This week Takuan is in Belgium visiting Zoë and Koen. While he is there they will be hosting a dinner to promote our wines.

This intimate dinner will give our Belgian wine lovers an opportunity to connect with our cellar master (Takuan) around a table full of delicious food designed to complement, and enhance, the flavours of the wines.

CC attribution Smaku on Flickr

It all sounds so wonderful … we really wish we could be there!

Takuan is on holiday but he has found time to fit in a few Cabriere related activites. He has hosted two dinners, with our wines, at the Ardeonaig Hotel in Scotland.

The hotel is owned by a South African - Pete Gottgens - who now resides in Scotland. Pete is an exceptional chef, he started the very popular Fishhoek Restaurant in London and has cooked on many occasions for Nelson Mandela and other dignitaries. Pete also happens to be a huge fan of our wines.

If Takuan’s latest comments, which include “Scotland loves our wines and loves me…”, are anything to go by he’s having a wonderful and very successful trip.

Takuan has only recently finished the 2010 Haute Cabriere Harvest and nows he’s jetting around Europe. He’s presently at the ProWein International Trade Fair Wines and Spirits Show to launch the Pierre Jourdan Tranquille into the German market.

In the last 18 months the Pierre Jourdan Tranquille has exploded locally. The demand of this delicious, gentle and elegant wine is growing exponentially. If you haven’t had a chance to sample our Tranquille we suggest you do it before it’s too late. It is the ultimate 2010 summer drink! If you’d like to order yourself a case or two just pop on over to the Cabriere Online Store.

If you’re in Düsseldorf, Germany, today is the last day of the ProWein Trade Fair and it’s your final chance to pay our Takuan a visit. He’s even more amazing in person than he is on this blog!

I don’t think most people realise just how close the last Franschhoek fire came to Haute Cabrière. Below are some post Franschhoek Fire images.

The fire moved from this part of the Franschhoek Valley to the Cabriere section - that's a long way to travel.

The upper Cabriere vines and the blackened Franschhoek Mountain. The brown pieces, dotted through the vineyard, are because the fire jumped with the wind. We were incredibly lucky not to lose the whole block.

Takuan stands on the road between the highest lying Cabriere vineyard and the blackened Franschhoek Mountain. It really was incredibly close!

If you’re interested in what’s happening at Cabrière at the moment then this video clip is for you.

Takuan - back from his recent lunch adventure at Haute Cabrière Restaurant - shows us what the Cabrière Chardonnay grapes are looking like, he talks about where they could potentially be used and then he explains (simply) how the weather is going to affect the 2010 harvest.

Last year we put together a very popular series of amateur videos focusing on lunch at Haute Cabriere.

This year we have a new menu which is just as good, if not better, than last year’s menu. To highlight the new additions we’ll be indulging in a video (or series of videos) entitled ‘Lunching with Takuan‘.

We will then post the video/s to this blog so you can watch and enjoy; because when it comes to describing food, wine and fun few do it better than Takuan. After watching any of the ‘Lunching with Takuan‘ videos you’ll know exactly what to order when you head out to Franschhoek for lunch or dinner at Haute Cabriere. So they’ll be both informative and entertaining.

We’ve scheduled time, to eat and film, this week Wednesday but this all depends on how frantic harvest is. If we’re super busy we’ll have to postpone until next week … although we’re not sure if our stomachs will survive another week without a delicious dose of Haute Cabriere cuisine.

2009 was a good year for Haute Cabriere and hopefully, because we continue to produce wine you enjoy drinking and sharing, 2010 will be just as good.

This year we will be tweaking our approach to blogging. We will still utilise video format (so you’ll have your Takuan fix) but we will now also include more written content.

The written content will focus on the Cabriere wines and Pierre Jourdan Méthode Cap Classiques, our customers, the events we attend, our Franschhoek Restaurant, Franschhoek and more. While the video content will continue to focus on Takuan, his passion for wine, Haute Cabriere and life in the wine industry.

We look forward to seeing you, at the farm or in the Haute Cabriere Online Store, and hearing from you on this blog throughout 2010.

Let the countdown begin. In less than a month Franschhoek will once again play host to the Franschhoek Champagne Festival.

Sure we’ve been going on about it but, lets face it, if you made Pierre Jourdan you’d also be going on about the Franschhoek Champagne Festival. It’s going to be amazing and Pierre Jourdan Cap Classique is going to be flowing. Bring your hats, your sunscreen and your designated driver (because you’ll definitely need one of those).

Block off the weekend of 4th, 5th and 6th of December 2009 - it’s going to be the best festival of 2009. Yeeha!

And now a little something short and sweet to get you in the mood … for the Franschhoek Champagne Festival - get that head out the gutter!

We know that one of the most upsetting things about living in JHB is the fact that Haute Cabriere is a whole two hour flight, and an additional one hour drive, away.

We don’t know how you do it!

It probably helps that the Haute Cabriere Chardonnay Pinot Noir is available through Woolworths (and a few other places) and the Pierre Jourdan range of Cap Classiques can be found at most wine outlets. But, obviously, we know that this isn’t enough because it doesn’t give you the chance to interact with the charm and personality that makes Cabriere so memorable (and exceptional).

So we’ve decided to bring the charm to you! Yes you heard right, this year we are once again exhibiting at JHB WineX. From the 27th - 30th of October pop in to the Pavillion (at the Sandton Convention Centre) and you’ll get to taste all our great Franschhoek Wine and Cap Classique and - of course - meet Takuan von Arnim.

Oh and, if for some serious reason, you can’t make it you can always order yourself a case, or three, from the Cabriere online store. There really is nothing quite like buying wine from the comfort of your couch.

The weather is just glorious and warm! I feel Summer coming on, and not a moment too soon. There is only so much rain a person can take.

We’re soon going to start discussing the 2009 Franschhoek Champagne and Cap Classique Festival. We’re planning on conducting a full online tasting of our Pierre Jourdan range - and I think we might even get my father (the famous Achim von Arnim) to conduct the tasting. It’s been a while since he’s appeared on the blog and I think you could all do with a healthy dose of use von Arnim men.

While you wait for us to get going with our Cap Classique tastings you can watch this little piece I put together. It’s a different piece of the farm, one that the majority of visitors never get to see.