Next Level Oesfeeste

I’m something of an oesfees original, having thoroughly enjoyed all four opskoppe at Solms Delta in Franschhoek. It’s the kind of jol you have to be there, to “get”, as reading Die Burger’s report yesterday, I realized there must have been two oesfeeste running simultaneously in parallel universes. For Die Burger the line-up was “ ‘Mystic Boer’ Valiant Swart and Ollie Viljoen, Hannes Coetzee (of Karoo Kitaar Blues-fame), Tribal Echo, the Papier Familie en lastly, met many encores, the Radio Kalahari Orkes.” What happened to Stef Bos who, IMHO, took the oesfees to the Next Level and potentially onto the international stage?

o3

Die Burger calls the event a “fees van kos, kultuur en musiek” – a feast of food, culture and music – when it says clearly on the tin it’s an oesfees, a harvest festival to celebrate vintage 2011, with much wine enjoyed with and without ice. Let’s put the wyn back into the oesfees, otherwise it’s just Franshhoek does Oppikoppi. Valley winemakers fronting up would be a good place to start – but then there was competition from the Stormer’s game and a big screen gogglebox really wouldn’t work.

Neil Patterson

Neil Patterson

The only local winemaker I saw was Neil Patterson from Antonij Rupert Wines whose Protea Cabernet 2008 at R35 is one of the deals of the century from Ludwig Maske’s La Cotte Inn botte store. “It’s our safety net” says Neil. “Anything that doesn’t make the cut, ends up in the Protea.” Of course the oesfees is a safety net of another dimension.