Okay so todays post is an amalgamation of three different wine estates, all on the Stellenbosch Kloof Road just outside Stellenbosch. We visited Jordan, DeWaal and De Morgenzon.
The road up to these wineries is worth a mention; one of the prettiest drives you can take. Sparkling dams on the one side and lush green vineyards on the other. Oh, and theres a ton of lavender, but I'll mention that a bit later....
The entire region that these three wine farms are located in, was originally called Uiterwyk ("outskirts"); they are actually located on the old wagon trail from Cape Town to Stellenbosch. A Dutch settler, Dirk Coetzee initially rented this land in 1682 to have a space for his cattle to graze and the land was given to him in 1699 by Willem van der Stel (Governor of the Cape at the time). In 1864, Uiterwyk was given to Tielman de Waal who then split the land into three farms (DeWaal, Jordan and De Morgenzon). Jordan and De Morgenzon was given to his eldest son, Pieter and he was the winemaker at DeWaal.
DeWaal was the first wine estate on this road that we visited. This wine estate really does value and display their farms history everywhere! As you drive in, the old Cape Dutch style buildings are gorgeously restored and date back to the late 18th century. Tielman offered the DeWaal estate to his second oldest son (C.T de Waal) who was interested in wine making, but he decided to become an academic (Why?!) at Stellenbosch University and was the first person to make Pinotage wine from the hybrid Prof. Abraham Perold made between Pinot Noir and Hermitage.
This was obviously music to my ears when I heard this and thought, "Great, I feel like some rich, dark, oaked, flavourful Pinotage" but unfortunately, times of changed with regards to how South African wine-makers make Pinotage. It has unfortunately gone from a South African classic, heavy wine (which in my opinion, was absolutely unique!) to more like a Pinot Noir, eew! I must say though, they do have a Pinotage made in the "good old way" but it wasn't available for tasting (might be a good sign?). So, I did not enjoy DeWaal's Pinotage (2015) that I tasted, but their Cabernet Sauvignon (2014) was surprisingly good; full-bodied, smokey, cherry flavours. And as a side note, there roof top deck is an interior designers dream!
Okay so moving down the road to De Morgenzon ("the morning sun") (the wine estate known for playing music to their vines- a bit of a gimmick in my opinion). This farm is honestly breathtaking!!!! Oak trees, roses, fynbos, green green grass, lilies in the dam, bright blue petunias, old Cape Dutch style buildings, what more can you ask for? Needless to say, I took too many photos! The have a 2,4,6, or full wine tasting option. We opted for 6 wines and started with the DMZ Chenin Blanc, then the DMZ Chardonnay and then the Maestro White Blend (5 different varieties of which Roussanne and Charndonnay make up ~50%) which was our favourite. We moved on to reds and had the Reserve Syrah and the the Maestro Blue and Maestro Red (the latter was our favourite, full-bodied, flavourful and yet crisp- Bordeaux style). This wine farm recently won the award for the best Chardonnay in South Africa, this specific wine (2016) is not available for tasting as there are only ~1000 bottles left (eek) but to be completely honest, I would want to taste it before spending R350 on a 2016 Chardonnay (my personal preference).
Alright, so the last wine estate on the Stellenbosch Kloof Road is Jordan, In my opinion, if you do something well, stick with it and perfect, it but it seems as though Jordan is branching out into too many fields. Restaurant, bakery, winery, tours, accommodation mmmmmm.....So I should warrant that statement by saying that the estate is beautiful, the restaurant serves amazing food and their bakery is stocked with mouth-watering pastries (so almost a home run) but in my opinion, the wine is lacking as well as the whole wine tasting experience. The young lady who was guiding us through the wine tasting got lost half way through and was not sufficiently informed. However, we did enjoy the Riesling (crisp, fruity and refreshing) as well as the spicy 2015 Prospectors Syrah.
So, the Stellenbosch Kloof road has some great wine estates, definitely worth a trip and added on to some great wines, there is a lavender farm in between DeWaal and De Morgenzon that you should definitely visit; organic, all natural soaps, candles, oils etc (spent too much money there).
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