Helderberg Wine Festival 2010

October 28th, 2010 by karen

The weather held up for a fabulous weekend for the festival which combines special events held at 32 wine farms in the Stellenbosch and Somerset West area.  One of the main reasons I like to support this particular festival is that all funds raised, after expenses, are donated to Round Table Somerset West for their local projects.  This year, other local charities were also included, such as Helderberg Hospice and Lions Somerset West.

As you can imagine, 32 farms in 2 days is out of the question so we set ourselves a route to cover off farms we had never had the opportunity to visit before and possibly a little more “off the beaten track”.  It certainly paid off with very few crowds or queues at any of  the farms we wound up at.  Saturday we checked into our delightful B&B before heading to Lourensford for our “festival pack”, as this pack was only available at a few of the participating farms.  Even though we have been to Lourensford several times before we certainly made the most of our visit with a tasting of 5 wines along with their cheese platter – delicious!

Lourensford range of award winning wines

Gorgeous & generous Lourensford cheese platter

One delicate bite - Lourensford cheese platter

Staying in Somerset West we headed out along a sand road to a delightfully friendly tasting room at Journeys End.  Beautiful views, beautiful wines and some pretty good prices to go along with them too Their “road to perfection” has culminated in the completion of a brand new state of the art boutique winery set in the heart of the vineyards in 2010.  Their Journeys End Haystack Chardonnay was my favourite Chardy of the weekend!

Journeys End wines for tasting with winemaker

Spectacular view en route from Journeys End tasting room

Our last stop for the day (we cut ourselves short in order to save ourselves for our dinner at Terroir – more on that incredible experience to follow in next post) was at Waterkloof.  Gorgeous views, and their kitchen and menu looked ultra appealing too!  In a relaxed environment around a central fireplace we were allowed to choose six out of their range of wines but, unfortunately, their infamous Circle of Life White was not available as an option.  We split our choices between their Circumstance and Peacock Ridge ranges which, as promised, showed quite significant differences between the styles based on varying soils the vines are planted on as well as position on the slopes.

Waterkloof entrance

View of False Bay from Waterkloof open plan restaurant & tasting room

Sunday morning we made our way to “Helderberg Boutique Wineries” which were hosting three brands at the Romond estate.  Boy did we strike gold   Along with getting to taste 7 fabulous wines, each of the owners were there to walk us through their wines and infect us with their stories, passion and charm.  We even got to taste four tank samples, and tried our hand at tasting notes for those wines.  Having recently tasted the Romond Rebus 2007 at the Wine Magazine Top 10 Bordeaux tasting we were thrilled to get to taste the 2003 as well.  Despite having a little sediment (due to no fining and filtration processes) the wine was elegant, integrated and a joy to the senses!  My other favourite was The Flight Shiraz from Heron Ridge.  I highly recommend a dally to these two estates, as well as Mirave,l when you next get a chance.

Romond winery - flash backs to Tuscany!

Proud and charismatic owners - Andre Liebenberg (Romond), Pippa Orpen (Heron Ridge), Maarten van Beuningen (Miravel)

Heading onto Lyngrove we tasted our largest range of wines for the weekend, and in reciprocity, purchased our most wines too! They offered not only their whole range but gave incredible deals on purchases of cases of six.  We enjoyed each sip, from their fresh, limited release Sauvignon Blanc in their Collection Range, offering passion fruit, green apples and lime, to their dense, yet refined Platinum Latitude.

Welcoming entrance at Lyngrove

A couple of the Lyngrove Collection range of wines

Heading back to the R44 we stopped in for a tasting with Nick Gebers at the Post House.  Nick walked us through his entire range with some sterling examples littered amongst them.  Tough as it is to choose, my favourites would have to be his rich and full-bodied Chenin Blanc 2009, which finished with a zesty acidity, and an old time favourite, the elegant, stylish, Penny Black 2008.

Rustic Post House

Due to some frantic Twitter activity we made a brief stop to taste, and buy, the incredible Tamboerskloof Viognier at Kleinood (along with a divine home-made chicken pie )

Cozy Kleinood entrance

before our last stop at Stellenzicht.  The ladies there said their weekend had been an incredibly quiet one, which was a shame for others but an absolute bonus for us, as we were treated to not only their Golden Triangle range but also their Speciality wines.  What an exceptionally high note to finish the weekend on, with a “high-powered” Semillon Reserve followed by their icon Syrah with incredible intensity, complexity and structure.

Stellenzicht cellar - barrels for Syrah

I was so impressed with the range of wines, food and activities on offer that I already have my route mapped out for Helderbeg Wine Festival 2011!