Cabrière Estate Better than Prozac

Filed in archive South African Wines , Wine Tours on June 6, 2006

If you are ever in the neighborhood, this winery in South Africa might be just the place to relax, unwind, and sample some wine.

This advertorial from Wine News claims this place beats taking Prozac:

A visit to Cabrière estate in Franschhoek is bound to rekindle your love affair with the finer things in life. So for a natural high, ditch the Prozac and sample instead the Cabrière experience - an intoxicating mix of colourful characters, gorgeous Gourmet fare and blissful bubblies.

Cabrière is home to the Pierre Jourdan sparkling wines (produced in the Cap Classique or traditional Methode Champenois style) and Haute Cabrière still wines. The estate focuses solely on producing wines from the classical cultivars of the Champagne region, namely Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

Back in the mid-eighties the esteemed SA viticulturist Professor Eben Archer declared Cabrière's Middagkrans sites (at 450 meters above sea level) ideally suited to the cultivation of Pinot Noir. "Eben said to me 'if you don't plant Pinot Noir here I'll never talk to you again'!" recalls cellarmaster Achim von Arnim with a chuckle. The estate's lower lying sites had the perfect soil conditions and microclimate for Chardonnay.