As promised, I have the details of the three other wine farms (worth mentioning) that Brett and I went to during our Wacky Wine escapades. I'm not gonna lie, but some wineries were severely dodgy. One was claiming to have a Farmer's Market which consisted of a jam stall. To make matters worse, the lady behind the stall managed to guilt trip Brett into parting with R40 on a pot of uber sweet Granadilla jam which is never going to get used. *sigh*
Moving swiftly on....under order from Wayne, we headed out to....
Springfield Estate
A beautiful location marred slightly by the hordes of tipsy people trying to keep each other upright.
Now this is rather unfair on the wines themselves, but the servers were so moody looking and uninterested in what they were doing that I could almost taste their resentment in the wine.
I wasn't really impressed.
On a design level, the labels look great but I wasn't there to drool over paper (although it may have tasted better)
The Whole Berry Cabernet Sauvignon was described as having a velvety taste but to me it was very earthy. I expect a lot from wine that has been matured partly in new oak but it unfortunately didn't really deliver for.
The Work of Time blend (24% Merlot, 45% Cab Franc, 29% Cab Sav, 2% Petit Verdot) was not a taste I can recall, again, perhaps this was because of the fact that I was jostled so much that my nose got squashed against my glass.
Wild Yeast, was an unwooded Chardonnay. This I do remember! When I see the word unwooded, I try and grab a taste just in case it could be the one white wine that I actually like! This wasn't it. I think cat litter might have smelt more forgiving. And I really did want to like it but when it hits the back of your throat like a steam train then it is a little hard.
However, saying this is all very well but I'm sure that if I went back, minus the rubbish servers and the drunken idiot who kept telling us that drinking Brandy was "a really baaaad idea", I may just have had some really good things to say.
Zandvliet
It’s very sad when you go to a wine farm and are not impressed by anything that they serve up.
Starting with their My Best Friend range which is labelled as an easy drinking companion, I found myself trying to hold back the urge to wretch. Bitter, vinegar smelling wines with a nose that wasn’t subtle but over-poweringly strong to the point of burning nose hairs. The aftertaste on both the red, white and rose was very dry and smoky, like eating cigarette butts.
We quickly moved on to the Le Bistro wines that are supposed to be “Classy yet Unpretentious”. Perhaps I am being unfair as I am apposed to white wooded wines yet I hold out hope that someone can suprise me with something drinkable. No such luck here. The acidic after taste was so bad it made my eyes water.
I am willing to be corrected by anyone who had a better experience there?
Rusticus
I only went there for the mulled wine and boy did I get served well. It was stunningly good. Warming, sweet and with hints of citrus. It didn’t burn like some mulled wines do but made me a very happy, very fuzzy-headed lady. It even got smiles from Brett and prompted him to go back to a heavingly full Bon Courage to buy 12 specials of Like Father Like Son red wine so that we could make our own at home.
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