It is harvest-time in the Winelands – surely the most exciting time of the year on a wine farm. More than wine, harvest-time also offers grapes and must – two lovely seasonal ingredients to cook with. Last year we shared the story of must – its ancient history and how it has probably been introduced...

La Motte has always been committed to the preservation of our heritage, culture and art. To further this focus, a series of very interesting talks has been introduced. The upcoming programme includes: Fynbos in Franschhoek Thursday, 13 March 2014 Protecting the environmental heritage is a high priority at La Motte and includes the protection of...

Late summer in the Cape Winelands offers a bounty of fruit and therefore the traditional cuisine of the area uses fruit in all kinds of ways – in desserts, pastries, confectionery, salads… Pierneef à La Motte restaurant’s late summer menu celebrates the season with a light and playful festival of summer fruit in delicious dessert...

Jan van Riebeeck planted the first melons at the Cape. In the Netherlands and later at the Cape, the fruit was served thinly sliced and eaten with salt and sometimes with pepper. As an interesting aside, the first melons harvested at the Cape were quite small and, in 1659, Jan van Riebeeck declared that a...

Wentelteefjes (or French Toast) with dried fruit compôte. From our Cape Winelands Cuisine cookbook (page 27). This dish can be traced back more than 2000 years to a Roman chef called Apicius, who cooked for the aristocracy during the time of Christ. Where and when the name French toast was created is uncertain; however, it...

A piece of antique furniture can cause various reactions. Certainly the initial reaction would be based on the aesthetics – the instinctive attraction or dislike. But being antique the next thought would probably be about the history of the piece. With its commitment to the preservation of culture and heritage, not only did La Motte,...

Summer in the Cape Winelands easily sees temperatures in the late thirties and even early fourties and a well-chilled glass of wine, is just the answer to the heat. But does serving your wine at a really low temperature affect the taste? Renowned wine expert, Jancis Robinson says: “It is impossible to over-estimate the effect of...

The harvest at LaMotte has started and as per our annual tradition we came together for a Blessing of the Harvest, just as the first grapes arrived in the cellar. We also invite our visitors to celebrate this special time of the year with us with a tour, talk and taste of the harvest. Beautiful...

We recently introduced the 2009 vintage of our signature Hanneli R wine of which a mere 3 900 individually numbered bottles were released. 2009 is regarded as having been an extraordinary vintage in South Africa and La Motte Cellarmaster Edmund Terblanche explains why he regards 2009 as arguably the best vintage the past ten years....

So you received this special bottle of wine for Christmas and you managed to get through January without opening it. Now you know you are serious about laying it down for maturation. Here are a few pointers as to the ideal conditions for maturation: Make sure that the wine lends itself to maturation. This is...