Red Hanepoot


Prince Albert, 15th of August 2018 – We are heading to Prince Albert, a picturesque village in the Little Karoo. From Oudtshoorn it is only a stone’s throw but you have to get over the Swartberg Pass to get there. The 23km long pass is untarred and built by convicts about 140 years ago. ‘Can be driven in any vehicle’! Yes, but I would not recommend it in the rain. Towards the top the rocks and stones gently stroke our car chassis. A magnificent drive with many hairpins and great views. Here and there an isolated farm. We reach the tarred part and almost immediately drive into Prince Albert. In the tourist office, two bored girls give us a brief overview of this one-horse town. Wine and olive oil are the local export products. We go to the Soetkaroo wine estate in the Kerkstraat (less than one hectare) for a tasting. We go round the back and ring a bell. Nobody! We see the vines at the end of the garden. In this valley, the sun mercilessly radiates the grapes until they are thick with sugar, hence the sweet wines made here. The flagship wine is a sweet Red Muscat d’Alexandrie or Red Hanepoot. Disappointed we get no tasting we go for a pancake instead in the ‘Lazy Lizzard’. In the shop of the coffee house, Karin buys a perfumed notebook with a nice African design textile cover. She still prefers writing to typing. We walk back to ‘Dennehof Karroo’, our 1835 Cape Dutch Farmhouse. Two dogs welcome us and Cooper, a young boxer, becomes my friend and chews on my shoelaces. Night falls fast in the South African winter and when we walk to the Gallery Café, the sky is deep black and full of stars. No light pollution here. To reach the restaurant of the Gallery we walk upstairs, through rooms full of beautiful paintings and ceramics. We order springbok leg slowly cooked in wine, but not before we have our glass of the famous Soetkaroo. We will ask the second glass with the dessert and in between we drink an excellent 2011 Pinotage reserve from Reiersvlei. Jovial and ready to party we step back into the dead silent night…

Dwarfed by the unusual geology of the Swartberg Mountains (FDC)


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