I am an old guy who rides an adventure motorcycle all over the country…. I also happen to like wine. I don’t like the weight or fragility of glass bottles in my luggage when I’m on the road. Unfortunately, in my experience, wine in “plastic” containers has generally been of the “doodgooi” variety, varying in quality from paint-stripper to ant poison.
It was a wonderful surprise for me to discover a few years ago that I could buy quality wines in non-glass containers, sourced from van Loveren….
Today, someone (not necessarily a reliable source) told me that he had heard that you are planning to phase out the PET bottles and to put Tangled Tree in glass. I hope that you can reassure me that this is just a rumour. If it is true, it won’t stop me from buying your lovely wines—especially the reds—but it will prevent me from carrying them with me.
I am hoping to be coming to the Cape via the R62 in January/February. If all goes according to plan, I hope to to fit in a visit to your beautiful area….
May the Creator, Who has caused people to have fun (and some embarrassment) with wine right since Genesis, lend strength to your arm, rain to your growing season, sun to your ripening season, and drought to your harvesting season.
Yours faithfully,
Kevin.
PS, I have attached a picture that I sent today to my future daughter-in-law, resident in White River. I’m going to visit them next week, and these four bottles will accompany me on the outward journey. KSW.
This was the picture.
I got an immediate reply, from Bonita Malherbe, the Marketing manager, reassuring me that van Loveren had no intention of abandoning PET bottles (Yay!). Furthermore, Bonita suggested that, when next in the vicinity of the farm, I should call in for a visit (Yay²!). I replied that I would definitely plan a visit next time I was in the area.
When I had finalised my plan to visit Cape Town in February, I contacted Bonita, wondering if she would remember me.
As I threatened in a previous e-mail, I am still planning to visit van Loveren in February. If things go according to plan, I shall call in on Tuesday 14 February on a ride from Struisbaai to Calitzdorp. I would love to meet you.
I need not have worried. I got an enthusiastic reply the following morning. Bonita said that she would be at a meeting, but that she would make a plan to see me.
A few weeks later, Valentine’s Day dawned extremely hot, and I was en route to Van Loveren. In spite of the Bonnievale municipality digging up the road on which I wanted to travel, and forcing me into stop/go deviations that rivalled trench warfare, I arrived at Van Loveren Family Vineyards sharp at eleven, very hot, sweaty, and smelly. It’s amazing what one will do for the love of wine!
Their eyes lit up and they both chorused: “We’ve been expecting you!”. I was conducted to a table to one side and offered a glass of cold red grape juice—which I gratefully accepted. That’s the grape juice on the left of the picture.
Chocolate, from left to right; (1) Guava and Sun-dried White Fig (2) Lemon Verbena (3) Rose Petal Geranium (4) Spicy Cherry (5) Dark Mocha Hazelnut.
Sorry, I knocked the leftmost chocolate skew. My OCD makes me want to Photoshop it, but I am fundamentally honest, so I’ve left it skew. If you look at the picture above, you can see that it was straight.
At this point I need to mention two things. Firstly, Van Loveren in no way considers wine and chocolate to be a “good” combination. Their intention is to remove the mystical, esoteric, wine-snobby atmosphere from wine-tasting and present it as an exercise that can be enjoyed.
Secondly, I love drinking wine and eating chocolate together, so I thought that the first caveat didn’t really apply to me. I was in for a surprise.
Something that I appreciated about this tasting was that I was free to do it at my own pace, without some pushy sommelier-type trying to dictate what I should do, smell, and think. I was told that the recommended approach was to work from left to right, but it was entirely my choice. However, there was always someone on hand, in case I had any queries. By the way, I did not use the cuspidor; I just cannot bring myself to spit out good wine.
The approach with this tasting was to eat a bit of the delicious chocolate and then taste the corresponding magnificent wine. This was where my surprise came in. The first combination was the tropical Sauvignon Blanc, paired with the guava and sun-dried fig chocolate. I sniffed the chocolate, nibbled a bit (no, I lie; I took a big bite), and paused (not for long, because I wanted some wine). I then swilled and sniffed the wine, sipped a small amount and “fluit-ed” (I don’t know how to say that in English). Essentially, I held the wine in my mouth, inhaled between my lips, and exhaled via my nose. I tasted and smelt guavas! I swear, it wasn’t just the taste of the chocolate; I felt that I could perceive some guava-ish overtones from the wine! This was quite a shock for me, as someone who isn’t much of a white wine fancier, and who certainly doesn’t generally notice “subtle nuances” et al. when drinking wine.
I won’t bore you with my stories of the other four wine/chocolate combinations. Suffice it to say that each of them carried a little surprise, and was really enjoyable. Go and try them yourself.
As I finished my tasting, Bonita was able to escape from her meeting and to join me for a chat. A most engaging person, she was clearly passionate about wine, Van Loveren, and about marketing. She was also clearly a very busy person, but at no time was I made to feel rushed, or unwelcome. I felt that I was more important than a meeting.
We had a wonderful conversation, during which she told me the story of the tangled trees, which I could see in the courtyard, a brief history of Van Loveren and, through her enthusiasm, a little bit about the person who is Bonita Malherbe.
In my few contacts with Bonita, I have been struck by the passion with which she does things. Our email communications were a curtain-raiser to the pleasure of meeting her on her home territory. A keen mountain bike rider, she was also most interested in my adventure motorbike (which is always a way to my heart). I got the sense of dealing with someone whose “Yes” is “Yes” and whose “No” is “No”. Her love for Van Loveren Family Vineyards and for her own family was very clear, and added to the sense of dealing with someone whom, whilst very efficient, was—first and foremost—a people person. I wished I could have stayed longer and shared a glass or two of wine with her.
Here’s the Tangled Tree link on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/tangledtreewines/
And here’s their website:
http://www.tangledtree.com/
And here’s Van Loveren’s website:
https://www.vanloveren.co.za/
Ein prosit der Gemütlichkeit!