Wine, Food, Art and Cars

Marcus and I just spent two days in Franschhoek, in the Western Cape – about a two hour drive from Cape Town. The name literally means French Corner and is where French Hugonout settlers first lived in South Africa in the 1600s after fleeing France because of religious persecution. This fabulous little town now has tons of gorgeous wineries, galleries, bed and breakfasts and restaurants and is considered to be South Africa’s Food and Wine capital.

After arriving in Franschhoek at midday, we promptly headed to Dieu Donne Winery  – home of Roca Restaurant where we had lunch. It was amazing. We had a great chardonnay and fantastic small plates. Standouts include Phyllo wrapped prawns, wild mushroom fettuccine, and for dessert, chunks of parmigiano cheese with red chili flakes drizzled with honey.

Amazing food at Roca

After lunch we headed over to a wine estate that houses the Franschhoek Motor Museum – the owner’s private collection of cars. There were 80 classic (and new fancy) cars on display, including Ferraris, Porsches, Bugatis, BMWs, Jaguars, Aston Martins, Mercedes’, Fords and several Formula 1 cars.  I really didn’t think I’d enjoy this museum, but I did! Some of those old cars were really beautiful, and it was fun to have a look back at how these cars have evolved over the decades. The vineyard housing the collection was also really beautiful, but we were still too full from lunch to taste any wines, so after the museum we moved on.

Gorgeous old car

Another favorite

So many of the sportscars were red

Outside the buildings that house all the cars

Next up was the Grand Provence Vineyard – another gorgeous place – this one with an art gallery showcasing some of my sister-in-law Kristen’s fabulous paintings. We really enjoyed walking around and taking in all the artwork. At this point we were still too full to taste any more wines, so after the gallery, we returned to our guesthouse for a nap.

The garden at the Grand Provence

Two of my sister-in-law, Kristen's paintings on display at the 

Grand Provence Gallery

Despite still feeling totally stuffed, at 7 we took a short walk over to Le Quartier Francaise, where we had snagged a last-minute reservation for their famed Tasting Room. We had an 8 course tasting menu (!!), paired with 8 kinds of wine (!), but really more because of the welcome snacks and pink bubbly that awaited us when we sat down, plus the bread course consisting of fabulous corn bread (baked in a sardine tin) and a brown caramelized butter. This was a ridiculously indulgent meal – beautiful dishes, some better than others but overall really fab (same for wines!) We have photos of some of the plates, plus descriptions of the creations, but I will have to save those for another blog entry. Suffice it to say the meal was pretty incredible.

After our nearly 3 hour dinner, we staggered home for a night of uninterrupted sleep. Sadly neither of us slept as well as we had hoped – a combination of too much food and being in a new place. But it was still a better night of sleep than we normally get with Luke.  

The next morning we started our day with a lavish brekkie, then a full day wine tour with Dee of La Rochelle Tours, and two new friends, Ann and Selvie, who live in Singapore. We started off at a great little vineyard called Maison specializing in Chenin Blanc and Shiraz. Delicious wine, gorgeous spot, yummy biltong and cheese pairings. Then on to Moreson for education and delicious tastes of Club Classiques (otherwise known as champagne, but cant be called champagne because not from Champagne region of France), more delicious wines, (including one called Dr. Reason Why – kids of the winemaker named it in honor of their dad, who would always have the last words in any argument, saying “And that’s the reason why.”) After our tastings, we had a gorgeous lunch at the Bread and Wine restaurant, where we indulged in more ridiculousness (wine, a charcuterie board, deep fried gnocchi with feta, and crispy pork belly). After coffees to keep us from dozing off into food and wine comas, we were off to La Mott – one of the older and bigger vineyards. Another stunning estate, 8 delicious wines at the tasting, including an organic Sauvignon Blanc that was super yummy.

 

Beautiful Franschhoek

The owner of Maison also makes fabulous furniture, like this swing/hammock/bed

The Barrel room at La Mott. Each Barrel 

Beautiful La Mott Wine Farm

At the end of our whole-day wine tour with Dee, Selvie and Ann

After La Mott it was time to say goodbye to our fabulous guide and Singaporean friends. We headed back home to our guesthouse and promptly passed out. We cancelled a reservation we had for a fabulous steak place as we were just too full and drunk to contemplate another rich meal. We rested up and finally mustered the energy for a late walk around the town, and after studying menus of multiple places to try to find simple fare, we settled on a restaurant that had great burgers (still not simple – these had avocado and onion relish too) and light and fluffy onion rings. Score! The burgers were delicious and perfect for soaking up all the booze we’d consumed.

Back to the hotel for a good night of uninterrupted sleep (much better sleep than our first night!) and now we are eager to head back to Cape Town to our little love, who’s been having a blast with Granny and Grandpa and probably hasn’t even noticed that we’re gone. We’ve been missing him though. But so thankful for this romantic getaway!