{"id":16993,"date":"2011-02-14T07:30:53","date_gmt":"2011-02-14T05:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whalecottage.com\/blog\/?p=16993"},"modified":"2011-02-14T07:30:53","modified_gmt":"2011-02-14T05:30:53","slug":"de-grendel-wine-estate-has-best-view-of-cape-town-and-good-wines-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chrisvonulmenstein.com\/blog\/cape-town\/de-grendel-wine-estate-has-best-view-of-cape-town-and-good-wines-too\/","title":{"rendered":"De Grendel wine estate has best view of Cape Town, and good wines too!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Whilst I have driven past De Grendel a few times, I have never stopped there.\u00a0 Ten days ago I attended my first dinner as a member of Gastronauts, a food and wine\u00a0appreciation society consisting mainly of\u00a0hoteliers, to which I was introduced by Angelo Casu of Grand D\u00e9dale Country House<\/strong><\/a>, and was a winetasting and a dinner at De Grendel.\u00a0\u00a0 It must be the wine estate with one of the most beautiful views in Cape Town.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The cellar is set high up on\u00a0a hill on the wine estate, and has the most beautiful view onto Table Mountain.\u00a0 We watched the setting sun after a thunderstorm, and the view surpasses the postcard stereotype of the mountain usually taken from Blouberg.\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Charles Hopkins is the Cellarmaster, and he talked us through the wine estate\u00a0and its wines.\u00a0 Charles studied\u00a0 at Elsenburg, and has worked in California, Bordeaux and other local farms.\u00a0 Elzette du Preez is the winemaker.\u00a0 Hopkins explained that De Grendel, meaning\u00a0latch or lock, is 350 meters above sea level, giving them a cool and moderate climate.\u00a0 He said that the ocean and the altitude affect temperature, and this in turn affects the grapes, and thus the wines they make.\u00a0\u00a0 The land De Grendel van de Tijgerberg was awarded in 1720.\u00a0 Originally they used the land to breed\u00a0Arab horses.\u00a0 They also breed award-winning cattle and sheep, and also\u00a0farm with grain.\u00a0 They have been making wines since 2004, and the cellar was built\u00a0a year later on Feng Shui principles.\u00a0 They produce 27000 cases a year, and about 75 % of the sales are local.\u00a0\u00a0 Wine to the value of R160000\u00a0is sold through the De Grendel tasting room in the cellar building monthly,\u00a0Hopkins said.\u00a0 He talked about two approaches to winemaking, one being to only make wines from one’s own terroir.\u00a0 The other is to make the best possible wines, and to buy in grapes to achieve this goal, which is\u00a0Hopkins’ winemaking\u00a0approach.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>De Grendel has been owned by the Graaff family for three generations, and they have had strong political leadership.\u00a0\u00a0 Sir David Graaff is the current owner, and is a retired politician.\u00a0 We started the tasting with the Koetshuis Sauvignon Blanc (R85), for which 52 % of the grapes come from Darling and the balance from De Grendel.\u00a0\u00a0 It was a very fresh wine, with capsicum, asparagus and gooseberry flavours.\u00a0 The 2010 Winifred (R85), named after Sir Graaff’s wife, is richer, and is a blend of semillon, chardonnay, and viognier.\u00a0 The 2006 Shiraz has won double gold at Veritas, spent 13 months in the barrell, with pepper and spice flavour, and has sold out.\u00a0\u00a0We tasted the 2007 vintage (R85), with red fruit and vanilla, and is full-bodied, suitable to drink with beef and venison. \u00a0The Rubaiyat is a very special wine, and was made by Hopkins in 2007 when Sir Graaff asked him to make an ‘icon wine’.\u00a0 The name comes from a collection of 1000 Persian love poems from the 10th century, written by Omar Khayyam, and some of these poems are on the back label.\u00a0 The grapes come from Firgrove and are small berries.\u00a0 \u00a0The wine was matured in new French oak, and is a Cabernet Sauvignon dominant blend.\u00a0 This special wine, which has layers of black fruit, violets, chocolate, roasted nuts and vanilla, sells at R 240.\u00a0\u00a0 Other De Grendel wines are MCC Brut (R140), Pinot Gris (R75), Sauvignon Blanc (R65), Ros\u00e9 (R45), Pinot Noir (R140) and Merlot (R85).\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We were served dinner at the tasting room, which had been brought in by Banqueteurs, who do most of De Grendel’s catering.\u00a0\u00a0 The starter was a selection of lovely breads, set out as a buffet on the tasting room counter, with snoek and chicken live pat\u00e9s, as well as hummus.\u00a0\u00a0The main course was beef, served with\u00a0beans, asparagus and artichokes.\u00a0 The dessert was a fruit tart and ice cream.\u00a0\u00a0 The lovely wines we had tasted were available to enjoy with our meal.<\/p>\n

De Grendel wine estate<\/strong>, Plattekloof Road, Plattekloof, Cape Town.\u00a0 Tel (021) 558-6280.\u00a0 www.degrendel.co.za<\/a>.\u00a0 Monday – Friday 9h00 – 17h00, Saturday – Sunday 10h00 – 16h00.<\/p>\n

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com<\/a>\u00a0 Twitter: @WhaleCottage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whilst I have driven past De Grendel a few times, I have never stopped there.\u00a0 Ten days ago I attended my first dinner as a member of Gastronauts, a food and wine\u00a0appreciation society consisting mainly of\u00a0hoteliers, to which I was introduced by Angelo Casu of Grand D\u00e9dale Country House, and was a winetasting and a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,124,21,19],"tags":[9935,9948,9932,3753,369,1806,32366,9937,9936,32378,9939,9931,8905,9938,9940,9934,9933,9941,9663,8212,9946,9943,7374,9950,9949,9945,9942,4,2689,447,8895,32373,49,9944],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t