Woke up to load shedding – that was not expected- the area went into Phase 4 today (meaning load shedding 3 times day) – so not much luck getting emails/texts.
Had a quick breakfast then Johnny drove us to meet Liane in Plettenberg Bay. We missed the turn off but got to her place a little later than expected.
It was so great to see her – she pretty much looks the same as I remember her. She took us to this gorgeous farm that had once been a Polo club but has now been turned into a winery.
Bitou Vineyards – Derek, their general manager gave us a tour. They have kept the Equestrian look and feel but turned the inside into a working winery
It was good to chat to Derek and it was nice to know that he was interested in what we were doing on our small operation. Penny told him about our sheep in the vineyards and he was genuinely interested in getting more info from her.
We walked a few rows of the vineyard. Because of the humidity here, their major issue is with mildew – both Downey and Powdery as well as Botrytis.
They do a sparkling process which they call ‘methode cap classique’ or MCC. Same as our Methode Champenois. He had a riddling cage called a gyro set up similar to what Eric (the guy that does my sparkling) has.