Cape Town Capers - Day 7 Frankschhoek (Wine Tram)

[BONZO]

Day 7 – Wednesday 16th January 2019

Cape Town Capers
January 2019

Cast (it’s the usual one!)
Me: Shaun, 50’s, loves travelling, eating and drinking (not necessarily in that order!)
Alison: 50’s, ditto to the above!


Trip Report Index

We woke up to another beautiful sunny day; we made coffee and sat in the garden area relaxing for a while before showering and getting dressed.

We wandered over to the small dining room in the main house, overlooking the lawn.

There was a good selection of fruit, fresh pastries and cereals followed by a hot breakfast cooked to order. Lovely!

We decided to walk back into town partly to stretch our legs and partly to walk off that delicious breakfast. We window shopped for a bit in some of the restaurants, boutiques, wine bars etc. before going to the Wine Tram booking office.

We’d previously looked at what options where available and we’d decided to go on the Pink Line and bought tickets for the 10:45 trip. I thought this could be interesting as my wine knowledge stretches to Red, White, Rosé and bin end! Ok, I know what I like and don’t like but wouldn’t pass myself off as any sort of connoisseur.

Anyway, we jumped in the waiting mini bus at the specified time that took us to the stop where the tram was waiting. We were settled down and each given a glass of local fizzy as we trundled along the side of the fields. Health and safety was the message of the day as a young lad hopped off at each vehicle crossing point to wave a flag in a furious manner….even though there were no cars anywhere in sight!

Our first port of call was Leopards Leap vineyard and initial impressions were very good. We were told that the tram runs every 30 mins so we could linger longer or just hop back on the tram for the next stop. The place was very slick and polished with a huge open plan area that included a restaurant and wine tasting bar, all very modern steel and glass affair.

We settled down at the bar at 11:15 and chose the wines we wanted to sample, mine were mostly reds and Alison’s were white (with one fizzy). The lovely girl behind the bar bought each wine out in order of strength and flavour and passed them across for us to sample. Each sampling rea had a wine spittoon next to it but I thought it’d be a bit pretentious to try and use it and I didn’t notice anyone else using it either. (Alison here: he wouldn’t waste the wine by spitting it out! )

My amateur tasting notes below

Leopards leap lookout – cabernet sauvignon shiraz - everyday glug

Leopards leap - Merlot [/B]-Light on pepper, easy after taste, very soft

Leopards leap- Shiraz - Spicier than Merlot - smooth finish

Special edition pinotage - Fruity / Peppery nose, longer lasting flavour - maybe better with food – not to my taste

Cabernet Sauvignon - more depth, better than above. More complex

But hey, what do I know?

Alison’s notes (struggling to drink wine at 11am!):

Sparkling Chardonnay Pinot noir - very nice!

Chenin blanc - ok

still Chardonnay Pinot noir - ok

Pinotage – red wine, not for me at 11am!


All these reds were taking their toll on me this early in the morning and Alison certainly didn’t have the capacity to swig all of her wines on offer so passed them along to me as I couldn’t let them go to waste now could I?

We went back out to the mini bus and took the short trip to Eikehof vineyard, a completely different look and feel to Leopards Leap. This was a very small family owned and run vineyard, a real mom and pop operation. It turned out that the owner’s father had started up just after the Second World War and handed the operations down through the family. No glass and steel here, just old rustic farm buildings and a family home. The owners were frantically rushing around trying to keep people happy as they even had a family party going on in the garden at the same time.

We didn’t want any more tasting sessions by this point so just had a platter of local cheese and meats washed down with a glass of their own wine – simplistic but superb! One of my best experiences of the entire trip to be honest.

We lingered in the garden overlooking the vineyard and did our best to get a glimpse of an old owl resting in the tree near to where we were sitting. This was an absolutely idyllic spot to eat, drink and soak up the atmosphere – can’t recommend it enough if you are in the area.

We decided not to go to any more vineyards at this point although quite a few more were on offer. We made our way back onto the mini bus and then the rickety tram again before returning to Franschhoek after a couple of glasses of Miss Molly bubbly served on the tram just for good measure.

We looked around the local shops for a while before strolling gently in the bright sunshine to get back to hotel where we lounged around for the afternoon around the pool. Time passed slowly as we soaked up the sun, and enjoyed cake and tea when the staff brought it round. We re-charged our batteries before getting ready for our evening meal.

Tonight we were going to Roca on Dieu Donne, which translates as Rock on God Given land. We got an uber to take us to the restaurant as otherwise it’d be a minimum 30 min walk and uphill!


We approached the building which had a fantastic staircase with waterfalls flowing down each side and quite atmospheric.

We were shown to our table which was on a dining patio open to the elements, and a lovely view over the vineyard. We enjoyed cocktails as the sun went down and enjoyed sitting chatting about the lovely holiday we’d had.

The menu wasn't huge but the food was lovely!

I chose the Springbok Loin, dauphinoise potatoes, spinach, mushroom and butternut puree and red wine jus for 190 rand (or under £11)! Washed down with a glass of their own estate wine. It was an amazing meal – and such good value! Alison had mushroom fettucine and a glass of bubbly.

We ate and drank and watched the sun go down over the mountains and soaked up the atmosphere – this really is a very, very special location, almost poetic, I can’t say enough about the location, food or service.

Very reluctantly we called a taxi to take us back to the hotel and had a good long chat to the driver who told us about the area and history of the cab company.

What a day and yet another one that’ll live long in the memory.

[discoclare]

Fantastic! We went to Franschhoek 10 years ago and had a wonderful time. We did a wine tasting tour which also included Leopard's Leap (and I don't know which others!).

[Omega1]

Another great day and super report. We love Roca. The owner of Roca has opened a new place in town, Cafe Roca which serves great tapas and has live music every night. For your next visit to Franschhoek try Miko at Mont Rochelle (Richard Branson’s vineyard) it’s on the opposite side of the valley to Roca so the sun sets behind you and illuminates the mountains opposite - stunning.

[Melbatb]

What a fabulous day! The cheese platter looks amazing!

Some wonderful scenery yet again!

[sparkles18]

Wow, what a perfect day!

[disney owl]

wine tram what a great idea