Hi there,

Winter has set in at Vondeling and we will begin pruning at the end of the month.

We recently had some very special visitors staying for the weekend. Marie Van Breda was celebrating her 80th birthday with her children and grandchildren from Switzerland, Namibia and Cape Town. Marie’s Father, Lambertus Smith, owned Vondeling and she was brought up here. She has some amazing memories and I think they all thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Contact us if you would like to host a private function here at Vondeling.

Someone was out shopping in Tokyo, Japan, last week and spotted the Vondeling Philosophie 2014 in a very smart outlet, selling for R2,125 per bottle (US$150).

The Editor of Winemag.co.za and top wine critic Christian Eedes posted a great little tweet when he was enjoying a bottle of 2012 Vondeling Erica with his Sunday lunch. Last year the Erica was renamed to Monsonia to celebrate a new species of Paardeberg fynbos. You can read all about it here.

We invite restaurants who serve our wines fairly regularly to bring their Sommeliers and waiters out to the Estate to show them round the vineyards, look through the cellars and have a wine tasting and spot of lunch. They invariably always really enjoy it and hopefully go away ready to recommend our wines to their punters. This month we entertained 2 restaurants from Melkbosstrand; I love Melkies and The Hart restaurants.

Finally, my wife Bridget is hosting a fund raiser and pouring /showing Vondeling Wines at Ealing Golf Club in West London on Wednesday, June 26th, with speaker Matthew Willman who was photographer for the Mandela Foundation (see below). Highly recommended if you can slip along for the event

Enjoy Wimbledon and the cricket…….maybe not the cricket!

Until next time,

Julian

PS: Don’t forget our Winter Warmer Soup & Wine Lunch on Saturday 13 July. Space is limited for this one-time-only event.