By Jenny Kay
Cape Town - Over the past few years I have visited the La Motte wine farm a number of times.
It’s one of my favourite stops when visiting the picturesque Franschhoek area. Every time I visit I discover something new about the farm.
On my last visit there I was given a guided tour. The farm is owned by the Rupert family, having been bought by the late Anton Rupert in 1970. It has a rich history dating back to 1752, when the first vineyards were planted by the then-owner French Huguenot Pierre Joubert, who named the farm after his birthplace La Motte d’Aigues in Provence.
Today the farm is run by Hanneli Rupert-Koegelenberg and her husband Hein Koegelenberg, who have worked hard to make it a global cultural destination.
Besides producing some of the best wines in the area, the farm also houses an art gallery and museum. There’s an exhibition of the history of the farm and how it has developed over the years.
But what caught my attention was the collection of art by one of South Africa’s leading artists Jacob Hendrik Pierneef.
I was told that when the artist died, the Ruperts were able to obtain a number of pieces which are now on display in the gallery.
The museum is also the starting point for a historic walk which helps visitors explore and learn more about the farm. You get to explore the beautiful rose garden which is a sight to behold when the roses are in full bloom. There is also a beautiful manor house, the Jonkerhuis, and the historic cellar where monthly musical concerts inspired by Hanneli Rupert-Koegelenberg, a celebrated mezzo-soprano, are held. The highlight for me was seeing the oldest fully functional mill in the Franschhoek valley. Here, wheat is stone ground according to age-old methods and used to bake bread that is used in the restaurant and sold in the shop.
The shop is a wonderful drawcard bursting with great ideas for souvenirs and gifts. They also sell divine pastries and freshly baked loaves of bread. You can also purchase a range of beauty products produced from ethereal oils like lavender, buchu, rose geranium and Cape camomile grown and harvested on neighbouring farms. These are reasonably priced and make great gifts.
The farm also runs a flower-growing operation, which focuses on rare species like disas, a beautiful red orchid indigenous to the Western Cape. The surrounding landscape is filled with proteas, blushing brides, pincushions and a fragrant rose named after the owner, the Hybrid Tea Hanneli Rupert rose.
They grow a lot of their own vegetables and when I was there, I was able to walk through the garden and see beautiful baby vegetables pulled from the soil and delivered to the restaurant kitchen where chef Michelle Theron creates and cooks delectable dishes for the renowned Pierneef a la Motte restaurant.
A highlight of my recent visit was experiencing the wineland high tea served on the sunny verandah. Besides the obligatory selection of amazing teas, I love the idea of an old Cape tradition of serving a soet sopie in the form of a La Motte sweet wine or a glass of sparkling wine.
The selection of sweet and savoury pastries were daintily presented and the portion size small enough so you could eat quite a few offerings without feeling you’ve overindulged. As high tea prices go, I thought R145, excluding the wine, very reasonable.
The Pierneef a La Motte restaurant, so named for the family’s admiration of the great artist, serves lunch from Tuesdays to Saturdays and a set Sunday family lunch. The restaurant is open for dinner from Thursday to Saturday evening, where guests can sample the exceptional dishes created by Theron.
I recently attended a lunch at Mosaic Restaurant, situated in the Franklin reserve out at Hartbeespoort Dam, where chefs Michelle Theron and Chantel Dartnall served a Cape Winelands meal paired with wines from La Motte.
Owner Hein Koegelenberg commented that the explosion of social media now meant that anyone with a cellphone could become a restaurant critic and “foodie expert”.
A wine farm’s purpose was no longer solely to produce bottles of excellent wine, he said, but to create an experience. If this is what La Motte has set out to achieve, they have certainly succeeded.
l See www.la-motte.com
Sunday Independent