FEATURE
Discover the Wellington Wine Route
Rebekah Kendal
Posted Fri, 02 Mar 2007

Stellenbosch and Franschhoek have well-established reputations as the Western Cape’s premier wineland destinations. So well established, in fact, that most of the time, they are over-priced and bustling with activity.

A mere 45 minute drive from Cape Town, however, is another equally picturesque and enticing wine route. Hidden in the shade of the Limiet and Bainskloof mountains is a gem — the Wellington wine route.

Taking some time off on a Friday afternoon, my partner and I head for Wellington with few expectations, just glad to be out of the air-conditioned office for a while. Past the mandatory church — every small town has a big one — and down the main road, we head out of town in the direction of Bainskloof. Our destination — Nabygelegen.

We drive along a cobbled road, past an old stable which is currently being renovated to house a bakery and tasting room, and a beautifully restored manor house which dates back to 1712.

A banker turned winemaker

We are met outside the cellar by owner James McKenzie a big burly man with a firm handshake and a friendly demeanour. We chat in the shade of the garden, surrounded by at least five massive dogs, about James’s previous life as a banker in London, before heading off to the cellar.

Always a little intimidated by the prospect of formal wine-tasting, I am pleasantly surprised by James’s relaxed manner and accessibility. As we taste five-day-old Sauvignon Blanc still fermenting in one of the tanks, James (probably noting my funny expression) explains the sour ‘green’ taste. He goes on to give us a run-down on the different processes used in making red and white wine before treating us to some sweet white desert wine — At the Limiet Natural Sweet.

In a cool cellar, filled with oak barrels we discover James’s underground wine ‘library’ — a small room equipped with a table, benches and some very special wine — and James creates a vivid picture of how the same cellar was used to make wine three centuries ago.

Delighted, we bid James farewell and head down the road to the slightly bigger Doolhof. We drive past a film set at the Retief farm (originally owned by Piet Retief), past picturesque paddocks and a stately manor house, before meeting winemaker Therese Swart in the tasting room.

The Dukes Blend

Here we are treated to an entirely different experience — a more formal tasting, with numbered glasses and fact sheets. Elegant and demure, Therese takes us through each of the wines detailing their various awards and merits. Even I, the wine novice, can see the merits in the smooth Chardonnay Wooded and the chocolatey Pinotage from the Signatures range.

Both Doolhof and Nabygelegen contribute to the Dukes Blend (named after the Duke of Wellington), which is a blend of the cream of the crop from Wellington’s Private Cellars. The money from this blend goes towards creating awareness about Foetal Alcohol Syndrome amongst the community.

Oude Wellington, owned by Rolf Schumacher and his wife Vanessa, offers a completely different experience. More laid-back, with a rambling appearance, this farm has its own whimsical charm.

Notes of blah blah blah

We walk through the kitchen, where Vanessa is cooking, into Rolf’s lair — a smallish room filled with bottles of wine, the occasional oak barrel and a fair amount of shiny brass. Once a German dentist, Rolf is passionate about wine and brandy and believes that people should ditch pretensions and drink what they enjoy drinking.

A little unorthodox, Vanessa makes easy drinking wines to be enjoyed. In keeping with this somewhat irreverent attitude one of the labels on a bottle of bubbly reads something along the lines of ‘tasting notes of note are bla bla bla’.

We spend over an hour philosophising with Rolf, tasting his strong grappa and potstilled brandy and leave with three bottles of Vesecco, two bottles of Current Abbey and a bottle of brandy.

Delectable pinotage truffles

Diemersfortein is a must if you are exploring the Wellington winelands. It has magnificent gardens, a fantastic restaurant and an accessible tasting room. The charismatic assistant Jana Viljoen takes us expertly through the Carpe Diem and Thokozani (empowerment) range, we eventually end with Diemersfontein’s famous coffee-and-chocolate toned Pinotage.

To enhance the tasting experience, Jana gives us Diemersfontein’s pinotage chocolate truffles, which are custom made with the Diemersfontein Pinotage. The delectable truffles bring out the chocolate flavours in the wine. We couldn’t resist buying half a dozen bottles.

Still savouring the chocolatey goodness, we pop into Wamakersvallei for a slightly different experience. A well-established co-op, the atmosphere here is far more commercial, but Mercia Victor greets us with customary Wellington friendliness.

Their LaCave Pinotage looks like a Christmas tree with all its awards and my partner jokes that soon they will need to use a bigger bottle. This really is the home of Pinotage. We depart with two bottles of Pinotage and some deliciously dry Jagters Port.

Modern simplicity

We ditch the industrial area in favour of gravel roads lined meticulously by rows of green. At Napier, which has a rather modern-looking cellar, we are treated to a cellar tour by assistant winemaker Nadia Pieterse. The highlight is the tour of the brandy potstills — even the German tourists have little trouble understanding Nadia’s clear and simple explanations.

With its clean lines and ‘African’ bead labels, Napier provides an alternative and yet equally satisfying experience of the Wellington winelands. I fall in love with the barrel-fermented chardonnay, Saint Catherine and can’t resist buying half a dozen. The smooth honey-tinged brandy is also irresistible.

‘Wine must be your master’

We finish out whirlwind tour at the Schalk Burger wine farm, Welbedacht. It has an impressive looking cellar which is situated behind a massive dam and next to a rather quaint cricket pitch.

Although he is in the midst of frantic harvest activities, winemaker Matthew Copeland takes the time out to give us a tour of the cellar. With his piercing blue eyes and wine-stained hands, Matthew is passionate to say the least. Living by his dictum, “if you choose wine, wine must be your master,” Matthew describes each of the wines as if they are people — gutsy, gentle, bold and feminine.

Matthew extracts wine from the barrels with a ‘wine thief’ (which looks quite a lot like a pipette) and lets us taste the wine in various states of fermentation and maturation. He speaks ardently of the art of winemaking and the effects which the different barrels have on the wine.

We return to the tasting room — which has the décor of a rugby den — and taste his various masterpieces, from the easy drinking Meerkat range to the more serious Cricket Pitch Bordeaux blend.

Exhausted, laden with wine and basking in the glow of Wellington hospitality, we make our way back to Cape Town. I have hopes that others will discover the magic of Wellington… just not too many!

The Wine Harvest Festival 2007 runs from 23 — 25 March, offering wine-tasting, grape-stomping and a host of other activities. Find out more.