the stay was the owner, Ann Baret, and her complete team who made all guests feel so very welcome. Nothing was too much trouble for them. They also know the area in great detail and keep restaurant lists with menus, maps of wineries but even more importantly they can give you up to date information on where and what is currently good. Ann has an excellent knowledge of the wineries, their wines and frequently their winemakers and she has personally visited many. She is ably assisted and abetted by her senior colleagues Anneline and Theresa. We thank them all for giving our tour such a good start.
The key to the stay was the owner, Ann Baret, and her complete team who made all guests feel so very welcome. Nothing was too much trouble for them. They also know the area in great detail and keep restaurant lists with menus, maps of wineries but even more importantly they can give you up to date information on where and what is currently good. Ann has an excellent knowledge of the wineries, their wines and frequently their winemakers and she has personally visited many. She is ably assisted and abetted by her senior colleagues Anneline and Theresa. We thank them all for giving our tour such a good start.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Wine Tasting - Rustenberg - 1115
This was our second tasting of the day and took place at about 11.30am. The winery can be found at http://www.rustenberg.co.za/ and you can find the photos I took at http://www.picasaweb.google.co.uk/idurrellmeister . The tasting room is laid out very well as a bar and you choose six wines to taste from the list of wines that you are given. Not all wines on the list are available to be tasted but nevertheless there is a good selection. You choose your six wines for tarsting and the first one is then served to you very much in the manner of being at a normal bar, They use very interesting "tasting" glassesith hollow stems. This allow you to roll the glass horizontally on the bar top to oxygenate the wine.
1. Brampton Sauvignon Blanc 2008 R43
A bit sweet for a Sauvignon Blanc. Very easy to drink. Fairly long lasting. Some structure there.
2. Rustenberg Stellenbosch Chardonnay 2007 R120
Goes to top of the pallet. Not as much nose as I expected. A pale perhaps green tinged colour rather than the more familiar shades of cream and yellow. Citrony taste. A hint of oak but less than I expected for a 12months oaked wine.
3. Brampton Viognier 2007 R48
Peppery. Pale colour. Lots of feeling/taste which I liked but could not identify though not really fruity. A fair amount of aftertaste.
4. Brampton Shiraz 2006 R48
I wrote peppery three times in the notes so I guess I found it peppery. It was also long lasting, smooth but yet with a lot of tannins. I also noted warming and liquorice.
5. Brampton Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 R48
What I describe as the dirt smell which I think maybe the smell of black truffles. Not too pronounced on this wine. Colour was good. Again a peppery taste but not too long lasting. A fair amount of tannins.
6. Rustenberg Stellenbosch John X Merriman 2005 R120
Very smooth. A lot of nose. Again peppery. Warming. Tannins still there
Monday, November 10, 2008
No3 - Ruby Anniversary Weekend
A very uneventful drive up to Bedale saw us arriving at the retirement home where Marion's mum now lives at shortly after 3 o'clock. We found Mum in very good health, she has put on some weight, and she was very lively. I had a cold so I didn't stay long as the home doesn't welcome visitors with colds but Marion spent a good hour and half with her Mum before we left to go to Thornton Steward, a small village about 6 miles out of Bedale further up the dale. To get there we had to pass through Thornton Watlass, where Marion used to live and where Alan, Marion's brother still farms. We actually drove directly past the church where we were married 40 years ago.
We shortly arrived at Thornton Steward to be met at the door by Alan's partner, Janet. It was a cold November night and it was great to see a cheerful traditional fire burning in the main room. Janet was in the middle of preparing a meal of both grouse and pheasant, no doubt the spoils from Alan's many days of shooting at this time of year. Apparently there are lots of grouse this year.
The meal turned out to be fantastic which we started after Alan got back from shooting and putting the farm to bed for the night. The grouse were the best I have ever eaten and the pheasant were excellent as well. We ate the meal accompanied by SE Australian wine which I think was a Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz blend and which was just right with the game.
During Saturday Marion caught up on all the farm paperwork. I went up to Leyburn, poked my head into Tennants, the auctioneer, where an auction was in progress, and then on to the shop, Serendipity, where Janet works. The shop was very busy but I managed to persuade Janet to wrap up my present for Marion for the anniversary. In the afternoon Marion went off to see her Mum again and I sat down to an afternoon of international rugby.
In the evening we went out to dinner with some very old friends to tghe Blackwell Ox in Sutton-on-the-Forrest a small village just north of York. We were joined by Ann and Alan, and Ruth and Guthry. These friends were at our wedding and indeed had known Marion all her life. It was great seeing them and they were all in good spirits. The Blackwell Ox Inn( http://www.blackwelloxinn.co.uk/ ) was unknown to any of us and I had selected it off the internet followed up by some checking through Joy with some of her York based customer contacts. It turned out to be a great choice and the food and service was very good. We all had different food choices so I chose a red, 2005 Gevrey Cambertain, and a white, the ubiquitous Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc. Both were excellent and helped the flow of the conversations as we all caught up with what we, our friends and friends of friends were all doing.
Sunday saw us start very lazily. I was able to give Marion the ruby ring that I had bought on my recent trip to Jersey. I had an anxious time in the past few days trying to get hold of Marion's ring size and had to do it by comparing it to my signet ring. Triumph!. The ring fitted pretty well and Marion was completely surprised by the present and had no idea that I even had a presemt for her.
We had planned a family sunday lunch at the Friars Head restaurant at Akebar ( http://www.akebarpark.com/ ) between Bedale and Leyburn. We were joined by Mum, Alan, Janet, Jean who is Marion's cousin plus her daughter Angela and June and Mrs Broadwith long time friends. Everyone chose to have a traditional roast choosing either the roast beef or roast pork. We complimented the meal with some pinotage and riesling wines which both went down very well. It was an excellent way to clebrate our 40th anniversary.
After the meal we dropped off Mum at the retirement home and said our goodbyes. We then went back to Janet and Alan's house to collect our cases. On the way we stopped this time at the church where we were married. In spite of the rain we took some photos before going on to Thornton Steward and the back down the A1 and M1, through some very hard rain to Milton Keynes and to Giles and Karen's house where we are staying until we leave on the trip proper on wednesday evening.
We shortly arrived at Thornton Steward to be met at the door by Alan's partner, Janet. It was a cold November night and it was great to see a cheerful traditional fire burning in the main room. Janet was in the middle of preparing a meal of both grouse and pheasant, no doubt the spoils from Alan's many days of shooting at this time of year. Apparently there are lots of grouse this year.
The meal turned out to be fantastic which we started after Alan got back from shooting and putting the farm to bed for the night. The grouse were the best I have ever eaten and the pheasant were excellent as well. We ate the meal accompanied by SE Australian wine which I think was a Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz blend and which was just right with the game.
During Saturday Marion caught up on all the farm paperwork. I went up to Leyburn, poked my head into Tennants, the auctioneer, where an auction was in progress, and then on to the shop, Serendipity, where Janet works. The shop was very busy but I managed to persuade Janet to wrap up my present for Marion for the anniversary. In the afternoon Marion went off to see her Mum again and I sat down to an afternoon of international rugby.
In the evening we went out to dinner with some very old friends to tghe Blackwell Ox in Sutton-on-the-Forrest a small village just north of York. We were joined by Ann and Alan, and Ruth and Guthry. These friends were at our wedding and indeed had known Marion all her life. It was great seeing them and they were all in good spirits. The Blackwell Ox Inn( http://www.blackwelloxinn.co.uk/ ) was unknown to any of us and I had selected it off the internet followed up by some checking through Joy with some of her York based customer contacts. It turned out to be a great choice and the food and service was very good. We all had different food choices so I chose a red, 2005 Gevrey Cambertain, and a white, the ubiquitous Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc. Both were excellent and helped the flow of the conversations as we all caught up with what we, our friends and friends of friends were all doing.
Sunday saw us start very lazily. I was able to give Marion the ruby ring that I had bought on my recent trip to Jersey. I had an anxious time in the past few days trying to get hold of Marion's ring size and had to do it by comparing it to my signet ring. Triumph!. The ring fitted pretty well and Marion was completely surprised by the present and had no idea that I even had a presemt for her.
We had planned a family sunday lunch at the Friars Head restaurant at Akebar ( http://www.akebarpark.com/ ) between Bedale and Leyburn. We were joined by Mum, Alan, Janet, Jean who is Marion's cousin plus her daughter Angela and June and Mrs Broadwith long time friends. Everyone chose to have a traditional roast choosing either the roast beef or roast pork. We complimented the meal with some pinotage and riesling wines which both went down very well. It was an excellent way to clebrate our 40th anniversary.
After the meal we dropped off Mum at the retirement home and said our goodbyes. We then went back to Janet and Alan's house to collect our cases. On the way we stopped this time at the church where we were married. In spite of the rain we took some photos before going on to Thornton Steward and the back down the A1 and M1, through some very hard rain to Milton Keynes and to Giles and Karen's house where we are staying until we leave on the trip proper on wednesday evening.
No2 - Starting the Trip
We left Villefagnan the on the 3rd Nov as outlined in the callendar. Toni our friend drove us up to Poitiers Airport through the rain. Unusually the plane was a little late but the journey was largely uneventful save that we discovered just how many steps there are at some of the underground stations as we lugged our 3 cases through the underground system from Liverpool Street to Marylebone Station. Neverteless we arrived at Joy and Simon's house in High Wycombe, via train and taxi, very much on time and not too knackered.
We spent the rest of the week making final preparations for our trip up to Yorkshire and for the bigger trip. We did go out one night to a local restaurant, The Chequers at Wooburn Common ( http://www.chequers-inn.com/ ), with Joy and Simon, where we had an excellent meal accompanied by a Simonsig wine. I think it was a 2003 Cabernet Malbec and it was a prevue of what we might be tasting on the first leg of the main trip in South Africa.
We left High Wycombe via Amersham and Aylesbury on Friday, 7 Nov, for Bedale in N. Yorkshire.
We spent the rest of the week making final preparations for our trip up to Yorkshire and for the bigger trip. We did go out one night to a local restaurant, The Chequers at Wooburn Common ( http://www.chequers-inn.com/ ), with Joy and Simon, where we had an excellent meal accompanied by a Simonsig wine. I think it was a 2003 Cabernet Malbec and it was a prevue of what we might be tasting on the first leg of the main trip in South Africa.
We left High Wycombe via Amersham and Aylesbury on Friday, 7 Nov, for Bedale in N. Yorkshire.
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