1 month ago
81
Stellenbosch is pure magic during the “off-season”. The streets are soaked, the stormwater drains are slooshing, the mountains are cloaked in clouds, and petrichor fills the air.
For locals, it’s a special time because you’re not wrestling for space with busloads of tourists decked out in “khakki”.
There’s far more space in restaurants, wine estates host tastings beside cracking fires, and many restaurants, wine bars, hotels and businesses offer a bounty of winter specials.
During this “off-season”, the historic City of Oaks is inviting tourists to experience the best of Stellenbosch, through a “Stay and Play” campaign revolving around hospitality, wine and tourism.
It’s a glorious way to experience “Stellies” and get a taste of some of its more unique offerings.
This past weekend, during Wine Town — a showcase for 60 wine producers of the Stellenbosch Wine Route, coupled with a feast curated by chefs Adele Grewar and Bertus Basson — we stumbled across an unusual farm situated along an old stretch of road.
Most visitors to Stellenbosch know they can pick strawberries at Mooiberge or Polkadraai farms, but did you know there’s also a lavender farm, where you can taste and purchase award-winning wines and pick lavender?
Canettevallei is a charming wine and lavender farm cuddled in the Stellenbosch Kloof, about 10km outside town, along the “Ou Kaapse Hardepad” — the original road to Cape Town.
The farm, which dates to 1682, is home to both the Super Single Vineyards boutique vineyard, and Canettevallei lavender.
Co-owner Daniël de Waal is the winemaker, inspired by his mentors in Saint-Émilion and Tuscany. The lavender side of the business is his wife, Ingrid’s baby.
Most of their grapes are sourced from “super” special vineyards in the region: Stellenbosch is a superb area for the classic Bordeaux grape varieties that they use in PELLA (meaning “place of gathering” referring to the union of terroir and vines), their Coastal range of chardonnay, chenin, sémillon, pinotage, malbec, cabernet sauvignon and sangiovese.
They also have a vineyard near Sutherland in the Highland Karoo area, grown at an altitude of 1,500m, which they use in their Mount Sutherland range. South Africa’s “gateway to the universe” and our coldest town has proved to be a somewhat madcap site for a remote vineyard, which is a constant fight with baboons, birds and weather.
For their premium King and I blend of cabernet sauvignon and merlot, they use the top part of their Granietbult cabernet block (where the soils have more white granite crystals, giving the wine a more perfumed red fruit flavour), and old bush vine merlot from the Verlatenkloof Vineyard.
Almost all wines are sold through their tasting room, with some exports to Europe and Singapore.
The Mount Sutherland vineyards are grown in virgin soils: because it’s so cold, there are no vineyard diseases so they haven’t sprayed any pesticides, ever, but it’s growing “like a jungle”, explains Ingrid, who also runs Canettevallei’s lavender operations.
Ingrid de Waal, who owns the Canettevallei lavender farm. (Photo: Georgina Crouth)
When the vineyard in Sutherland starts budding in November, it’s at risk of black frost, which affects every other harvest. With baboons and birds also a constant worry, they have special challenges in this vineyard.
“It’s now very strange-looking. We have eagle-eyes to ward off the birds. It only works for a short time so it’s a constant battle. We fire gas cannons to chase away the baboons, and we irrigate the buds to create a frozen capsule to protect them.”
The payoff is worth it: when they do have a crop, it’s a very special harvest, of highly rated wines, although all Super Single Vineyards’ wines are four-star plus awarded by the Platter’s Guide.
The Mount Sutherland syrah is an impressive expression of its unique terroir. The vineyard’s high altitude ensures cool summers with daytime temperatures rarely exceeding 32°C and night-time lows of around 5°C, which significantly contribute to the wine’s flavour profile. Intense sunlight is another key factor in achieving exceptionally ripe, yet supple tannins. While the grapes themselves are notably smaller than average shiraz grapes, the fruit is highly concentrated with remarkable colour.
Inspired by her time in Provence, Ingrid planted her first lavender patch in 2005, soon after their last baby was born. Lavender essential oil was her first product and still her “raison d’être” she says: pure, chemical-free and hand-harvested at peak bloom, typically in the first or second week of January. Visitors can pick a French-English hybrid lavender between May and October.
The lavender used in the essential oils is Lavandula Abrialis, which is the same as grown in Provence.
Ingrid says they have two hectares of the essential oil variety, and about a hectare of the purple hybrid that is in full bloom for five months during the winter. “It attracts many visitors. Before we planted this, visitors would ask where the lavender was because they were expecting to see fields of purple flowers, but the essential oil lavender blooms for a short period of time in summer, when everyone’s at the beach. This gives us a wonderful purple flush for months.”
Visitors to Canettevallei outside Stellenbosch can pick lavender or taste wines from some unusual vineyards. (Photo: Supplied)
There’s a farm shop, where natural soaps, dry lavender products, honey, candles, cordials, vintage products and other goods are sold, while wine tastings are hosted next door, besides a crackling fire.
People want an experience when they visit a tasting room, which is why they decided to offer lavender essential oils as a compliment to the wines.
Three years ago, after Covid, they introduced lavender picking to kickstart tourism to the farm. “I’d been thinking about this for a while. When we launched it we were overwhelmed by the reaction and the popularity. That first year, we saw people bursting into tears spontaneously, while picking the lavender.”
That’s probably because flower picking has such a mood-lifting effect on people, especially if they’re feeling down, she says. “When you pick lavender, you focus quite a bit, hunt for stems, tend to forget your worries, and you involve all your senses: you feel the textures, smell the fragrance, hear the birds, and ground yourself with Mother Nature. It can be quite overwhelming.”
Canettevallei is a family affair, so the De Waals rope in their three daughters to help in the shop and tasting room over weekends.
It’s become hugely popular, thanks to TikTok. Once word got out to students about the lavender picking, girls would bring their reluctant boyfriends, and in the end, nobody would want to leave.
“It’s just snowballed.” DM
Visit canettevalleilavender.co.za
