Experience the charm of Oldenburg Vineyards
Sometimes I try to remember LBW. That’s Life Before Wine. Not Leg Before Wicket. I only really developed an appreciation for it when I moved to the Cape in the winter of 2006. The temperatures were the kind of freezing I hadn’t experienced living in subtropical of Durban, where I’d spent 20 years of my life – and people seemed well-focused on saving their energy for drinking red wine in front of roaring fires.
Winemaker Philip Costandius savours a glass of Grenache Noir 2014
On an October day like today, when the onset of spring is a distant memory, and we’ve resigned ourselves to dressing for all four seasons as we wait for summer (which is really only in December, here in the Mother City), I crave a glass of Oldenburg Vineyards’ Grenache Noir 2014. It’s the ideal selection when the skies are blue, but the air is cool.
I would drive out towards Stellenbosch and collect some if I wasn’t at my desk working. Oldenburg is one of the Winelands’ best-kept secrets, a vineyard with a fascinating family heritage that produces ‘small quantities of hand-crafted red and white wines from both Bordeaux and Rhône varietals’ and offers luxurious accommodation at the Homestead, the original family home.
The views are spectacular, best enjoyed by walking to the top of the round hill, known as Rondekop.
*You’ll find Oldenburg Vineyards in the Banghoek Valley (pronounced ‘bun hook’ and meaning ‘scary corner’ – a name attributed to past encounters with roaming leopards in the area).
oldenburgvineyards.com
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Photography: Grant Baartzes, Debbie Hathway