EsCape Times

Take this new guide on a trip to the winelands

Handbook simplifies our mind-boggling range of wine farms

January 09, 2006 Edition 1

Bianca Coleman

There appears to be a very different attitude between locals and visitors to this fine part of the world.

Last week, I heard a story of tourists from the UK, who had been in the country for about 36 hours. In that time they had been up Table Mountain, had dinner at Marco's African place, and managed to get from Cape Point - including Simon's Town and Boulders - all the way to Melkbosstrand. At the time they told their tale, they were enjoying sundowners at La Med in Camps Bay.

The travelling time involved is mind-boggling, not to mention the sheer stress of racing from point A to point B.

I was suitably impressed, especially since my own trips just to the winelands are hopelessly slow and time consuming. And it has nothing to do with how much time is actually spent tasting the wine, although it plays a vital role.

I really do take my hat off to anyone who can fit in more than one wine farm a day, or two if you get an early start.

Tackling our wine-producing regions can be intimidating. There are more than a dozen wine routes, comprising hundreds of estates. Things have been simplified with a comprehensive new publication entitled Wine Tourism Handbook, which bills itself as the ultimate guide to the Cape winelands.

This is no idle boast. Each route is mapped out with names, addresses and telephone numbers. It's easy to use, and is the essential companion to the intrepid wine lover.

There's more information about the book in the accompanying story on this page.

Also look out for Wine Tourism's regular newspaper, which is packed with helpful information about the winelands.

Being major consumers of some of the millions of litres produced each year, we made our goal for the afternoon The House of JC Le Roux in the picturesque Devon Valley in Stellenbosch.

I've been there before, drawn by some strange magnetism, but I gave my co-pilot the Wine Tourism book and told her to find it. She managed this with no problem, despite me arguing with her directions.

The nice people at JC Le Roux will let you taste six of their bubblies for R20. This price includes an informative video on the origins of champagne, and the way we make our Methode Cap Classiques in this country - which is identical, bar the name, which the French folks are precious about.

Apparently we uncouth South Africans prefer a little sugar in our bubbly, so the tasting begins with the driest and works towards a palate-relieving sweetness.

To a woman, we turned up our noses and asked if we could rather get the sweet ones out the way first, as they do not agree with us. The wine-tasting lady was having none of it.

Eventually she gave in and said if we really, really didn't want the sweetest one, we could have an extra glass of one of the others. It was a fair trade.

Thus we tasted the chardonnay, the pinot noir, Pongrˆcz (all MCCs), sauvignon blanc (carbonated), La Vallée. And another glass of the delicious pinot noir, which is not red (the skins are discarded, retaining the taste but not the colour of the grapes).

We gave the video a miss, choosing instead to go upstairs to the restaurant for a late lunch, and very reasonably priced bubblies at R12 a glass.

Pricewise, you need to pay attention at JC Le Roux as some bottles are more expensive than at your local supermarket, which often runs specials, while a glass or four is more economical than an entire bottle.

The restaurant serves a decent cold buffet which includes rare roast fillet, smoked salmon quiche and prawns, for R10 per 100g.

We tucked into top-value cheese platters - eight varieties of South African cheeses, from hard to soft, smelly to mild, cow and goat - for just R38.

The carnivore in the party had some ham thrown in for good measure. Extra crackers and butter were supplied on demand.

The menu is otherwise limited at lunchtime to a smoked salmon sarmie, but there are plenty of breakfast options.

By the time we'd ploughed through that, it was late afternoon, and time to head back to town to tuck into our purchases of JC's top of the range Scintilla. Which is nectar of the gods.

The House of JC Le Roux is open daily from 8.30am to 4pm.

For further information call 021 865 2590.