Justin van der Linde and Albertus Jooste won the 70km final stage of the Liberty TransCape MTB Encounter from Grabouw to Franschhoek on Sunday, 10 February, to clinch the overall title for the first time.
The Rustenburg team began the last day of the 591km, seven-stage mountain-bike race with a handy cushion and completed a successful week by crossing the finish line at Holden Manz Wine Estate in 3:38:33.
Mont Rochelle Hotel’s Miko Restaurant is firing up the braai for summer. Every Friday lunchtime from 12h00 they are serving up a barbeque feast.
Whatever your dietary preferences there’s something for everyone: expect steak, boerewors, line fish, chicken thighs and more from the barbeque. Then help yourself to a selection of beautifully prepared salads from the salad table. Honey roasted carrots with feta and toasted pumpkin seeds and balsamic vinegar; Baked beetroot with orange segments and basil pesto; and Grilled aubergine with feta and marjoram dressing are just three of the many options.
Remember to try one of the traditional griddle cakes and to leave room for dessert! Choose from Grilled pineapple with coconut ice cream and Traditional malva pudding with Amurula cream. If you can’t make up your mind… try a bit of both!
Add some wine from the farm, or a little further afield, combine with great company and you have a recipe for a very ‘lekker’ local lunch.
R320 per person or R375 per person including ½ bottle of Little Rock Wine.
Available on Friday for lunch until 29th March 2019.
To find out more or to book a table, please call: 021 876 2770
If you want to spoil your loved one this year on Valentine’s Day you have three options at Allée Bleue!
We can whole-heartedly recommend the Picnic-on-the-Go in the beautifully manicured gardens at this Franschhoek Family Estate! Create your own love nest in a private spot for the two of you and glam it up with cushions, throws, picnic blankets and themed accessories to impress your other half. We’ll provide the lavish love-themed picnic basket and the bubbly whilst you enjoy the sunset.
Alternatively the serviced seated picnic experience, the Chicnic in our Picnic Courtyard should tick all the boxes – and it means you can just arrive to a setting ready for romance and save your energy to seduce.
The Picnic on the Go costs R675 for a basket for two whilst the Chicnic goes for R690. Both picnics include a bottle of wine and a selection of hand-crafted chocolate truffles. From 17h00 till 20h30. Latest arrival at 18h30. The Valentine’s Picnic basket menu’s are available on our website. Bookings at the “Book Now” button on www.alleebleue.com
For the more traditional experience, Chef Gordon Dovey and his team had fun creating a romantic 5-course menu for Valentine’s dinner which features some favourites to share. Start off with a welcome drink and then treat yourself and your beloved to an evening under the stars (weather permitting)and food to impress. Cost: R385 pp. Menu available on our website. Bookings: info@alleebleue.com
Family-owned Allée Bleue Estate is primarily a working farm with nearly 80 hectares planted to fruit and olive trees adding to the tranquillity of the setting. The estate wines are justly famous, having won scores of awards over the years and the Allée Bleue fresh herb range is available from most large retailers in the Western Cape.
The farm produces peaches, nectarines, a variety of different plums, pears and most of the persimmons grown in South Africa. Much of the produce is exported, but locals can enjoy the fruit at selected retailers country-wide as well.
In 2019 Allée Bleue is inviting visitors to experience the seasons with them and share in the farm’s bounty as it is harvested. Try out specially created dishes in the Bistro, buy fresh fruit at their public outlets and collect the monthly free recipe cards as they are released.
Visitors to Franschhoek can now choose from no fewer than twenty-seven wine estates when booking their Franschhoek Wine Tram experience.
“We are very excited about the additions to our service,” says owner David Blyth. “Our passengers can look forward to stopping over at Anura Vineyards, Solms-Delta Wine Estate, GlenWood Vineyards, Paserene, Haute Cabrière and Môreson Wine Farm. All these estates joined us during the last quarter of 2018.”
StreetSmart SA, an organisation dedicated to helping street children rebuild their lives through donations from restaurants, accommodation establishments and wine tasting venues, has handed over R110 000 to their Franschhoek beneficiary for 2019.
This grand effort is part of the total StreetSmart allocation of R1.7 million distributed nationally for 2019 to organisations working with children at risk.
At the end of 2018 Help2read hosted a Recognition Celebration ceremony for their literacy tutor team. The organisers and tutors gathered at Franschhoek’s Wes-Eind Primary School for the occasion. Reason for celebration there certainly was – in the past year 790 learners in 7 schools had one-on-one sessions with someone and a book, simply because a tutor had shown up.
Om van kombuishulp tot wêreldbekende chef, televisiepersoonlikheid en skrywer van kookboeke te vorder, gebeur nie sonder talent, maar veral ook harde werk en deursettingsvermoë nie. Die Eikestad-tak van die Afrikaanse Taal- en Kultuurvereniging, onder leiding van die voorsitter, mnr. Roelie Janse van Rensburg en me. Elize Fortuin, Wes-Kaapse streeksbestuurder, het hierdie prestasies van Franschhoek se “celeb” chef uit eie bodem, Reuben Riffel, onlangs met ’n spesiale oorkonde vereer.
Bridge House School started working with Bread Tags for Wheelchairs in March 2017. Since linking up with them they have been able to secure wheelchairs for two local disabled persons. In late November 2018 they doubled that number.
The third recipient of a wheelchair bought from the sale of bread tags and bottle tops collected at Bridge House is Lenie Martinus. Martinus had a stroke which left her without the use of her legs and only partial use of one arm. As if that weren’t tragedy enough her husband and daughter died in the same year, leaving her with only her 25-year-old son as her caretaker.
The winners of the 2018 Diners Club Winemaker and Young Winemaker of the Year awards were announced at a black-tie gala dinner at La Residence Hotel at the end of November. Franschhoek’s Clayton Reabow (Môreson) and Rudger van Wyk (Stark-Condé Wines, Jonkershoek Valley, Stellenbosch) claimed the top honours, respectively.
The awards are presented to the winemakers who produce a wine that the judging panel considers the best in a specified class. The categories for 2018 were Chardonnay single varietal wines for Winemaker of the Year and Red Wines of any varietal or blend for Young Winemaker of the Year.
The judges for the 2018 awards were: Michael O’Connell (International judge), Carrie Adams, Debi Van Flymen, Michael Crossley, Nomonde Kubheka and Ntsiki Biyela.
This year’s Diners Club Winemaker of the Year (Chardonnay category), Clayton Reabow, impressed the judges with his Môreson 2017 Mercator Chardonnay. Clayton was a finalist in the 2017 Winemaker awards (Pinotage category) and the winner of the 2009 Young Winemaker of the Year award. The 2018 Diners Club Young Winemaker of the Year, Rudger van Wyk, received his award (Red Wines category) for the Stark-Condé 2016 Stellenbosch Syrah.
The winning Winemaker receives R50 000 while the Young Winemaker receives R25 000. Both winemakers also receive two return air tickets on Delta Airlines to any US wine producing region.
Reabow grew up in King William’s Town in the Eastern Cape. He completed a BSc Agriculture: Viticulture and Oenology degree at the University of Stellenbosch in 2004. In between working some local vintages, he travelled to other wine producing areas such as Bordeaux in France and the Mosel Valley in Germany to broaden his horizons. On returning to South Africa, he applied for the winemaking position at Môreson in 2007 and has never looked back. In 2011 Clayton completed a Postgraduate Master’s degree in Wine Business Management, Cum Laude, at the UCT Graduate School of Business.
