For instance, I belong to a red-wine-appreciation-club (the members of whom regularly change as I actively seek them out at any given event); a dinner club (of which the food is merely an afterthought); a 1985-all-girls club (members of this club know what I looked like as a fish in modern dance class, a fact I’ve only recently learnt to accept); a show tunes club (members of this club can sing, on command, any given Disney or West End Musical song based on keyword recognition… it’s a small club); a I ❤ Cape Town club (only open to locals); the I ❤ Africa club is open to all, the true Capetonian just a little smug…a group for every quirk. While one would not necessarily meet with members of any one club in an unrelated capacity, one would not be opposed to it, given one’s grouping preferences. {Our use of the royal ‘ONE’ here is fitting, given the fact that ONE will automatically be given access to the club ONE is naturally suited to, hence INFERRING a kind of divine right.} The point? Groups overlap. Like the Karoo Wine Club.
The Karoo Wine Club
See people who belong to the Karoo Wine Club, also belong to a number of OTHER clubs. Like the Karoo Loyalist club (not an OFFICIAL club, but they know who they are), the local pairing club (the palate folks, with a taste for the finer things in life), the local businesses support group (who take an active interest in business from the area and how to keep them busy), the wine-in-all-its-guises-club (with a more general appreciation of wine and a thirst to know more), the hospitality club (people who love people and enjoy entertaining) and the people who just like sitting on a stoep drinking wine {a very large group to be fair}. When these clubs converge it only seems apt for there to be some kind of cosmic event, an alignment of the planets if you will, and we wouldn’t be worth our salt if we couldn’t point you in the right direction (should you find yourself a part of any one of the above mentioned clubs). The event is the Graaff-Reinet Stoep Tasting, an institution established by the Karoo Wine Club 5 years ago and something that has grown exponentially in size since then. And I have a faint suspicion why.
Rose Wright.
Rose, though I have only had the pleasure via e-mail is a delightfully passionate “Karoo loyalist (is that even a word?!)” as she calls it. Founder of the Karoo Wine Club in 2011, proud Unionite (an alumni of Union High in Graaff-Reinet), one-time guesthouse owner, mother of two teenagers and wife to chef Gordon Wright (author of the Karoo inspired cookbook ‘Veld to Fork’). She has managed to grow the event from 5 wineries and 45 tickets sold in its first year to a whopping 31 wineries, including craft gin and beer makers and 2000 tickets available this year. The event consists of private Graaff-Reinet homes, restaurants and guesthouses opening their stoepe (stoeps…this Afrikaans-English is proving to be a grey area, though Rose calls it ‘Graaffrikaans’) to specific wineries, and their homes to the guests. You are invited to meander your way through the streets of South Africa’s 4th oldest town (after Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Swellendam), with its iconic Dutch Reformed Church influenced by the architecture of Salisbury Cathedral in England; the Reinet House museum, previously home to three ministers; against the backdrop of the Sneeuberge and its proximity to the Valley of Desolation in the Camdeboo National Park. All while sampling your way through some of our country’s finest wines and experiencing good honest Karoo hospitality (which has also been known to export well).
Graaffrikaans
Rose e-mailed me and made me laugh out loud at her enthusiasm, nod along at her conviction and gave me a little story of hope, and I’m a sucker for hope. She tells of Brenda and Johnny Pringle and their guesthouse ‘Thyme and again’ who embraced her idea from the beginning, with Brenda making a pot of soup and warming it out on her stoep with freshly baked bread and take away cups, at no fee, just a little cup for donations. “Brenda’s Brew” has since become mandatory and something I look forward to try. When asked what HER favourite wine is she responds: “No way, that question is not fair... Luckily we, SA citizens are really, really spoiled for choice, we never ever have to drink bad wine or eat poor quality food, thanks to our incredible farmers. Sincerely thanks to our brilliant farmers.” She makes a point of it to invite the winemakers to get the REAL story behind the wine, merely adding to the authenticity of the event. This year there will be masterclasses during the course of Saturday morning in conjunction with a Karoo Farmers Market, where Gordon will be launching his 2nd cookbook “Karoo Food” followed by the stoep tastings until late evening. I can almost SMELL it, can’t you?
Stoep Tasting
The event will be held from Friday the 25th of May to Saturday the 26th of May this year. So HOW do you get a ticket right? Well Rose writes: “Everything is done by email, we are out in the sticks here. Please email us on karoowineclub@gmail.com for tickets and hop onto the Graaff Reinet Tourism office website https://www.graaffreinet.co.za/ for accommodation. By now many places are already booked out. I prefer people to organise places within walking distance so as to avoid drinking and driving. If they do farmstays try to organise a shuttle service via your hosts.”
Do it Yourself
With three of our favourite wineries and MarketPlace partners on show (Anthonij Rupert Wyne, Hermanuspietersfontein and KWV) we look forward to get to know the other 28 wineries and invite you to join us there. If not THERE however, we’d never deprive you of the wine, make your own stoep tasting if Graaff-Reinet remains just beyond your reach, it’ll be there next year still, Rose will make sure of it.
