Almenkerk Wine Estate / Sketch Credit: Almenkerk Wine Estate
ALMENKERK
WINE TASTING AT HARBOUR HOUSE, KALK BAY / Cape Town South Africa
Letha gave a wine
tasting of the signature line of Almenkerk Wines at the Harbour House, Kalk
Bay, south of Cape Town.
Almenkerk Wine
Estate is a small, family-owned wine estate, situated in the Elgin valley just
east of Cape Town, South Africa.
The estate is owned
by the Belgian/Dutch van Almenkerk family and run by Natalie and Joris van
Almenkerk. Whilst Joris has fun making award-winning wines, Natalie is in
charge of sales and marketing, PR and admin. Patriarch, Joep, helps out with
sales, frequent wine tastings and as a mentor on the business side. As well as
that, we have a dedicated group of family and friends that come over to help us
out by opening the tasting room when we are not around or assisting with the
harvest.
The Almenkerk story
begins in 2002 when they moved to South Africa and started looking around for a
farm with perfect terroir, cool climate and - frankly - a nice place to live.
Only late in our
quest, when we were seriously considering a promising property in Stellenbosch
- did a friend insist we go "Over the Mountain" as they call it here
and visit the Elgin Valley. Barely a week later we signed the papers and could
call ourselves the proud owners of a ... apple farm!
After moving from
Belgium and purchasing the property in 2002 we began the process of
transforming it into a wine farm. The Estate was originally 32 hectares of
apple trees and now we have 15 hectares of vines in production. The decision of
what to plant and where to plant it was a massive project on its own. We used
consultants and professors with a combined experience of over a century. On top
of that, we based our choice on infrared and satellite imagery, soil samples,
and electromagnetic scans of the soil. The information gleaned from the
previous owner as well as the labor, who had been living on the farm for many
years, was also crucial in these decisions. We then planted the specific
cultivars to their best-suited sites and from there we have been nursing our
vines into healthy grape producers. It is only due to the wide ranges of slopes,
orientations and soil types that we are able to grow such a variety of
cultivars.
We decided to
continue to farm nine hectares of the land as orchards. We currently have four
varieties of apple and one of pear. Although apple farming is not our core
business, it complements the farm nicely. The apple trees are beautiful,
especially when flowering. It also keeps our team of labourers busy when there
is little else to do. Apart from that, it is hugely gratifying to eat your own
apples fresh from the tree!
CONTACT INFO
Almenkerk Wine
Estate
Viljoenshoop Rd 50
Elgin, Grabouw, Western
Cape, South Africa 7160
(+27) 21 848 9844
Harbour House, Kalk
Bay
+27 (0) 21 788 4136
Kalk Bay Harbour,
Kalk Bay
Harbour House, V&A
Waterfront
+ (0) 21 418 4744 / + (0) 21 418 4748
Quay Four, Ground
Floor, V&A Waterfront
Have a fantastic New
Year.
Letha
Letha (Malan) Oelz
(You can contact Letha at: oelzletha@gmail.com... please follow me at https://www.finderzkeeperz.co.za/2019/03/25/almenkerk-wine-tasting-at-harbour-house-kalk-bay-cape-town-south-africa/
Harbour House Kalk
Bay / Photo Credit: Harbour House
Almenkerk Wine
Estate / Photo Credit: Almenkerk Wine Estate
Almenkerk Wine
Estate / Sketch Credit: Almenkerk Wine Estate
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