Cape Town - Franschhoek and autumn: a place and a season I love the most, even more so when they’re put together.
Once upon a time there was L’Ormarins Estate where you could taste wine, eat, and visit the Franschhoek Motor Museum.
Then owner Johann Rupert bought the former Graham Beck farm next door and it became Anthonij Rupert Estate. All the facilities except the museum were moved there – two tasting rooms, a restaurant, and a small shop selling wine and other produce from the farms like honey and olives, and kitchen and homeware.
One of the tasting rooms is in the farm’s original manor house, which has been lovingly restored, decorated and filled with furnishings, art and décor from a bygone era, which made me ooh and aah.
It was another one of those gorgeous sunny autumn days, so we began with a little wine tasting on the veranda with Gidi Caetano. She knows so much about wine I am in awe of her, and she tells brilliant stories.
We sampled the Cape Of Good Hope range, which are all white – just the thing for 11am – before boarding the tram to L’Ormarins to visit the museum. There’s more about that in the story alongside.
The trams are a new addition, having been launched in March. They run between the two farms
. You can start at either end; the trams depart every hour or so, and they will also take you down to the Terra del Capo tasting room and restaurant at Anthonij Rupert.
This building is the one at the entrance to the estate, and the former Graham Beck tasting room. It has been made over quite extensively, with a small, intimate restaurant and a mezzanine tasting area, both of which have a view of the bottling operation through a glass wall.
However, a couch and a table under the olive trees outside were simply too tempting. The theme at Terra del Capo is Italian; the menu is antipasti and the wines which carry the name are Italian varietals – pinot grigio, sangiovese, and the one they call Arné, a merlot/sangiovese blend.
It’s named after mountaineer and businessman Arné Næss Jr (1937-2004), who was once married to Diana Ross.
You can order separate dishes from the menu, but I’d recommend going for the chef’s selection.
When you order for two or more people you get a wider variety, and the huge, heavy wooden platter is no joke. It had cold meats, cheeses, melon wrapped in Parma ham, zucchini fries, grilled aubergine and courgettes, pickled vegetables, roasted peppers, olives, calamari, and as much bread as we wanted, with olive oil. Almost everything is locally sourced or grown on the farm. - Weekend Argus
l L’Ormarins and Anthonij Rupert are R45. For information call 021 874 9004, email [email protected] or go to www.rupertwines.com