24 hours in Darling
Wednesday, 17 February, 2010
Norman McFarlane
The thing that strikes you most as you approach the Groote Post cellar
is the lack of vineyards, and the profusion of goats, but if you look up
and over the stately Cape Dutch manor house at the Darling Hills
beyond, you can see the bright green of vineyards in full leaf, the
neophyte berries invisible at this distance, but swelling with the
promise of the new harvest.
It's so hot, as they say in the classics, die kraaie gaap, and the trip from Somerset West has been less than relaxing. Although the miles rolled out invitingly as we wended our way through the patchwork quilt of farmlands, the cool Eucalypt shaded approach road to Atlantis hid a police road block, which delayed us beyond the point of being fashionably late.
The very large and only mildly menacing policeman who "interviewed" me while his colleague searched the boot of the car for heaven knows what contraband, exacerbated matters by asking me for my home address after I had divulged that we were on the way to Darling for the weekend.
Unbidden - and I know entirely irrationally and unfairly - I had a fleeting vision of a large truck drawing up outside our modest home, disgorging a crew of "removal people" who would appropriate our entire household at their leisure, knowing full well they had the entire weekend to do so.
Nick Pentz - co-owner of Groote Post with family patriarch Peter Snr - and winemaker Lukas Wenztel are on hand to welcome us, both of them urbane, charming and forgiving. We hasten indoors, forsaking the intense bright heat for the blessed coolness of the stately manor house - home of the fabulous Hilda's Kitchen - and we are ushered into the capacious dining room. It sports an enormous mahogany table and chairs, all of which look decidedly antique. The furnishings are all period, and are deployed with an eye for effect. The corkolium floors - resembling the misvloere of old - are burnished to a gentle gleam, and on the walls hang an array of paintings reflecting people, places and events of days gone by.
"We're going to taste some wine," says Nick, "and then we're going to have lunch." We pore over the menu prepared especially for the occasion by Hilda's Kitchen, while sipping a glass of most welcome salmon pink Groote Post Old Man's Sparkle, patriarch Peter Pentz' eponymous MCC brut, with crisp and mouth-filling mousse, flavours underpinned by yeasty notes.
The conversation ranges widely, of the upcoming harvest and prospects thus far, of the previous vintage and just how fabulous it was, the history of the farm and Nick's hopes for the future.
The family owned three properties in the late 70's and early '80's in Tokai, Phillipi and Darling. All of them were dairy operations at various stages, with Tokai and Phillipi ceasing operations in 1981 and 1994 respectively.
The Darling property, on the farm Klawervallei, was bought in 1972 and farmed dairy from 1976, with the first vines being planted in 1993, and the dairy closing in 1999.
"We released our first wines in 1999, a Chenin Blanc and a Sauvignon Blanc," he says, "and we also made a Merlot and a Pinot noir which we released in 2000," adding that prior to making their first wines, they sold grapes to other producers.
The estate produces 750 tons of fruit each year, of which 600 goes through the cellar to produce their impressive wines, and the remaining 150 tonnes are sold to other producers only to keen to take their sought after excess fruit.
Nick is the perfect host: charming and urbane, but with an eye on the time, the table chatter is suspended briefly and the message in his Arctic blue eyes, gentle but forthright says "can we please choose our lunch courses before the kitchen closes". We dutifully apply our minds to the brief but beguiling set of choices posed by Debbie McLaughlin, Hilda's Kitchen's cordon blue chef. It's all about seasonal, and local and lekker, and it is so difficult to make the choices, but choose we must. Blue cheese and caramelized onion tart to start, followed by the Old Man's steak roll with garlic crème and hand-cut chips, rounded off with Nectarine tart with vanilla ice cream for me, thank you very much, and unbelievably, all that for only R176.
In the meantime, winemaker Lukas has been pouring the first flight of wines we're to taste: '07 and '04 unwooded Chardonnay, and '06 wooded Chardonnay. The first two are crisp and fruity, with flintiness which comes from the Hutton and Oakleaf soils on the slopes above the cellar where the Chardonnay grapes grow. Lukas explains that the altitude lends coolness, as do the chill breezes off the cold Atlantic Ocean, making for longer ripening and hanging times, which lends greater concentration of flavours. The wooded Chardonnay, displays characteristic but gentle buttered toast notes on the nose, and the palate is redolent of citrus fruit and it finishes richly.
The second flight, '05, '07 and '09 Sauvignon Blanc Reserve follows, and all display asparagus and green pepper on the nose with crisp fruit balanced by zesty acidity. The older wines are deeper in colour, and show surprising structure and balance, which bears testimony to the ageability of a well made Sauvignon Blanc.
We're joined at this stage by Peter Jr. and if there was ever a chip off the old block, this is it. He has the same candid and forthright gaze of his Dad, delivered from Arctic blue eyes. Mature beyond his 14 years, he joins in the adult conversation blithely and animatedly.
The third flight of '06 and '07 Pinot Noir and '08 Pinot Noir Reserve follows and what a delight. Redolent of red berry fruit, with delicate oak well integrated, and a subtle smokiness. No characteristic barnyard aromas or flavours here; just sophisticated smoothness on the nose and palate, the older vintage showing poise and balance, promising good things from the younger.
The lunch arrives in stages, accompanied by matched Groote Post wines: '09 unwooded Chardonnay with the starter, 07 Merlot with the main, and the magnificent '06 Noble Late Harvest Chardonnay, all golden nectar, peaches and honey balanced by crisp acidity which makes it refreshing rather than cloyingly sweet.
Over coffee, and before we head for the game drive, Nick talks about his forward vision for the estate. "I want people to come out here and visit the estate in particular and Darling in general," he says. "It's not that far from Cape Town, and the area has much to offer." He's right too. Groote Post has facilities to host weddings, Hilda's Kitchen can accommodate 120 diners, and the 2000ha game reserve, the next part of our experience, has some 400 antelope on offer. And of course, you can buy Groote Post wines right there at the cellar door. Darling itself has a number of beautiful guest houses, with rates to suit most pockets, from the modest to the extravagant.
We board the fitted game viewing vehicle, Nick at the helm, and Peter Jr. becomes our guide. His knowledge of the game on the farm - shared between Klawervallei, and the adjacent Pampoenvallei owned by family friend Henry Louw - is encyclopaedic, and he keeps up a constant informative commentary about the animals that come into view.
We see Springbok, Bontebok, Eland, Red Hartebeest, Kudu, Gemsbok, and incredibly, the very rare Black Wildebeest. Smaller and infinitely better looking than their ugly close cousin the Blue Wildebeest, there are about 25 on the farm, and Nick is justifiably proud of them. Small wonder, they must have cost a minor fortune. If for no other reason than to see the Black Wildebeest, it is worth the drive, but the herd of some 35 Nguni cattle that also roam the cropped grassland alongside their antelope cousins, are a sight to behold.
All too soon the drive is over and we're back at the cellar. We leave for De Gans Guest House, our overnight stop on the northern edge of Darling town, with promises of a wonderful evening at Evita se Peron, Pieter-Dirk Uys' fabulous supper theatre, which is housed in the old Darling station.
We arrive at our sanctuary for the night, to be welcomed by our gracious hostess, Nita Coetzee. After checking in, we freshen up for the evening out. Originally an old school master's home, De Gans boasts two delightful high-ceilinged double rooms, both en suite. Elegantly furnished with gargantuan double beds dressed in crisp white linen, they boast golden Oregon floors and beautifully restored night stands and cupboards.
We head for Evita se Peron, and Nick assumes the role of host once more, ably assisted by Peter Jr. The place fills rapidly, and I gaze around in wonder at the eclectic mix of gewgaws, pictures and nick-nacks that decorate the old station house, while we wait for Pieter Dirk-Uys to entertain us.
The blue clad ceiling is festooned with Christmas lights, and I count no less than four pictures of the Battle of Blood River, three of Gingindlovu, Dingaan's kraal, and a clock face bedecked with the visage of Dr Hendrik French Verwoerd above a bust of the man dubbed "the architect of grand apartheid".
Evita bestrides the stage, and we are entertained royally and hilariously for close on an hour by her fabulous 'Elections and Erections' and suddenly she is gone. Supper follows; a wholesome and generous home-cooked meal, lamb, chicken, veggies and rice, Host Nick liberally dispensing the eponymous Old Man's Blend, both red and white.
The conversation falters as tiredness creeps up, and we bid each other good night and farewell, bed beckons.
The grey morning light steals sleep, and bantam rooster Sammy's wake-up call seems to come from the passageway outside our door. We emerge to consume a fabulous breakfast in an intimate alcove of the dining-room, looking out onto the riotous garden.
We linger over coffee, wishing we could stay another night, but duty and Monday both call, so we take leave of our charming hostess, and begin the now seemingly much longer journey home to Somerset West.
But the soul is restored, nourished, and the memory of these 24 hours in Darling will sustain us as we once more address the challenges of life.
Caption:
Eppie McFarlane, Lukas Wentzel (winemaker), Kelda Lund, Andy Lund, Eben Human and Nick Pentz (co-owner) in the magnificent dining room in the manor house at Groote Post about to embark on a tasting of Groote Post's fine wines.