Raising a glass to a PE wine farm
Cheers, Sandra! says Clinton Moodley
THEESCOMBE Estate is Port Elizabeth’s only wine farm, and the only place one can enjoy hearty burgers paired with wine. Sandra Futter’s story of venturing into the wine industry is honest and a delight to hear.
Sandra strikes me as somewhat eccentric when we first meet, but her passion for winemaking makes her likeable.
She doesn’t stop talking, but often you don’t want her to.
I arrive at the wine farm, impressed at the many grapes produced by her family’s vineyards.
She lets us taste the wine from them, giving us some history into how the family got started.
They had “this crazy idea” to produce wine in Port Elizabeth, she said, despite there being many challenges along the way. They planted their first seeds in 2006, but it was only a few years later when they successfully mastered the art of winemaking and bottling.
When you go to big wine farms they seldom reveal the hardships and the hard work that go into starting them.
Giving us a wine tour, Sandra comes across as immensely practical, and without giving too much away, she shares some industry wine techniques, although insisting that she herself is “still learning”.
Then she treats us to seven pairings, including pinotage and Sauvignon blanc.
Each pairing is better than the last. She gives each of us a cheese platter that is too good not to refuse. In them are peppered cheese, cheese with garlic, olives and biltong.
I pushed my biltong to Paul, a Frenchman, who Sandra cannot stop ogling.
Naturally, it’s all fun and Sandra later tells us about her weakness for Frenchmen.
Later, for dinner I have a ginormous fish with chips and her home-made tartar sauce, while the others have
burgers. It’s usual, but it pairs so well with a glass of wine.
By the end of the night, after discovering a new- found appreciation for white wine, I decide to test my wine connoisseur skills and pour white and red wine together to create a smooth blend.
Sandra and the other guests say they love it. Maybe I will help her brand it some time in the future.
If you are visiting PE or live in the city, make a trip to this wine estate and support local enterprise. – clinton.moodley@inl.co.za