Paul Kruger

Absolutely fantastic, every time. An ever-green favourite of mine.
Stunning setting, not flash, but very tasteful. Beautiful views delight.
And I’ve eaten at the restaurant four times- with super chef George Jardin at the helm ( of Jardine’s on Bree in Cape Town), you can’t go wrong. beatifully presented, portions can be somewhat dainty, but absolutely delicious, with imaginative flavour and texture combinations.

The wines: Gary nad Cathy Jordan take a very hands on approach to everything at the farm, and it shows. Gary and his team craft some really superb wines. Lovely new labels too. Have never tasted the entry level Bradgate range, always start with the excellent value-for-money Chameleon range, and build up to the premuim reserves through the Jordan range. The Chameleon Sauvignon-Chardonnay has been a favour of mine since I first started appreciating wines around the age of sixteen. Interesting and tasty: when it’s served very cold the Sauvignon pyrazines ( esters) dominate the flavour ( grassy, mineral, green pepper etc), then as it warms in the glass you start to pick up the fresh citrus flavours of the chardonnay.

Next move onto the Jordan range. Love all of the wines here. Lately have been really into the unwooded Chardonnay. Fresh and zesty, with lively citrus flavours, some tropical fruit too.
Great wooded Chenin, although I’ve gone off this style in general a tad. excellent Sauvignon!!!
The reds- all delicious. CAb and Syrah are beautiful, and the Merlot is herbacious and almost green- but in a good way. All ther reds have well-structered tannins, which indicate a very good aging potential. Have a couple in the collection at home which I’m trying to age- looking foward to the 2004 Syrah, which I’ll probaly pop sometime this winter. The vintages for tasting are more current though, around ’07. Honestly though, can never decide which red I like best there, so buying is always a toss up, and tricky.

If you’re lucky on the day, they’ll have the reserves open- particualry the Nine Yards Chardonnay, and the Cobblers Hill Red (Bourdeaux-style blend). These wines are simply ethereal. The Noble Late Harvest. Milleufera rounds off a delight of a tasting- delicious, but with a good acidity so as to balance the sweet honey, glazed fruit and raisen flavours- not sticky or cloying, just very yum.

The staff are always friendly, presentable and well-informed. There have been some pretty hostesses over the years too ( Anli comes to mind : ); just a pleasant added touch.

I was very lucky a few months ago to have a personalised tasting hosted by Gary Jordan himself ( for our wine club, in which we have monthly tastings hosted by the winemakers at the estates.) This was one of the best tastings yet. He opened older chardonnays that he had hand-crafted in minuscule quantities for the Cape Winemakers Guild, some of the best wines I’ve ever tasted. He presented his wines in a soft-spoken, modest way. Wonderful, considering he’s one of the top SA winemakers, but not arrogant even in the slightest!

I’ll probably be a Jordan fan for life.

Stunning setting, Started with a late breakfast at Cottage Fromage on the property.
A very gourmet Eggs Benedict, with delicious authentic Hollandaise. My compaion had sweet and savoury blueberry crepes ( if I remember correctly- this was a few months ago), which where also very good.

But hey, this is a wine review. We where on our way to Moreson and a few other estates, so was gonna skip the tasting here, but was sort of lured in by a pretty girl in a red dress who hosts tastingsa there. Enough said. Can’t say too much about the wines though, we had just been feasting on Graham Beck MCC over breakfast, so the Vrede-en-Lust wines pailed slightly by comparison.
Not bad, but nothing memorable. Decent enough. We tend to forget how spoiled we are here in terms of high standards and general wine quality. We where gonna hit up Thelema and Tokara later in the day though, so this was not quite in the league that we were gearing up for.
Still, well presented by said pretty hostess, so that made it better all round( funny that!)

An undiscovered gem!
I’ve been a fan of Quin Rock for some years now, tucked neatly between the ever-popular Delheim, Muratie and Knorhoek, I suspect they don’t enjoy the traffic they deserve.
The setting is beautiful; and the building is modern and lush, but not clinical or cold.
The views are of the best among the farms that are not high up on the slopes, instead you sit at the foot of Simonsberg, with stunning views up.

They have interesting wines too. A wooded Sauvignon/Viognier blend that excites, being something different. An absolutely superb Syrah, with a beatiful label: a painting by William Kentridge. The Syrah is velvety and smooth, with rich, warm dessert spice characteristics- cinnamon, cloves and christams cake. They also do a fine MCC, with grapes grown in the cool Elim region, which comes through in the crisp and fresh palate.

The staff are friendly and knowlegable.
An all-round winner, and a lovely visit every time.