Excelsior Manor Guesthouse announces events in the area

Excelsior Manor Guesthouse is located betwen Robertson and Ashton in the Breede River Valley. General Manager, Carin Visser has let us know about the upcoming events in the area. If you wish to attend any of these events, then Excelsior Manor is the ideal place to stay.

For more information, visit www.excelsior.co.za

Sep-11 17-18 September Kloofzicht Festival www.robertsonwinevalley.com/gauteng/kloofzicht_festival.html

Oct-11 14 - 16 October Wine on the river http://wineonriver.com/

Nov-11 4-6 November Bonnievale Bonanza www.bonnievalebonanza.co.za

Feb-12 24-26 February Hands on Harvest www.handsonharvest.com
Up the Creek Music Festival Swellendam

http://www.upthecreek.co.za/

Jun-12 7-10 June Wacky Wine www.wackywine.co.za

Aug-12 10 - 12 Aug Robertson Slow www.robersonslow.co.za

27 Aug McGregor Food and Wine http://www.montagu.org.za/events/food-and-wine-festival/
Goldmine Bazaar

1st Weekend in Aug Canola Festival Swellendam http://www.canolakarnaval.co.za/
Oct-12

Montagu Annual Rose Show http://www.montagu.org.za/events/annual-rose-show/

Robertson Slow 2011

It’s been a while since we last blogged. But they say good things come to those who wait. The Robertson Wine Valley host each year in August the Robertson Slow. This I not your typical festival with heaps of visitors flocking to the area. Although we love to share our beautiful area with everyone as the Breederiver area is a gem in the making.

The Robertson Slow focuses more on Food and Wine. Winemakers and owners open their houses to visitors to dine with them. This is much more intimate and any question that you had about wine but were too shy to ask can be asked at the Robertson Slow.
This year was the 5th Robertson Slow Festival and was held from the 5th until the 7th of August. Around 30 wineries and Guesthouses from Robertson, Ashton, Bonnievale and McGgregor participate.

Excelsior Manor Guesthouse’s theme this year was ‘the Klein Karoo Experience’. Chef John du Plessis no stranger to Excelsior Manor Guesthouse cooked up a storm for our 32 guest. John originally from Rawsonville but currently living in Cape Town just loves this area, it’s wine, food and off course people. John is a private chef in Cape Town for high-end celebrities and was recently featured in the Idees/Ideas magazine of April.

Do you have a napkin nearby as the following menu that he cooked will make your mouth water?

We started the night with Roasted Tomato and Blue Cheese canapés with Excelsior Estates Sauvignon Blanc. The next course was ‘Roosterkoek’ served with local preserved Green Figs, Camembert and Biltong followed by Slow Roasted Bone Marrow and Melba Toast. Springbok Fillet was braaied over the coals and served with Quinces. The highlight of the evening was the Lamb’s Neck served with butternut pancakes. The classic 1980’s Individual Lemon Meringue tarts were served as dessert with muskadel.

During each course Excelsior Wines where served by Jacques and Peter de Wet sons of Freddie and Kathy de Wet.

On the Sunday for the 4th time since the festival started the Regional Food Market was enjoyed by many. The focus is definitely Local and Regional is Best!!! With food, crafts, wine, flowers and many more from this area visitors could relax eat something, buy something and drink something to live music.
The Robertson slow is a festival not to be missed.

Looking forward to next year!!!!

Excelsior Manor Guesthouse opens its new conference centre!

4 Star property located on a working wine farm - Robertson www.excelsior.co.za

The new function venue at Excelsior Manor is renovated from a one hundred year old stable block where the De Wet Family used to keep their thoroughbred stallions. These stables have been renovated to perfect condition with the original Oregon ceilings, windows & doors and also the original feeding troughs!

The conference facility is suitable for small conferences of up to 30 people in a variety of configurations. These can be catered for according to the client’s requirements. Standard conference equipment is available, and additional equipment is on request. Small weddings can also be held in this venue.

The guesthouse offers 9 classically styled en-suite bedrooms, a swimming pool, stunning views and an in-house chef for your gastronomic pleasure.
For relaxation or teambuilding, you can blend your own bottle of wine and taste the EXCELSIOR wines with the sound of water beneath your feet. Walks in the vineyards will refresh the senses.
To book: Carin Visser 021 6152050 or guesthouse@excelsior.co.za

Water and drought

Spring has arrived in the Robertson valley, and normally the dams should be full. We have experienced an extremely dry winter, which is our normal rainfall period. Some farms in the area rely on water from the surrounding mountains to irrigate their crops. Most of these farmers’ dams are completely dry, and there is little hope for decent rain before April next year. They will probably have to go into preservation mode, where crops are kept alive, as opposed to being allowed to bear a crop. This will be a huge financial loss to them, as employees still need to be paid.

Fortunately our catchment area is about 60km north of us, and there they received adequate rain to fill our reservoir. As summer progresses water will be let down the Breede River, and this will then feed into our irrigation dams.

Because we receive very little rain even a normal rainfall year, we have to irrigate in order to grow vines in Robertson. I believe this is a great advantage as we can feed the vines exactly what they need. If we have too much growth we can just turn off the taps. Farming in a dry area also reduces the need to spray fungicides, as we have very little disease pressure. This means lower costs, and more environmentally friendly grapes.

So farming without rain has its advantages if you can import the water from elsewhere!

Texas

I have been in the US on my annual sales trip. I am from Africa, but I experienced the hottest weather that I have ever encountered in Dallas, Texas. The temperature was pretty much always above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and reached about 108 Degrees (42ºCelcius). What made the temperature more unbearable is the fact that it never even cooled down at night – the minimum seemed to drop to only 85 degrees at night (30 ºCelcius). It was a real shock to the system, as I have arrived from our winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

Despite the heat I had a great time. The wine market there is vibrant, and Eric (Baum – Cape Classics) and I got some good work done.

Cab 2010

Yesterday we tasted through our 2010 Cabernet Sauvignons. We taste every sample blind, and form an assessment of the wine based on colour, tannins, and amount of fruit.

The wines are aged differently, some in barrel, and some in tank, and all blocks are kept separately. Obviously they all taste different, but the general quality is good, and they taste similar to previous vintages – which is the most important factor.

What stands out this year is that the fruit is bright, and the wines are very soft. The colours are also very good, but not quite as deep as the 2009 Cabernets.

I am very pleased, as 2009 was a tricky year in the vineyards. Mother Nature gave us wind, rain, drought, and a horrible heat wave in a crucial ripening period. It just shows that work in the vineyards does pay off.

soccer and wine

An interesting fact about the 2010 Soccer World Cup Finals is that every major wine producing country is represented, except China. Let’s go through them one by one in order from largest producers.

1) Italy – Always vies with France for the top spot and sometimes battles France to see who gets knocked out first.
2) France – See above.
3) Spain – The largest producer by area, but only the third largest volume producer due to low yields.
4) USA – Possibly the only big producer not to be reliant on exports.
5) Argentina – The home of the very fashionable Malbec, and Messi.
6) China – The only country in the top 12 that is not represented.
7) Australia – The country has grown tremendously in the past decade, but has a severe over supply.
8) South Africa – Managed to reach the World Cup by virtue of hosting it, but its reputation for wine production is well earned (call me biased)
9) Germany – The home of precision Riesling and precision football.
10) Chile – This is another country that has grown tremendously and is home to great value wines.
11) Portugal – The worlds largest collection of different cultivars, not even the Portugese know all of them.
12) Greece – Grower many unpronounceable varietals.

And at 16th we have Brazil, but I suspect their end position in the World Cup will be higher than 16th.

Other noteworthy producers that are represented include New Zealand, Uruguay, Mexico, Algeria and Slovenia. I have personally met a wine grower from the Netherlands, but I od not think that we can include them as one of the larger producers. And let us not forget about the UK, as they seem to be turning out a lot of sparkling wines these days, but I doubt they will be using it to toast football success…