Traversing South Africa by road - Part 7*

*Hermanus to Tamboerskloof via Franschhoek  - posted in error

Above: the world's tiniest label - on a magnum ... answers on a postcard (blog comments will do).

A big chunk of this snapshot in our 4,500 km journey was to indulge moi in sharing some wine with Francois. Saturday was dedicated to heading over to Paarl from Franschhoek to indulge in a bit of bacchanalia.

This had been supposed to thank Francois (Haasbroek) for his generosity the previous time we met at his temporary (winery) home at De Meye Wine Estate near Klapmuts. Not only was he generous in his time accorded to a couple of wine lovers with few credentials. When I say time I mean half a morning and a good deal an afternoon. And in that time we tasted a dozen wines. Not just a whiff and a sip but a decent proper go at each one (actually Shan {a.k.a. Shelley-ann} only tasted a few wines as she had valiantly volunteered to drive) but a proper slug. But two people having a proper slug left most of the 12 bottles to all intents and purposes full.

But also, just as Shan and I were about to drive off, Francois appeared bearing a large box. In it were the remains of the 12 bottles; at least 8 litres of very fine wine indeed. He insisted we take it and we delighted our relatives in Hermanus for more than a week with his generous gift.

We then conducted a protracted intermittent conversation about acquiring a proper consignment of his 2017 Syrah that he was soon to bottle. However, even once it had been bottled, there was an issue with the labels. Apparently these had to come from some wizard in Oz and there was difficulty with the shipping. So I managed to get him to agree that I could make up a label just for my bottles so that I could relocate them to the UK.

Having been labelled and photographed a mutual friend let it be known that, in her opinion, the labels cheapened the wine. Perhaps that was true, and you can be the judge, but Francois was quick to make it known that I could design his labels "any time", bless him.

Above: [l-r] a picture taken by Shan at De May in November 2021; one of the offending bottles, now in the UK, waiting be drunk along with some perhaps more soberly labelled bottles from Francois' cellars.

Getting to Paarl

Shan was really keen that we Travel via Sir Lowry's Pass to Franschhoek where we'd be staying for the two nights on either side of our Paarl excursion to Noop[1]. The obvious way to make the journey from Hermanus was via the Franschhoek Pass, which was my preference, particularly as it's one of the most beautiful passes in Southern Africa.

"But I want Sián and Roger to experience the view over the Cape Flats to Cape Town as we crest the mountains at the top of Sir Lowry's," she argued. Shan won. The flipping's roads department had only closed the Franschhoek Pass for the whole of February, hadn't they? They must have known I was coming!

Franschhoek, as with many other destinations in South Africa (and indeed the world), has changed almost beyond recognition in the last few decades. Not always for the better to my mind. Traffic is rather hectic for starters. Fortunately we could ditch our car at our Guest House and reach the centre of town via a reasonably gentle walking route.

The centre now has restaurants and shops galore. While there are pretty decent places to buy stuff, there are also serried ranks of shops selling "South African" artefacts many (if not most) of which a made in the Far East. As I said, there are exceptions but the place does have a bit of a Disney-esque feel about it, right down to the Wine Train, itself not an unreasonable addition to a town dedicated to wine and drinking but  ...

Disney

Groovy Kloof St

Coming next



[Endnotes]:

1. Noop restaurant in Paarl ... https://www.noop.co.za/