Thanks to Dana Buys and wine maker Susan Erasmus for a fantastic vertical tasting of Sauv B from 2006 to 2009, plus Barrique and shiraz and Boet Erasmus, as well as tank and barrel samples of 2010 wines. Total turnaround after not so great first experience. We’re now huge fans!

What a wonderfull tasting 2010 tank samples and a wonderfull time with the owner and winemaker. Total new lookout of them. Do understand their wines now and will always support them from now.

The setting at Vrede en Lust is fantastic and I enjoyed the atmosphere. We found the hostess to be very friendly and informative if a bit slow between the wines. We were slightly dissapointed with the quality of the first wines. I likes the Sav Blanc but think that there are similar quality wines that are slightly cheaper. The higher quality Boet Erasums and Reserves were very nice.

Thanks for taking the time to reply Dana, and thanks also for the offer of a tasting with you and Susan. I’d like to take you up on that. How do we set something up? About those 30ml tots…. more like 20ml on what was obviously generally not a good day in the tasting room.

Dear Diana
I am very sorry to hear about the poor experience you had at Vrede en Lust on the 5th of January. We normally get excellent feedback and I take input like yours very seriously. We did battle somewhat on the 5th as one of our tasting team called in sick as well as one of the tasting room cleaning staff. It had been very busy over the Christmas/New Year period and I think it showed on the day. For this I apologize!

I have asked the tasting team to stop referring to the WineX awards as it can be misleading if not fully explained. For the record, the tasting room policy is 30ml-tasting tots, which is normally measured to a printed line in the large format tasting glasses we use. We believe in the value of our free tasting policy and offer wine by the glass for those who want to drink rather than taste the wine.

As for the Mocholate Malbec you refer to, it is an interesting and certainly very popular style of wine. While some of our wines, like the Boet Erasmus or the Barrique, are aimed at serious wine lovers, we also make other wines for the broader consumer market. We do not expect to have the wines appeal equally to everyone, but the mix seems to work well judging by very strong sales growth overall.

I would like to invite you back for a tasting with Susan and myself where we can look at some of the more serious wines and the evolution of the Sauvignon Blancs over the last few vintages.

The good, the bad and the downright dodgy. Also known as Lies, damn lies and statistics.
Okay, here’s the good: wonderful gardens, lovely restaurant, beautiful tasting room, and stunning, panoramic amphitheatrical views. Nice Chardonnay (had a bottle with lunch at Cotage Fromage) and great Bordeaux blend Boet Eramus 2007. Too young now but all the components to age beautifully.
The bad: there’s efficient and effective; and then there’s frenetic, edgy and wired. Which left us on edge and tense too. Not the atmosphere one wants for a relaxed holiday tasting. The tasting is free but heck, with the mean little thimblefuls poured (not enough for a proper taste let alone a back taste) I’d rather pay Rx for a limited selection. And what’s with the hostess grabbing the glass with the 2ml wine it and swirling it? For flip’s sake! Don’t assume the guests know nothing about tasting wine. Ask. Explain. Once. Oh, and what the hell have they done to their Malbec? There’s perfectly good coffee being sold at the restaurant…
The downright dodgy: Says Blondie as she’s pouring (no, dripping 2ml) Sauv B into the glass (3,5 stars in Platter for those of us who still regard it as a useful guide): ‘One of the 10 best white wines in South Africa.’ By whose standards? I ask. ‘The members of the public who attended WineX in Cape Town and Joburg,’ quoth she. Well, there you go then. The same punters who consider coffee pinotage to be SA’s best red wine. And even it’s not really accurate. The Sauv B only appeared on the top 10 list for WineX CT. You can fool some of the people some of the time.

Hi Eddie and Malcolm. Thanks for your reviews and input. We put a great deal of effort into our cellar-door experience and it is gratifying to see it being appreciated.

Re the availability of our wines in Gauteng (or the rest of the country) a few points:
1. We have no plans to focus on the supermarkets – the costs of the whole supply chain is too heavy and either we make no money or the wine prices have to go up too much.
2. We are moving LeRoux Geldenhuys up to Gauteng in Feb ‘10 in order to better serve the wine shops, restaurants and the like in Gauteng. He is from the estate, knows the products and our direction really well and did a similar job really well in the Cape.
3. We have a very popular Vrede en Lust WineClub where members sign up for 2 or 4 shipments a year, based on their wine preferences and these shipments go out with special discounts and with free delivery. http://www.vnl.co.za/our_wines/vnl_wine_club/
4. We have the full product range available via our eStore at http://www.vnlshop.co.za. Our WineClub members get their 15% or 20% discount via the eStore plus free delivery to your doorstep!
Other clients get discounts based on volume purchased and delivery to most of the country is only R50 per case of 12 wines.

So we have tried to ensure that our customers get a decent level of access to our wines via the warehouse & logistics system employed. Hopefully you don’t run dry!

We also have a fan page on Facebook that may be useful
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Groot-Drakenstein-South-Africa/Vrede-en-Lust-Wine-Estate/82313629648?ref=ts

All of the best for 2010 from Vrede en Lust!

Stunning wines, beautiful scenery but really needs to improve their availability in Gauteng.

Amazing service and even better wines! Just a real pity that they are not for sale in the retail stores we are used to. Although I will admit that it does give me a really good excuse to go back for another visit!

We were at Vrede en Lust for a birthday on Sunday – restaurant is lovely and the cheese boards are excellent value. The Sav Blanc didn’t go down too badly either!

We visited Vrede and Lust yesterday afternoon for a late lunch and spent the whole afternoon on the couch drinking their fabulous Shiraz, snacking on a cheese platter or two and chilling. The restaurant is a great venue but unfortunately we didn’t get to see much of the view as it was raining. We’ll definitely be back in the summer!

Thanks Cobus. Unfortunately (or fortunately!) our Sauv Blanc, Karien (Chenin Blanc) & Viognier are sold out at present. The 09 vintage is ready for bottling on 20 July. We hope to have them out by the 2nd week of August and they are exciting wines.
We give them a bit of extra time on the lees and do not rush them into the bottle. We are ramping up production a bit with our Elgin vineyards coming into proper production, so hopefully we last better next year!
The 08 Malbec is the first of the Vrede en Lust red wines released 100% made by Susan and I am glad you enjoyed it! We will release more of her red wines at the end of August and they should point where we are headed.
Sorry re the number of staff on the 16th. We had a very busy day against expectation with the rain and poor weather. It is very difficult to predict staffing needs this time of year. Our goal is to have quality vs quantity in terms of staff though, so I am pleased Elzanne managed to give you brilliant service during the busy period!
Look forward to your next visit when we have the new wines out. If you join our facebook fan-page you will get a heads up re new releases etc

We visited there yesterday afternoon at about 14:00. When we arrived the restaurant were full, but not to capacity, The whole farm looks great, brilliant setting. Amazing view of the valley. Upon entering the tasting room, there were no one to greed us. Around the corner there was a group from america, doing tasting. Our hostess, Elzanne, then come promptly to help us, and since we were the only other group, along with the americans, we got a seat on the comfy lounge chairs, overlooking the vineyard and mountains.

We were there ten minutes, when the whole tastingroom filled with people. There were a new lady, didn’t get her name, also helping. But two tasting room staff for about 40 people, are bit hectic, service were slow. Would have liked a nother person or two.

When Elzanne come round to us, she sat down and gave us a lecture on every wine we tasted. Brilliant service, even though she was so busy, running around. We tasted the Jess 2008 dry rose first(r30). After that it was the Marguerite 07 chardonay(r80), not my taste. After that it was the Barrique 08 reserve sauvignon blanc(r150), wooded, also not my taste. 3 of the 5 white wines were sold out.

After the so so white wines, we switched over to the red wines. First in the list was the shiraz 2006(r75), very nice smell, but fruity. Next the classic 2003(r50) and 2004(r60), very nice. 2004 have a nice aroma to it, but the 2003 tastes better. After that it was the Cara 2003, a cab/shiraz/merlot blend, r40 a bottle, very nice wine for its price. Next on list was the Malbec 2008 (r69). Personnaly my favourite wine. Very fruity wine. Last we tasted the simond 2005(r30), a shiraz cab blend. Very nice wine and good price.

So my overall experience was that the wines were not “amazing” but rather nice though. The only 1 that stood out was the malbec. Very nice, and the service was great, even though she was running around like a beheaded chicken. Definetly worth another visit. Really looking forward to taste the unwoded white wine!

great setting and their 2nd label is off the hook Chocolate and wine tasting im afraid is over rated and i think should be abolished

2008 I had one night stay in these beautyful rooms, had one of the best breakfirst ever .-) BUT at least I loved the Chenin Blanc. So green, extrem south african, and quite unique.

To all the staff, thanks for making us feel right at home after a crazy visited to the cheese and wine festival down the road.

Location, location, location! Vrede en Lust means peace and eagerness and it is definitely living up to it’s name. It’s a modern and super cool wine estate in the heart of the Cape Winelands.

We were welcomed by Anneke. She obviously has a great passion for wine and people. She made us feel very special and we tasted some amazing wines on the outside deck. The view was fantastic and we could not ask for a better setting. Definitely one to visit again and again!

vrede en lust is a great winery,they got awesom accommodation as well as great and friendly staff.keep up the good performans guys in the tasting room

vrede en lust wine farm is the best winery in the winelands they are a great team ,friendly, on arrival you feels home

Had a great time there today. Thanks 2 Le Roux. You were awesome dude. Best view in the valley so far.

Wow what a beautiful setting. Had lunch with Sunday jazz music, followed by an excellent tasting and a game of petanaque. Definitely one to add to your list to visit

As I said: Location, location, location!