More Wine

After a brief stop in Swellendam - pleasant enough break in our journey but not a destination as such - we arrived at Weltevrede - just outside Bonnievale - in the Robertson Valley.

We are staying in the oldest house on the estate - originally built  around 1900 by the founder of Bonnievale who was of Scottish/ Irish descent - could have been an Irish cottage from the same period - but slightly modernised and set in a perfect location looking over the vineyards towards the Breede River.

In addition to the usual selection of table wines - and some impressive estate wines - they are well known for the sparkling - Cap Classic - wines. Tasted the whole range - in their cellars - and enjoyed them so much that we had to buy a bottle or two. Even got to make our own bottles as part of the Hands On Harvest event - a new experience and great fun but having tasted the result, think it is probably best left to the experts!

Each morning we took a stroll amongst the vines on the 160 hectare property and enjoyed watching the birds on the river. They were in the middle of their harvest so we should not have been surprised to be woken at 2.45 in the morning by the mechanical harvester picking the block of Chardonnay vines in front of the cottage.

While we were here we also managed a few tastings in other wineries - most notably at Van Loveren after we had completed their 7.5km Fish Eagle Trail and at Viljoensdrift - where we enjoyed a picnic on a river cruise. Great idea, book your place, select your picnic goodies from their deli, taste some wines and choose a bottle to take with you - they provide ice, glasses, knives forks etc - we chose their estate Chardonnay which was excellent. Surprised to find that the blue cheese which we picked up was imported - from Denmark - since we have enjoyed some excellent cheeses here as well.

Had an excellent Dinner one night at Mo and Rose  - definitely a place to come back to - but the highlight of the week was the Winemakers Dinner on Saturday night at Arendsig. We enjoyed Lourens' wines - particularly the Viognier and the Shiraz - great company and Lizelle's excellent food.

When we were here in 2013 we thought the place was perfect - it seems to have got better.