Good things abound at Laborie

050510 KWV Laborie vinyard.photo supplied

050510 KWV Laborie vinyard.photo supplied

Published May 5, 2015

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Cape Town - The tagline under the logo on the notepad I stole from our suite at Laborie reads “Where good things abound”, and those are true words, especially if by good things they mean eating, drinking and sleeping, because that is just about all we did there. And it was wonderful.

Situated just off the Paarl main road, the oldest and longest in the country, four-star accommodation on the estate is either in standard rooms with en-suite bathrooms, a luxury suite (which is where we stayed), or in the recently renovated Jonkershuis luxury self-catering house, which sleeps six.

All the rooms have patios which overlook a pristine manicured lawn (except for when a person came with a dog which pooped right in the middle of it, and then left), with the manor house to your left, the wine tasting centre in front of you, and diagonally to the right, the new Bar Di Bar craft beer place. Behind you, with its own view over the vineyards, is the Harvest restaurant.

When we were there a year ago, for some reason we thought Harvest was far from our accommodation and we’d have to drive there (which was a no-no on account of the wine consumed); we had them serve us dinner under the oak trees outside our front door. In reality, Harvest is no more than a minute’s walk away. We were very confused, but ambled over for dinner at the appointed hour.

The restaurant is very reasonably priced and the portions are huge. I highly recommend the risotto, which is one of the best I’ve had anywhere. For dessert you simply must have the soft chocolate tart. Don’t ask, just do it.

Divine Lady D ordered paella for her main course, but was defeated so we took the leftovers back to our suite. This turned out to be a good thing because when we got there, a furry shape materialised out of the darkness. It was Cellar the cat.

She was found in the cellar a couple of years ago, feral, has been somewhat domesticated, and is a huge hit with guests. Tempted with bits of calamari, she promptly moved in with us and didn’t leave until we did, two days later. We shared scraps of all our meals with her, gave her umpteen saucers of milk, and a pillow to sleep on; why would she go anywhere?

On day two we began with breakfast at the manor house, and then lazed around until our next feeding, which was a picnic on the lawn. The staff set it up beautifully with blankets, draped hay bales, a huge ice bucket with a selection of beverages, and even a rusty old bicycle as a thoughtful decor touch purely for our pleasure.

An afternoon nap was in order until our sunset appointment at Taste On The Deck, the new addition to the tasting room. There are more vineyard views, and Paarl Rock to look at while sipping the very reasonably priced and very tasty chardonnay pinot noir. We supped on courgette fritters with grilled haloumi from the tapas menu, and a charcuterie and cheese platter. It was a Friday night, which meant there was live music too.

Besides the full food menu, this is where you can do chocolate and wine pairings, and even juice and sweets pairings for children. Then when they are sugared up you can send them off to play on the jungle gym.

Lulled into a food coma of sorts, we had a rather rushed breakfast on the Saturday morning, which the staff kindly brought to our suite because we had overslept.

Cellar had her bacon and sausage, then strutted off over the horizon with her tail in the air.

Two things we didn’t get to do – okay three, we didn’t swim – were a game of boules (because we forgot) and a visit to Bar Di Bar, another new addition to the estate (because we simply ran out of time). I’m sad about that because Bar Di Bar has craft beers on tap and in bottles, tapas, a juke box, and the bar is made from a 1970s VW Kombi. There’s always next time.

l For more information, call 021 807 3390, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.laboriewines.co.za.

Weekend Argus

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