Botriver Spring Festival

Botriver Spring Festival



Enjoying "brunch" at Eerste Hoop



What a pleasant experience!!  Our day started out with a 20km drive on a dirt road to our first destination: Eerste Hoop.  The farm is located between Botriver and Villiersdorp on the Van der Stel pass.  We were welcomed with a glass of Genevieve MCC as we made our way to brunch. The Genevieve was a nice refreshing brut sparkling and I enjoyed it.  After brunch it was back to the start to do the full tasting, but I must confess not the best wine I ever tasted!



Goedvertrouwd tasting room



  With a full tummy and a nice Sparkling wine we continued our journey back in the Botriver direction and our next stop was Goedvertrouwd.  My word this was defiantly one of those hidden treasures.  As you pass by it’s only two old houses on the side of the road.  As you enter the tasting room it was like walking into your grannies kitchen.  We sat down at one of the empty tables, the only empty table I should add, an elderly lady came by and told us we are welcome to help ourselves with the wines standing around on all the tables. WOW! At first we thought there was only a Pinot Noir because that was all that were mentioned in the Festival notes, but to our surprise there were Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and the Pardoemps.  I decided to taste the Chardonnay and the Pinot Noir because the Pardoemps was nowhere to be found.  The Chardonnay had a beautiful golden color and on the nose I got honey.  It had a nice full palate and I must say it was quite good.  Next was the Pinot 2007. It had a lighter red color than what I am used to in a Pinot.As you swirl it in the glass you get a brownish color on the glass, on the nose was lots of fruit and it tasted fantastic, soft and smooth. One of the other guests told us the story of the farm.  It turns out that the elderly lady is Elrieda Pillman and she is the owner, wine maker and lady in charge of everything happening on the farm.  Her husband died a few years back and she is still living their dream of a working farm.  I will defiantly be visiting Elrieda in the very near future to try out the Pardoemps witch is a blend of Pinot, Cab and Pinotage!

Tania, Rozanne and me enjoying Goedvertrouwd Chardonnay

Next stop Luddite!  This boutique farm only produces Shiraz.  They have just released the 2007 vintage but the 2006 is also still available and according to wine maker Niels Verburg it will be perfect if you can keep it for another two years.  I could not prepare myself for what I was about to taste…Rich dark plum color in the glass with plum and berries on the nose, I was already very exited at this point, it melts away on the palate! Smooth elegant with great fruitiness and just the right amount of spices to make this the best Shiraz I have ever tasted!!! But great wine comes at great prices and this 2007 vintage retail at R290 per bottle but worth every cent! 

Beaumont Wine Farm

Beaumont was our next stop.  I had been to Beaumont before and for this reason I only tasted the wines I did not know, the Shiraz/Mourvedre 2008 and the Hope Marguerite 2009.  The Hope Marguerite is a Chenin Blanc made from the oldest Chenin vineyards, planted in1978, on the nose you get lots of fruit and floral flavors and on the palate you taste green apple, apricot and almond, lovely sweet sour combination!! The Shiraz/Mourvedre is a blend of 60% Shiraz and 40% Mourvedre.  Only 450 cases produced.  On the nose there are lots of pepper and spices as well as an herbal hint, nice deep berry color and great on the palate. This was truly a great wine and perfect smooth blend!  Beaumont Goutte d’ Or 2007, the noble late harvest consisting of 66% Semillon and 34% Sauvignon Blanc is defiantly a dessert wine not to be mist!!! Great balance of acidity and for this reason not to sweet, but lots of fruity freshness!

Last but defiantly not least was Barton Wines! Barton is a lovely farm on the R43 on your way from Botriver to Hermanus. The farm has three beautiful villas and they produce lavender products such as hand cream, Shampoo and essential oil. They also have their own olive oil and honey witch is both very nice.  OK back to the wine. I tasted a Chenin Blanc and blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon.  Both of these were very nice easy drinking summer wines, great to enjoy every day. 

Ready for blending!

After the tasting it was off to blending our own wine. Barton hosted a competition where you could make your own blend and the winner won a weekend in one of their fabulous villas.  Each blender received five 200ml bottles each containing a different cultivar witch was unknown to the blender.  With this you also had a tasting glass and a measuring cylinder and an empty 100ml bottle for your final blend.  The whole process was “supervised” by the wine maker P.J. Geyer.  This was so interesting and fun I sat there for almost an hour just to get things the way I liked it.



Red smiles after a great day



Great day, good fun with good friends, lovely wines and did I mention we shared all this with baby Isabella now only 17 weeks, what a pleasure!!!  If you can this is a festival not to miss next year!