Vergelegen tree
This black and white is of one of the historic Campher Trees at Vergelegen in Somerset West
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28/06/2012
Vergelegen
The Vergelegen Wine Estate in Somerset West is less than an hour's drive from Cape Town yet back in the 1700's it took three days by ox wagon to get there. In 1700 Willem Adriaan van der Stel succeeded his father, Simon van der Stel, as governor of the Cape and it didn't take him long to claim himself a modest 30,000 hactre piece of land just like his father had done with Constantia. The farm was on the slopes…
26/06/2012
Pink Vergelegen
One of the wine estates in the Western Cape I've always wanted to visit but never had the opportunity before was Vergelegen in Somerset West. Earlier in the year I was in the area and pinched off an hour of my time to pop in for a look a this historic estate established by Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel in 1700. I'll do another post about the estate in general, but wanted to show off these two pictures of the old Cape Dutch…
21/06/2012
Sipping wines at The Wine Show
I never really "learned" to drink wine but that surely didn't stop me from attending and really enjoying the annual The Wine Show at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth this past weekend. The weather over the weekend was miserable, wet and cold, so there was no better way to warm up the insides than going on an all out wine tasting safari at the show.Most of the "big" and well known wine estates weren't represented at the…
12/06/2012
Groot Constantia
The very first wine estate in the Cape I got to visit years ago was appropriately also the oldest wine estate in the Cape. Groot Constantia was established in 1685 by Simon van der Stel who was the then Governor of the Cape of Good Hope. The farm was used to grow fruit and vegetables, farm cattle and produce wine. The original farm was broken up into three parts (Groot Constantia; Klein Constantia and Bergvliet) in 1712 after Van der Stel's death. Today…
18/05/2012
Groot Constantia gate
Somebody asked me if anything has happened because they don't see any new blog posts other than on PEDP. But don't worry, I haven't been abducted by an alien race from another planet. I've been away at Tourism Indaba in Durban for the last week or so and didn't have time to do any forward posts for this blog. As blogging is a hobby for me I have to fit it in where I have time available and time has been a…
17/05/2012
Vergelegen in pienk
Die Weskaap is wêreldwyd bekend vir sy wynplase, party van hulle wat soveel as drie eeue terugdateer. Een van die oudste wynplase in die Kaap is Vergelegen in Somerset-Wes. Willem Adriaan van der Stel het sy pa, Simon van der Stel, in 1700 opgevolg as goeweneur van die Kaap. Kort voor lank het hy 'n groot stuk grond aan die voet van die Hottentots Hollandberge vir homself geeien net soos sy pa met Constantia, die oudste wynplaas in die Kaap, gedoen het. Dit het drie…
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26/04/2012
Cape Point Vineyards
Visitors to the Cape would normally associate wine with the Stellenbosch and Franchhoek areas, so big was my surprise to discover the Cape Point Vineyard on the Cape Peninsula just outside Noordhoek. Although some reports show that vines were planted in the Noordhoek area as early as 1752, the Cape Point Vineyard's first vines were only planted in 1998. The vineyard is situated on a narrow strip of land between the cold Atlantic and the mountain with the warm summers and cool…
12/04/2012
Cruising the Breede River at Viljoensdrift
There is probably no better way to enjoy the Viljoensdrift wines than leisurely cruising along the Breede River on a sunny day. The Viljoensdrift wine estate offers one hour cruises up and down the river from their shop and tasting area on the farm and although we're not wine lovers (and you don't have to actually drink wine to go on the cruise), we decided to go for the outing.The boat seats about 40 people and most of our fellow passengers bought wine…
23/02/2012
Viljoensdrift Wine Tasting
While visiting the town of Montagu we didn't really venture through Cogmanskloof into the Robertson Valley area and rather explored our immediate surroundings. One morning we did decided to venture through the kloof with our camping neighbours and ended up at Viljoensdrift Wine Estate near Bonneyvale for a river cruise on the Breede River. We had about an hour or so to wait (or waste, which ever word rocks your boat) before the cruise departed so while the women and children sat out on…
22/02/2012