Some dinners are memorable for the food, others for the company and occasionally, an evening arrives where authenticity leaves everyone with a renewed appreciation for what it means to make wine.
Our recent "Our Farm is Your Table" dinner at Waterford Estate was one of those evenings.
Originally scheduled for middle March, but Mother Nature had other plans for our first date. Rain forced us to postpone the event by two weeks, a reminder that when you farm with nature, you also listen to it.
In the end, the delay proved to be a quiet gift.
By the time the evening arrived, the Helderberg Mountain and surrounding Stellenbosch Mountains were showing off in spectacular fashion. A clear autumn sky stretched over the vineyards, and a strikingly pink sunset washed across the mountain slopes, setting the stage for a dining experience few guests were expecting.
Guests were transported from our tasting room to the vineyards aboard our well-known safari Land Rover, climbing slowly through the farm as the landscape unfolded around them. Conversation softened as the vehicle rounded the final corner.
Then came the moment when everyone laid their eyes on the scene for the first time.
Gasps and smiles filled the night air as before them stood a table unlike any other.
The table itself was a labour of dedication and patience.
What our guests experienced in a single evening took David van Schalkwyk and his team nearly a month to carve from the earth.
Finding the right location on the farm was the first step. For nearly a week, the team walked the vineyards, searching for a place that would work with the natural contours of the land while still allowing guests to take in the full grandeur of the mountains and vineyards surrounding them.
Once the location was chosen, the first work began.
The ground had to be levelled to create our tabletop, the surface that would reveal layers of soil and roots beneath the guests’ feet. Only once the space had been mapped out and carefully measured did the team finally pick up their shovels.
All of this happened in the middle of harvest.
Days were spent in the vineyard and cellar, bringing in fruit and guiding fermentation. Only after the harvest work was done could the team return to the vineyard in the fading light and slowly chip away at the earth.
Two weeks in, the table began to take shape. David, finally able to see the form emerging from the soil, was all smiles.
Weeks of digging, refining, and shaping followed until the final structure revealed itself, a table cut directly into the land, exposing the very soil that sustains our farm.
It was raw. Honest. And entirely Waterford.
The evening’s menu reflected the same philosophy that shaped the table: simplicity, honesty, and respect for the land.
Each dish featured Dexter beef raised right here on the farm.
Our Dexter cattle spend their lives moving through the vineyards, grazing on the cover crops that nourish and protect our vines. Over time, their diet becomes a reflection of the land itself, and their meat carries that same sense of place, the same terroir that defines our wines.
For this dinner, the beef became the centrepiece.
From delicate preparations to bold cuts like ribeye, each course celebrated a different expression of our home-grown Dexter beef. Cooked over flame and prepared with care, the menu moved from rustic simplicity to refined depth, each dish paired with wines grown in the very soils that make up the table.
From tallow butters to ribeye, every course told part of the story.
The concept behind Our Farm is Your Table was simple but powerful: To bring the work that happens beneath the soil into the spotlight.
Guests didn’t simply dine on the farm. They dined within it. The exposed earth beneath their feet, the vineyards surrounding them, the mountains rising beyond, and the food and wine before them all formed part of the same living system.
It was Waterford Estate’s first true farm-to-table experience, where the farm itself became the table.
As the evening drew to a close and the last glasses were poured, David stood to say a few final words.
He thanked the chef for honouring the Dexter cattle that had been raised on our farm. He thanked the land itself for all that it continues to give us season after season. And then he turned to our guests.
“Thank you for letting us be authentically us.”
These heartfelt words rang into the night, not as a rehearsed one-liner, but as a sincere expression of gratitude. A thank you to those who believe in the vision of Waterford Estate and who allow us the privilege of sharing it.
Because evenings like this are about more than a table carved into the soil or a beautifully prepared meal. They are about people who believe in the value of place, in honest farming, and in telling the story of our land through wine, through food, and through experiences like Our Farm is Your Table. We hope to continue showcasing the true character of South Africa.
