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.

I think that my brother Tamo, our Cape Town Haute Cabriere ambassador, summed-up this past Bastille festival best … ”it was wild, it was fun and it was the most celebratory Franschhoek Bastille Festival ever! There were moments when I felt as if I was back in France in Springtime. Add to that the feeling of celebrating Madiba’s birthday and it was an experience impossible to beat!”

CC Attribution Franschhoek Wine Valley on Flickr

In fact over the weakend we enjoyed terrific Pierre Jourdan sales and, as one friend remarked, it looked like every Bastille visitor had a bottle of Pierre Jourdan in her / his hand.

If you were drinking Pierre Jourdan or Haute Cabriere this Bastille thank you for your support. If not, never fear, there is always next year!

Just a brief note, because I’m still traveling, to let you all know that the quality of our 2010 Pinot Noir grapes was excellent. So good, in fact, that I can’t get them out of my mind.

You know you’re obsessed when you dream about the grapes you harvested over a month ago.

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!

Valentine’s Day may be over (we hope you enjoyed your Belle Rose and Belgium Chocolate) but that doesn’t mean that you should stop showing your significant other that you care. One day, out of 364, just isn’t enough!

Over a lovely lunch with Takuan, where we explored the new menu items at our Franschhoek Restaurant Haute Cabrière, we were introduced to his opinions on love and Pinot Noir. Luckily we caught it on camera which means you can enjoy it too.

If you’re viewing this through our  Facebook fan page, and the video isn’t behaving, you’ll find on YouTube by clicking here.

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 week I took some time out of my ridiculously busy schedule (it is harvest after all) to sit down for a bite to eat at our Franschhoek Restaurant - Haute Cabriere.

If you’ve had a look at the new Haute Cabriere Menu (posted earlier in January) you’ll notice that Matthew Gordan has added a whole lot of new and exciting dishes to the Summer 2010 menu.

In this video clip I talk about how we decide on what wine to pair with which dish. I then go on to taste the new seared tuna dish and the new chickpea dish both paired with the increasingly popular Pierre Jourdan Tranquille.

I know, I know, it’s a tough life but - in my defence - someone has to do it!

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.