Rocky starts
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
There’s something so primal about the rock formations of the Cederberg. What was supposed to be a two hour walking trail turned into a three hour plus amble through the fynbos. But that’s the nice thing about long weekends away, your time is flexible. It just meant that lunch was a little bit later… Keeping a group of us entertained at virtually every turn was not only the unbelievable diversity of fynbos on display but the change in rock formations and also the rock art.
We found spots where it looked as though the rocks had melted, others where the faces had been scoured as smooth as glass by the prevailing winds and just a few metres away it was weathered into the most amazingly craggy, jagged and contorted shapes. There were still more showing distinct fault lines and areas of dip and scarp slopes. We marvelled at the impossibly precarious balancing act of piles of stones and rock, weighing tons – which had been there for thousands of years and would remain so for thousands more.
Driving back to Cape Town with snow-covered peaks on one side and rock faces running with water on the other was a special privilege. Seeing the Cederberg, usually quite dry, soaking up the sustenance was amazing. Even more impressive was to see vines not just surviving but thriving in this harsh environment, more than 1 000m above sea level. I reflected back to 2004 when I had to phone Dawid Niewoudt of Cederberg and subtly quiz him about his Shiraz. He didn’t know at the time that I was ferreting out information for an article in the ICONS guide since it had won the Trophy Wine Show award for best red wine on show as well as best shiraz! That 2002 vintage Cederberg Shiraz was only the second time he’d made a Shiraz and his vines were still just five years old. Dawid was the first to admit that he was still playing around and figuring out what worked. It was one of the first indications of the greater things to come from this high-lying winery.
On our way to the Cederberg, we’d driven the Katbakkies pass – and on our return we did the Piekenierskloof pass, both of which have wine related stories. The first is the name of a Chenin Blanc from grapes sourced in the area – and it’s a beautiful name meaning the reflection of a cat’s (in this case, leopard’s) face in one of the pools of water which form in the shallow rock. The tale attached to the second is that of Neil Ellis’ awesome Rodanos Grenache which swept all before it for the popular vote at last year’s Cape Winemakers Guild auction. Beautiful names, beautiful wines and a spectacular but very small part of the South African wine landscape.