Cloof tasting room review
CLOOF - very unsexy experience
There is a dirt road off the R315 to get to Cloof Cellar. In mid-winter, this road is muddy and uneven, and can make for uncomfortable driving. It runs past sleeping wheat fields and grazing cows, and as red mud splashes up on my otherwise clean car, I must convince myself that this is the country, and therefore beautiful. Also, there is hope of a great experience that awaits at the end of the road, so I push on. Bend after sliding bend I persevere for a taste of the über-premium Crucible Shiraz (priced at R450 a bottle).
It goes without saying that, when finally making the turn at the whitewashed walls of the winery, it is with a lot of expectation, and because of this, deficiencies in service are less tolerable.
When you make the time and fill the tank for a drive to visit the wineries of the Darling, then you have kept your part of the bargain. Sadly, Cloof does not play its part.
Which is strange, because the marketing team has put in a lot of effort into the naming of the wines - The Very Sexy Shiraz, Inkspot, Dusty Road (this I now grasp) - and surely somewhere in the branding strategy they should have considered the cellar door experience as well? Or do winning hearts and minds stop at the wine label?
On arrival at the tasting room, two couples are sampling wines at the counter. The room is large enough to allow for expansion of tasting space, but instead the area dedicated to the wines is a small corner, with an equally small counter. Standing here, I am elbow-to-elbow with fellow patrons. It also takes a while for the attendant to serve me, and juggling attention between couples wanting to buy cookbooks and wines, and managing a defective card machine, means that my tasting really drags. After too much of this I lose all interest. And there's no chance of even getting a whiff of Crucible Shiraz, to make matters worse.
The room is a makeshift restaurant as well, with three tables set for whoever wants to sink their teeth into the home-style eats. On tasting the wines, I consider that they should really rather focus their attention on offering food and- wine matches - not only will this add a much needed counterpoint to the wines, but having complementary nibbles will just provide that extra dimension, as the ambience alone is not sufficient to make this a Very Sexy Experience. Tel 022 492 2839, www.cloof.co.za.
OPEN: Mon - Sun 10:00 - 16:00
Sat & public holidays 10:00 - 14:00
(open every second Sunday)
SERVICE: 4/10 - too many hassles
that detract from the experience.
AMBIENCE: 4/10 - the tasting room
is really bland.
VALUE: 4/10 - considering what you
get for the drive.
QUALITY: 5/10 - mostly big, forward
and in-your-face wines.
