You may remember we covered South African wineries with breathtaking gardens and views earlier in the year; but since then we’ve had a winter – a long one. But finally, it seems to be spring and with that comes Open Gardens season – the small window when a Cape spring garden is at its best. It just happens to more or less coincide with the release of some of the latest white wine vintages as well – particularly Sauvignon Blanc. A compelling combination. Come with us as we dip into Elgin Open Gardens and a particularly wonderful Stellenbosch garden – and sample some of each region’s wines as well.

Elgin Open Gardens is perhaps the best-known Cape Open Gardens event and has run for 13 years now. You can visit 21 gardens over two weekends at the end of October, although this year it ran over the first two weekends of November (spring came late to the Cape so that was no bad thing). Eight of those 21 gardens are on wine farms, although it has to be said that the star gardens are elsewhere – Auldearn, Boesmansrug, Fairholme, Freshwoods, Palmiet River and Wildekrans among them – but each garden is different, and you will have your favourites. The big plus for these weekends, though, is that many of the local wine farms – not just the ones with gardens – are open for tasting on both days too.

This year, having been to many of the gardens and wine farms before, we were looking for new horizons – and two gardens and two wine farms met the challenge head on. First was Palmiet River just outside Grabouw – a gracious old house with an impressive terraced garden, leading down to a 22 metre unheated swimming pool which, apparently, old Mrs Molteno, aunt to the lady on the gate, swam in every day, rain or shine, throughout the year. You can see why – beautiful pool, beautiful roses, beautiful views.

We were then due for lunch at another pool – one which, cruelly, is off limits for the public for safety reasons. The elegant Pool Room at Oak Valley is the favoured foodie destination in Elgin at the moment – with good reason. Their own Wagyu beef, their own home-grown vegetables, their own wood-fired oven-baked bread – and simple, flavourful choices, perfectly cooked. Rump steaks and béarnaise, a whole cob, chicken and hand-cut chips, a great grilled veg salad, followed by excellent home-made ice cream (whose promised honey crunch had somehow gone AWOL) and a beautifully caramelised tarte tatin. All washed down with Oak Valley’s excellent Chardonnay – as good as their OV white blend and surprisingly fresh 2011 Sauvignon Blanc, the best of their bunch bar their five-star Pinot Noir. However, you pay for quality – prices range from R70 to R200, starting with a Rosé.

After lunch, we headed for Fairholme, home of Duncan and Liz Henderson, former owners of Duncan’s Roses and serious nurserymen and women in their own rights – as the extensive array of plants for sale along their drive demonstrated. If you wanted to create herbaceous borders, this was your place. The garden itself, set around a somewhat soulless reproduction Cape Georgian house, is immaculate – perhaps a little too much so. But those herbaceous borders are a triumph – myriad textures and colours, offset by various nooks and crannies around pools and on terraces: quite a demonstration garden. Definitely worth visiting, even though no tea seemed to be on offer.

 

Our Sunday expedition took us to two wine farms of character: Charles Fox Wines, where we were gobsmacked by the view (see photo) and pretty impressed by the wine too, though the velvet-smooth 2011 Pinot Noir attracted more than the slightly bitter Blanc de Blancs MCC, while the fruitier Rosé was a little smoother and sweeter. Made in a very traditional way, apart from that rather extraordinary mechanical tilter – not the proper name for it, but it does the job of hand-turning the bottles in batches: ingenious. The bottom line here is that Mr and Mrs Fox are meticulous and enthusiastic… and not shy to charge. R220 for a bottle of MCC is a lot, because let’s face it, however traditionally it is made, it is still from South Africa and can therefore not be sold as anything else but MCC. Even the Pinot Noir is no snip at R160, but – it has to be said – Elgin as an area is no longer bargain country… as we were about to find out.

 

Catherine Marshall is a famous name in Cape Wine – one of the post-1994 pioneers, who forged a path for South Africa in a newly opened world market, she is known as one of the founders of the garagiste movement in South Africa, most notably through the Barefoot Wine Company, but now she is here at home on the Valley Green Farm, which is home to Hannay Wines and her very own Catherine Marshall Wines.

 

Now Ms Marshall is a Pinot Mistress of note – and this is Pinot country, as both Paul Cluver and Oak Valley amply demonstrate. So if Pinot’s your bag, Catherine is your Queen. However, she’s a dab hand at the whites as well, and has just introduced a rather good wooded Chenin under the Amatra label, seeking perhaps to take neighbouring Botriver on at their own very successful Chenin game. And take them on she does – not quite Hope Marguerite, but not far off, and better value at R85. You should also try her other Amatra-branded wine, a smooth and silky 2009 Merlot. Delicious at R90. Amatra? A Persian wine storage vessel… The Hannay Sauvignon Blanc at R65 is better value and, as one would expect of this altitudinous region, not half bad too.

 

Our last destination for the Elgin weekend was Wildekrans, home to the very welcomingly-lovely Alison Green and Barry Gould. Their thing(s) are art and architecture – she has an amazingly quirky collection inside and out, on walls and lawns, while Mr Gould is an architect of note – indeed, he designed the view-enfolding Temptation restaurant at La Vierge in the Hemel-en-Arde valley. This is less in evidence in his own house as Wildekrans Manor House is a National Monument that dates back to 1811  – and you can stay in it too, if you like.

 

 

But the garden is the thing. Running through a rose garden and rolling lawns down to a babbling brook and Barry se Brug, the latest art installation by Strijdom van der Merwe is an eclectic blend of Balau wood, steel and Eskom poles and boldly expresses the transition from nature tamed to nature wild. Fallen Trees also has a story, as do many of the Wilma Cruise and Sheena Ridley sculptures placed strategically around the garden. For us, Sheep Are Safely Grazing and Abbey Road remain favourites.

The point about this garden is that these art pieces have stories – and so, then, does the garden and its ancient Manor. The tasty picnic lunches and Barry’s own wine (Barry Gould Wines) complete the picture of a gentle afternoon resting under trees in the warming late spring sun. A place to switch off and dream a little…

 

Location: You can find gob-smacking gardens predominantly on the Constantia, Stellenbosch and South Coast wine routes.

Opening Times:  vary: buy our book for all the details.

Telephone: See our listings in our book.

Website: www.winetourismsouthafrica.co.za, www.elginopengardens.co.za

 Best thing about beautiful gardens? They make the wine more memorable and the wine tourism experience more enjoyable.

Adults or children? Adults really – though gardens can be a godsend for harried parents.

Red or white? We’re not aware gardens affect the wine itself – but the enjoyment of it? Certainly…

Food or drink? Oak Valley has a permanent and excellent restaurant: alas, the others are open for tasting only, some by appointment only (again, please consult our book).

Best time to go? Especially spring for gardens: the Elgin Open Gardens Festival is usually the first two weekends of November and Rustenberg will be open on one of the two as well.

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