Wine, pannacotta and the 'umbrella incident'

by Tilly

When it comes to wine, I have a top three. These three wines are the wines that I always look for on a menu. Here is my top three in no particular order of preference:

Haute Cabrière Chardonnay Pinot Noir (delicious blend)

Fat Bastard Chardonnay (yes, it’s really called that)

Buitenverwachting Buiten Blanc (another delightful blend)

So imagine my delight when I discovered that the Haute Cabrière wine estate is a mere 10 minutes from Franschoek where Tara-Zee, Mr TZ and I would be holidaying earlier this year. I happily made the booking and on our first day in Franschoek, we made our way to lunch. We visited Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Franschoek at the end of July/beginning of August, a time of year that is characteristically cold and rainy. However, we had clearly brought good weather because we were in shorts and sandals. (Tara-Zee and I are ‘just-in-case’ packers. This was one of the rare occasions that it was worth it.)

We ate on their deck overlooking the mountain view. The meal was dee-vine. We started with a delicious beetroot pie (it tasted better than it sounds, I promise), had perfectly cooked lamb for mains and a pannacotta and chocolate dessert. 

But (everyone has one) I was let down… here’s why:

Firstly, the food was really, really good but it wasn’t as elegant as the other wine farms’ offerings.

Secondly, the three-course menu came with wine pairing. This is usually explained to you in great detail so that you get a sense of why the wine complements the meal so well (how am I doing for pretension right now?) and this didn’t happen. In fact, when Mr TZ asked a question, he was answered “I don’t know.” Hmm.

Thirdly, the wine was pricier than the cellar price. I realise there are reasons for this but at least don’t mark it up so obviously.

Fourthly, the ‘umbrella incident’.

The ‘umbrella incident’ involved a table of posh French tourists, two waiters and an incompetent manageress (do you also sense a joke somewhere in there?). There we were innocently finishing up our lunch (we’d just finished mains) when the French couple arrived. Their table sadly was not protected from the harsh sun by one of the big patio umbrellas like ours was. They complained. The two waiters then moved the nearest umbrella towards them to give them shade. Helpful and accommodating. Except by doing so they succeeded in moving the shade off of our table completely. Oops. Man, I have never seen three people scratch their heads so hard and try so many variations of ‘provide shade to the tables’. As funny as it was, it’s supposed to be a five-star restaurant and so was a little disappointing.

After all of that drama, we went in search of new wine estates to conquer. The mission was successful.

PS. If my top three wines are not on the menu, I order something else. The second cheapest, usually.

PPS. For the record, if you read my Pomodoro post, this is what Pannacotta should look like: