Lovely living at Laborie

The scenery is truly breathtaking - imagine fields of bright green and beautiful old Cape French-style buildings at every turn. Add a gloriously sun-blessed day and you have a little slice of Paarl paradise. With the recent addition of a mobile bar, BardiBar, serving a range of craft beers on tap as well as bottled and moreish bar snacks, Laborie now offers three distinct dining options, making it a perfect all-day-stop venue - and if a little too much wine is consumed a perfect all-night-stop venue as well, as you can always book a stay in one of their charming Cape French-style houses. Rates are incredibly reasonable, starting from R645 per person sharing a night.

La-di-da BardiBar

We were lucky enough to be treated to a stay in one of the luxury suites recently: a sumptuous old-school classy en suite room. Arriving late on Saturday afternoon, we wasted no time in taking advantage of the picture-perfect day and headed to BardiBar for draughts and bar snacks under their outside umbrellas. A wonderfully generous Charcuterie platter, including Parma ham, coppa, smoked pork loin, wild boar salami, pate, a range of cheeses, tabouleh, olives and toasted ciabatta, was shared. Truly delicious, just typing this has my mouth watering all over again.

After a light stroll through the vineyards, a stop in at the Anglo-Boer War Memorial (keys to access this can be organised at the Taste Restaurant), and glass of champers while enjoying the view from the porch of our lovely room, it was time to head out for dinner on the terrace at the Harvest Restaurant. We decided to share the starter of Shitake mushrooms, which included brown-fried rice, bean sprouts, tender stem broccoli, asparagus and edamame beans cooked in a miso broth and topped by a sweet potato wonton. It was packed full of flavour and I was glad we chose to share as I would have battled to finish a whole portion myself, as it was so rich and intensely salty due to the miso broth.

For the main course, I couldn't resist the idea of a good steak and chips, so chose the 180g fillet accompanied with French fries, summer vegetables and a brandy-and-black peppercorn sauce. This was paired with the easy-drinking Laborie Merlot. Super-tender fillet and crispy chips did well to satisfy, so much so that not even the idea of the mouth-watering-sounding, warm soft-chocolate tart with white chocolate spring roll, hazelnut yoghurt parfait and candied orange peel could tempt me to indulge in more. I shall just have to return to Harvest to sample that dessert.

Tempting pairings and views for days

Waking to an Instagram-worthy morning the following day, we carried on our theme of great dining and drinking by starting with an a la carte breakfast served in the historic Manor House. Next, we moved on to the stunning Taste Restaurant deck, which overlooks a sea of vibrant vineyards, for some wine pairings. With great background music (Bombay Bicycle Club, Alt J and Matthew Mole all crossed our ears) and recently installed misters for those scorching days, it's a venue hard put to tear yourself away from. The pairings are just as tempting. Wine with olives, charcuterie or chocolate and macaroons with Méthode Cap Classique can all be sampled. We settled for the olive and chocolate wine pairings, the chocolate pairing being the real winner. Lemon verbena white chocolate paired with their fruity Laborie Chardonnay anyone?

Filled with great food and drink, we finally bade adieu to the lovely Laborie, vowing to return for a day of wine and beer tasting in the not-too-distant future.

For more info or to make a booking, go to laboriewines.co.za