The R62 through the Klein Karoo is fast becoming one of the most popular routes in South Africa, with many travellers choosing to scenic ride through this parched environment over crawling at a snail’s pace behind a truck on the N2.
This route is known for many things; an arbitrary “sex shop” that doesn’t even sell condoms but remains a popular biker’s stop, a place in Barrydale to get a milkshake, sweet wines and pot still brandy.
The R62 is also touted as the longest wine route in the world – but comprises only 2.3% of South Africa’s vineyards – and believe me when I say, it does not only do brandies and sweet wines.
Yes, you will find your sweet salacious surrender, but only after you’ve indulged in the carefully crafted wines. And once you are done with all of that, you can sample some of the region’s world-renowned fortified wines.
So for now, the Garden Route can wait. Pull over and try some of what the Klein Karoo has to offer. Actually, why don’t you just stay a night, or a few?
Joubert Tradauw
“Taste the Karoo” adorns a wall of the Joubert-Tradauw tasting room as you enter and Meyer Joubert – owner, farmer and winemaker packed into one – rocks up on his scrambler motorbike. Before settling into the wine tasting, he takes me up one of the koppies where young chardonnay vines have been planted, but much of the area remains untamed with ancient Botterboom and Gwarriebos left in peace.
Meyer says that the surrounding mountains give way to little “pockets of excellence”, where microclimates exist that not only provide water to this rather parched ecosystem but also cooler evenings that let Meyer grow more delicate varieties such as Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay.
Only the Klein Karoo knows how to encapsulate hospitality, and Joubert Tradauw is a testament to this. His wife Beate – author of Taste the Klein Karoo which won the Gourmet Book Awards in China for the best local cuisine – runs the deli and showcases the region’s potential as a gastronomical hub. It’s just that the rest of the world is yet to realise it.
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Boplaas
The family-run farm Boplaas that a tradition of distilling that goes far back to 1890 when barrels of pot still brandy left Calitzdorp by ox wagon, bound for London. After the repealing of distilling licences in 1920, the brandy tradition took a hiatus until the old copper pot still was fired up again in 1989 when it was lifted.
Cape Wine Master, and direct descendent of Danie, Carel Nel bottled a five-year pot still brandy – which would be ordered by Nelson Mandela himself at his presidential banquet in 1994.
Carel may be a winemaking legend, but his family on following closely behind with his daughter, Margaux, taking the helm as winemaker and his son, Danie, the distiller.
A must-try is their 2005 Colhieta, a rare single harvest Cape Tawny (Tawnys tend to be non-vintages) of which only 3 000 bottles exist, on top of their selection of Cape Vintages.
A blend of Portuguese varietals aged for, it is great for drinking wine but those who keep it on the wine rack could be awarded for their patience a few years down the line.
Be sure to pull in at Boplaas when taking the R62.
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