Avontuur Farm Stroll

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Monday, 09 April 2012
Written by CTGA
Back to: Educationals

The Tasting Room is open daily from 09h00-17h00 (Till 16h00 on Saturdays & Sundays) except for Christmas day, New Year’s Day and Good Friday. The tasting counter is made of wood from used wine barrels and the ambiance is cosy and welcoming. We can handle groups inside of up to 15 persons or during summer much larger groups seated outside.

 

The Restaurant is 10 years old and under the proprietorship of Zunia Boucher-Myers and Melanie Palteglou who produce well-cooked, beautifully presented dishes with a basis in South African cooking but with Asian, Mediterranean and other exotic influences. The restaurant is open daily for breakfast and dinner and for supper on Wednesdays and Fridays during season.

The Cellar consists of two floors with the barrel maturation area on the tasting room floor and the production cellar upstairs. We use first, second and third fill barrels during production and have a 95/5 split of French and American oak barrels. The total amount of barrels in use is around 220, but we can store about 350 barrels. After 3rd fill, the old barrels are often used for our brandy ageing, which ensures that we have optimum use of this very expensive resource.

Viewing point 1 (Paddock 1)

The paddocks are planted with Kikuyu grass because the horses love it and it grows vigorously in our region. Horses are grazers and need to eat all the time to ensure they get in enough roughage to keep their digestive system going. Oat hay is also given to aid the whole process. Depending on their condition and requirements they also get a “concentrate” 3 times per day at the same time every day. (Horses love routine.)

Each horse drinks up to 40 litres of water per day, so we fill up the troughs all the time and also make sure they are nice an clean.

We keep the pregnant mares healthy with special higher energy, protein rich food throughout their 11 month gestation period and when they are feeding their foals.

Foaling takes place from August onwards. The foals stay with their mothers till they are 7 months old, after which they are weaned and placed with their friends in their own paddocks to grow up further. The moms are very protective of their babies and should not be approached, fed or upset.

Race horses’ “ birthdays” in the southern hemisphere are all counted from 1 August to fit in with the racing age classification later on.

At about 11 months, the colts and fillies are separated from each other into separate paddocks

Viewing point 2 (Cabernet Sauvignon Vineyard)

This vineyard contains Cabernet Sauvignon vines and was planted in 1986 as you can see from the thickness of the stems and the old-fashioned trellising system used. This varietal forms the backbone of South Africa’s red wine industry and is the most-planted red varietal in the country.

In the Stellenbosch area the grape does very well and this region is world famous for its Bordeaux style red blends, of which Cabernet Sauvignon is an integral part. This particular vineyard is used to make our best-selling Vintner’s Red blend, which this time around consists of about 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 50% Shiraz. Make sure you taste it once you get back to the tasting room! We also make a blend of Cabernet Merlot and our premiere range Baccarat, which contains some Cabernet Franc too.

We always get asked about the “weeds” in between the rows of vines, but this is actually a type of wheat/oats mixture called korog, which we plant in every second row for specific reasons: We cut and leave it lying to cool the ground, keep moisture in and limit weeds growing. All the “good” bugs also love it!

Viewing point 3 (Shiraz Vineyard)

We have 17 hectares planted with white grapes (Sauv Blanc, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc) and 34 for red grapes (Cab Sauv, Merlot, Cab Franc, Shiraz, Pinotage & Pinot Noir).

Avontuur is one of South Africa’s top producers of Shiraz wine as the many accolades over the years prove. We produce 2 versions of this very popular varietal ie. the serious Dominion Royale Shiraz Reserve from the vineyard in front of you as well as the Estate Shiraz, which is slightly more fruity and easy-drinking.

The vineyard you’re looking at now is approximately 1.1 hectares in size and was planted in 2002. (To your left is a block of Cab Franc, planted in 1988) Planting a new vineyard is a serious and expensive business @ approximately R50 000 per hectare. Firstly one has to look at the soil, the slope and the micro climate before you decide what to plant, then plant the correct clone of the varietal for the particular area and then wait for up to 7 years before you can get a really good quality grape off the new vineyard. This vineyard is irrigated via a dripper line at 2 litres per hour

The Shiraz varietal is a prolific producer if you don’t limit it a bit – and therefore we cut off some of the extra bunches to make sure we have less bunches per plant thereby intensifying the flavour and quality of the leftover grapes!

Harvesting of this block usually takes place in March/April and by winter these vines will be bare of fruit and leaves – resting – to start growing again towards September.

Viewing point 4 (R44 paddocks)

Avontuur is as well-known for the quality race horses bred on the Estate as for its award-winning wines! This is one of the paddocks where our race horses are brought for a bit of R & R. We rotate the horses amongst the paddocks every 6 weeks and make sure that they always have lovely green grass to graze and fresh water and space to run if they want to. (They are race horses, so obviously love running!).

This is one of the paddocks with a beautiful view over the Helderberg as well as towards the cellar building, which was built in 1986 and today houses the tasting room, offices, cellar facilities and restaurant. The first wines bottled under the Estate name was the 1989 Avontuur Estate Cabernet Franc. Our winemaker Jan van Rooyen produces 17 000 cases of wine per year and the cellar handles approximately 350 tons of grapes during the harvest season.

Viewing point 5 (Helderberg & Manor House)

Directly in front you can see the Helderberg which dominates the landscape in this region. This mountain range (which means clear mountain in Afrikaans) has its highest point at 1137 metres which is called “The Dome”.

The Helderberg Nature Reserve which consists of 268 hectares of mountain fynbos, rocky gorges and gullies and wooded riverine vegetation around the Disa River, offers various walks and is also a bird watchers paradise.

If you look towards the manor house, which was declared a national monument, you can see the graceful gable above the imposing entrance. The homestead is more than 100 years old and was built by a builder called “Kruiwagen”. In 1958 the original thatch roof was replaced with an asbestos roof, but in 2001 Mr Tony Taberer applied to have it restored to its original splendour, which was done and it is still in the same condition today.

Viewing Point 6 (Stables paddocks)

Avontuur Thoroughbred stud farm takes up 25 hectares of the total area of 107 hectares making up the Estate. On this beautiful piece of land we house our Champion Stallion, VAR who has his own paddocks and stable up at the white, Cape Dutch style stable block, which you see towards the left behind the paddocks.

VAR is the “main man” on the farm, but we also usually have about 40 mares, 30 yearlings and about 20 foals enjoying the paddocks and grazing areas on the Estate.

The racing industry in South Africa is one of the largest and most labour intensive and nearly 500 000 people are involved with it on a day to day basis. Racing itself is dominated by Phumelela and Gold Circle and although betting is an important money spinner for the industry and government alike, the love of beautiful horses and the sport of racing, is what keeps the punters coming back.

Although Avontuur is primarily a breeder, we are the proud owners of the 2011 Equus Champion Sprinter of the Year, a mare called Val de Ra, who has been burning up the tracks country-wide. She ran in Cape Town last on the Avontuur Estate Fillies Guineas Race Day in the Tony Taberer Southern Cross Stakes on Saturday, 3 December 2011 – and won!

Viewing point 7 (Tony Taberer Memorial Bench)

Mr Tony Taberer bought Avontuur Estate in 1984 and came to live here in 1992 with his wife Lindy and their three sons Blair, Michael and Philip. Tony was originally from Zimbabwe and was instrumental in establishing the international tobacco exchange globally as well as being a great sports man in his younger years, playing cricket for the then Rhodesia. The newest member of the Taberer clan is Nolan Anthony Taberer who was born on 12 April 2012 to Michael and Tara, so we are now going for 3 generations of Taberers on this farm.

Tony passed away in April 2007, after having acquired the stallion VAR who was at the time European Sprint Champion of the year and having seen his sons grow up and Avontuur develop into the stunning Estate it is today.

This memorial bench commemorates the life and interests of this great businessman and entrepreneur who loved golf, cricket and tennis, was instrumental in the growth of the tobacco industry and promoted the good things in life like quality wines and horse racing!

He loved to sit here and look out over the paddocks and after his death his sons planted the oak trees behind you, which will one day grow to a huge size symbolizing his influence in our lives and remind us all of the wonderful years under his guidance.

Viewing Point 8 (The Hanepoot block)

This tiny block of Hanepoot (Or Muscat d’Alexandrie) as it is also called is a reminder of the old vines on this farm when it was bought in the 80’s by Mr Taberer. It still bears fruit and even helped to make up the 2010 Above Royalty Noble Late Harvest as Hanepoot is primarily used to produce sweet and dessert wines.

We prune this block differently from the others in the hope of improving the crop and its quality, although the sweetness of the ripe bunches during harvesting season makes it a huge favourite with all the staff!

With a concerted drive going on in the wine industry at the moment to retain and treasure our old blocks, it’s a pleasure to have these old, gnarled vines around and they add to the ambiance of the winery as well as still contributing to the crop.

Viewing Point 9 (Main Paddock)

Looking over this large paddock towards False Bay, you can usually see all the way to Simons Town and Fish Hoek and on a clear day from the boardroom behind you, to Cape Point! To your right is the back of Table Mountain.

Some of the most fun loving inhabitants of the Estate are the yearlings, who are just like young teenagers in many ways! They like to play, eat and sleep and are full of energy which is usually let out by running around in the paddocks – and what a sight they are when they start running! We always get asked about the horses who lie down flat on their sides to sleep, but be assured they are not dead! They are just tired out and having a snooze and that posture tells you that they are relaxed, happy horses.

Yearlings are 18 months old when they are ready to be sold and Avontuur’s yearlings are recognized world wide for their quality and breeding. We sell our yearlings annually at the Cape Premier Sale which takes place in January at the CTICC and at the National Yearling Sales in April in Johannesburg as well as other Sales if needed.

Although prices of more than R1 million per yearling are often achieved, some of South Africa’s top race horses over the decades have been bought for under R100 000 and have gone on to surprise and delight the world. It’s not only bloodline that counts, but a will to win and a brave heart too!

We hope you enjoyed your walk and please return to the tasting room for a well-deserved rest and your tasting.