Work starts today in earnest!
The first visit we make today is to Stony Brook whose tasting room is situated on the outskirts of Franschhoek - in the area named Bo Hoek.
We have been proud to stock wines from this prestigious winery for many years. Our appointment today is with Jackie and both she and Chelsea the dog are there to welcome us!
We are surprised to hear that Joy and Nigel McNaught who have owned Stony Brook for over 30 years have now decided to retire and the vineyard has been sold. The good news is that Craig their son and winemaker is staying- so the quality of the wines here will not be compromised.
This year we are very aware that we need to stock up on our customers' old favourite wines but also look out for new varieties to add to our list.
The new wines we sampled are Lyle Cap Classique, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc - all are new possibilities and we have taken samples back to our accommodation to try with food etc. Today is just our first day and we have many wines to sample before we can make final decisions!
We move on to another of Carte-du-vin's favourite wineries. Lynx Wine Estate was taken over some 3 years ago and I must admit we were a little worried that the wines did not seem very important to the new owner. His focus seemed to be to change the dynamics with a lot of effort being spent on changing the main residence into a guest house - but we have to admit that Pierre, the director and wine-maker has managed to keep the standard of the wines very high and the guest house is a great addition.
One of our customer's favourite wines is the Rose and we were very interested to try Pierre's completely new Ros., This doesn't mean the UK's favourite Blanc de Noir will cease being produced - just there will be an alternative rose to buy made from different grapes. We tasted it and again took a bottle back with us to compare the 2 at a blind tasting in our accommodation.
Recently there has only been one white wine made on the estate but this year we sampled a chardonnay which comes from new block vines. Again watch this space to see if it joins our range of Lynx wines.
Tasting over we are joined for lunch by customers of ours from the UK. It was great to enjoy a relaxed lunch with friends drinking the wines. There are plans to renovate the tasting room and restaurant during the winter months - we will be interested to visit next year and see the improvements.
Thank you, Lynx!
For further details on wines we stock from these 2 vineyards in Franschhoek click below.