Cape Town Life (or a snake and wine)
In January 2020, I started writing strategy, soul, and self – a weekly letter that shares insight and inspiration from my coaching practice.
As the letter developed, I included snippets of Cape Town life. Over time the snippets sprawled into paragraphs, distracting from its core purpose.
Still, they were welcomed. Readers would message saying ‘my family is joining me, any ideas?’, ‘I am bringing my Exco to Cape Town, any ideas?’, ‘I need to buy some great wines, any ideas?
I still include the occasional snippet, but I decided to keep the meandering for the occasional blog post. This is the first. It started with a visit from a mole snake on a hot November afternoon at Steenberg Wine Farm and became a free association about wine. Let me know what you think.
We had just finished lunch when my friend’s voice, filled with curiosity, asked “snake?”
Her voice was not quite ready to believe her eyes. Then, as its muscular body coiled over the low wall behind me, her question became a half-yelled warning.
I turned. There it was, a foot away, the mid-afternoon sun glinting off its ebony scales. It paused. I paused, my heart paused, my brain scrambled, then retrieved ‘mole snake – harmless’ and I breathed again.
It turned, dropping silently off the wall, sliding slowly into nearby undergrowth, less of an exit than an invitation to follow.
Wranglers were called and discovered that the creature was not lost but had come for help. Entangled in a muselet – the wire cage that holds a champagne cork in place – there was no way it could hunt in narrow burrows whilst slowed by the debris of human celebration, it needed to be freed. They did as asked.
When people speak of wine tours and Cape Town, the default is to think of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, with good reason, they produce world-class wines at a fraction of French and Californian prices.
Adventurous souls know to add the Riebeek Valley with its David and Nadia Sadie, Adi Badenhorst-led Swartland Revolution (Badenhorst’s Family Red is one of my favourite wines). The Wine Kollective (in-person or online) does a great job of curating the region’s best and most experimental.
Those who have the time should go further afield to Hemel-en-Aarde (if Chardonnay and Pinot noir are your thing, visit Hamilton Russel), Bot River (the home of amazing Luddite wines) and Elgin (where you must drink Charles Fox’s bubbles). Beaumont Family Wines offers beautiful self-catering accommodation in this region.
If you go to the Riebeek Valley, stay at the Badenhorst farm (We love the Winemakers Cottage). They’re fantastic hosts. Time your visit with a pizza evening or one of their must-eat three-course lunch-days, you will thank me.
But Steenberg is a mere fifteen kilometers from the Cape Town city center and almost equidistant between a cluster of great Constantia wine farms and Cape Point Vineyard. Weaving your way through all three will take you on roads with spectacular views. You can get fantastic views and world-class wine all within thirty minutes of the Cape Town CBD.
We go to Steenberg for the bubbles (embarrassingly, given the poor snake’s entanglement), but it offers much more. Its Black Swan Sauvignon Blanc is consistently regarded as one of South Africa’s best.
If Sauvignon is your thing, then take twenty minutes and drive to Cape Point Vineyards. The views are even more spectacular than the wine and the wine is world-class (well Wine Magazine says it is South Africa’s best Sauvignon).
Winemaker, Riandri Visser, is one of the many women who now play a leading role in the Cape’s wine industry (there’s clearly something special about Cape Point, as their previous winemaker Duncan Savage’s annual releases are both highly acclaimed and next-to-impossible to get one’s hands on. They invariably sell out within days of release).
Visser did one of her internships at Piekenierskloof Wines. This, together with thoughts of Sauvignon, sent my mind wandering up the Cape’s West Coast, to what is surely one of the world’s more unique wineries, Fryer’s Cove.
The winery is so close to the ocean that its stainless-steel pipes are run through the icy Atlantic to cool the wine. Its vines, a mere 500 metres from the waves’ edges, are crusted with sea-salt, and the wines’ labels declared them to be ‘tempered by the sea’ (if you decide to visit, have lunch at The Jetty Restaurant. Its location in Doringbay’s old fish processing plant, together with the drive to get there, will gift you lasting memories. Its ownership structure, 30% Fryer’s Cove winery, 70% community, is one to support).
If your views are your thing, then add lunch at Franschhoek’s Haute Cabriere at the foot of the spectacular Franschhoek pass (more bubbles, a great Pinot noir), Stellenbosch’s Delaire Graff (the Botmaskop Blend is my favourite there) and Constantia Glen (no favourite wine here – they’re all amazing).
But back to Steenberg for a minute…
It is hard to think of a better winter’s day than a rainy Cape afternoon, roast lamb (if you live in Cape Town, order it from Bontebok Ridge Reserve), and a few bottles of the merlot-led Catharina.
If, like me, you love the excitement of different wines with a meal, in addition to the Badenhorst Family Red, you might include Zelma Long’s Seriously Old Dirt and Samantha O’Keefe’s Lismore Syrah (two more female winemakers of considerable note).
If you don’t have the time to head out of the city center then Leo’s and Publik Wine Bars both do a good job of showcasing smaller producers.
Leo’s always charms me because it’s a bagel shop by day, wine bar by night – the transformation always seems magical to me and, if you’re lucky, you’ll see a raptor gliding down the street in the dusk-light.
Culture Wine Bar has a wonderful selection of South Africa’s best, located in a centuries-old building, its open brickwork and heavy beams evoke the romance of winter nights.
And if you want your wine delivered to your door, The Wine Arc is a home for black-owned wines and The Wine Cellar has an interesting range and, if you’re quick, will give you access to the Cape’s rarer releases (like those elusive Savage wines).
Let me know what you think on coaching@karlgostner.com In time, I might rename it “Any ideas?”