What to do for a few hours in Rawsonville
What to do and where to go if you have a day – or even just a few hours – in the winelands. By Fiona McDonald
A few kilometers after turning off your headlights and blinking in the bright sunshine as you exit the Du Toitskloof tunnel from Paarl, you’ll find the turn off to Rawsonville.
Do yourself a favour and take this road less travelled because it is a “great value” trip that’ll stock your cellar with easy drinking everyday wines that won’t break the bank. An additional bonus is that none charge for tastings…
The first stop that is an absolute must is Du Toitskloof, best value cellar overall in WINE magazine’s Best Value Wine Guide on three previous occasions. The winemaking team of Philip Jordaan and Shawn Thomson manage to churn out a range of more than 20 different wines, from sweet Muscadel and Jerepigo to their ambitious Reserve Sauvignon Blanc (R48 a bottle). In fact Du Toitskloof is renowned for its Sauvignon Blanc, with its standard offering at R24.50 a perennial favourite. The most expensive wine on the list is the newly released Dimension 2004 red blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Shiraz with a dash of Petit Verdot. It sells for R63 ex-cellar – and is worth every cent.
Du Preez Estate, a little further down the road, blazed onto the local wine scene by taking the trophy for the best non-Bordeaux-style blend at the inaugural Trophy Wine Show in 2002. The wine was Polla’s Red – a blend of Pinotage, Shiraz, Petit Verdot and Ruby Cabernet that came about because Hennie du Preez had half a tank of wine and didn’t want it to oxidize.
So, in typical ‘boer maak ’n plan’ fashion he added some other wines to fill the tank. Voila! His grandmother, Paula, was particularly partial to this wine and hence the moniker Polla’s Red. It’s now the estate’s flagship, accounting for thousands of cases in sales annually – and it’s still great value at R39 a bottle.
Deetlefs Estate is located at the approach to the town of Rawsonville.At the time of my visit the entrance was temporarily closed, with signs directing traffic to a back entrance through Rawsonville proper.
It belies its surroundings by having a very contemporary tasting room, complete with glass wall providing a bird’s eye view of the cellar. And yet it still harks back to its history – with an old manual basket press suspended from the ceiling.
There’s also some really interesting artwork on the walls that’s for sale. It’s the kind of place that encourages you to chill out on the vine-covered patio outside, listening to the tinkling water feature and enjoying the wines.
If you’re looking to taste something special, there is the Familie Range of wines at R300 a bottle (Semillon, Riesling, Bordeaux blend, Noble Late Harvest and Cap Classique). The Deetlefs Oak Matured Pinotage 2005 rated 4 Stars in WINE mag in May last year, so try the follow up vintages.
On the Worcester side of Rawsonville is Goudini cellar, another great source of value wines. They’ve just experienced a busy festive season and lots of upcountry visitors snapped up their wines – particularly the off - dry Chenin Blanc and the new vintage Sauvignon Blanc. But then at R20 and R19.50 a bottle they’re total bargains! Other wines of interest are the semi-sweet Ruby Cabernet/Merlot blend and then the Ruby Cabernet Reserve.
Daschbosch cellar is where you’ll find both Daschbosch and Groot Eiland wines, these two having combined under the UniWines marketing umbrella.Something quite unique is the tasting of Daschbosch Nectar de Provision: it’s offered with a sliver of blue cheese! Nectar de Provision is Colombar fortified with brandy and is undoubtedly the most popular in the Daschbosch range. There’s also a red version from Merlot.Worth tasting are Groot Eiland’s Shiraz/Pinotage blend and Merlot at R48 and R32 a bottle respectively.
The interesting thing about Merwida is that it’s apparently one of the largest private cellars in South Africa, with 600ha of vineyards providing fruit. Very little of total production is bottled under the Riverstone Vineyards label, with most of it sold as bulk wine.
The farm has been in the Van der Merwe family since the 1840s, something the current owners Pierre and Schalk are particularly proud of. That – and the fact that a forebear, also called Schalk van der Merwe, spent time in the Springbok rugby team! Worth trying because they’re unusual are the Viognier and Barbera.
There are also three private cellars in Rawsonville:
Avondrood (tel: 023 349 1858)
Kirabo (tel: 023 349 6764)
Lorraine (tel: 023 349 1224)
All visits are by appointment only, but don’t let that put you off .
Take the trouble to phone ahead as experience has taught me that these smaller places tend to give you a hands-on tasting that’s special because it’s conducted by the farmer or winemaker, his wife, son or daughter.
