Why Plaisir de Merle has a place in my heart
Posted by ymartiny | Filed under Wine@ventures
Great Wine Capitals – Best of Wine Tourism 2011 – Blog Tour
Innovative Wine Tourism Experiences
Jackie welcomed us at the door. Yes, there was someone waiting for us at the door with the biggest most warming and welcoming smile ever. She showed us inside and seated us in the tasting room where odd pieces of vintage furniture were spread across a long and spacious room. An extensive table stretched down the center of the room and demanded everyone’s jaws to drop. The black and red wallpaper at the one end of the room seemed odd and out of place but strangely enough, sprinkled a bit of ‘modern’ over an already ancient interior. Enough, let’s leave this to the interior design queens, back to the farm.
A Regal Gryphon in gold is not just a brand at Plaisir de Merle (that can be seen everywhere you turn), but also a stamp of excellence and an oath to quality service. This was clearly illustrated in every detail of our interaction at this stop. Visitors get the opportunity to choose between a normal tasting, Flavour Sensation tasting or a Chocolate tasting. By process of elimination (and the fact that they ran out of chocolate), we opted for the Flavour Sensations.
The erection of side stations promptly followed with smartly decorated trays for two featuring portions of flavours that would accompany the tasting. Jackie had the innate ability to sense and acknowledged that we knew wine and left us to our own devices after a brief introduction of the wines. Full marks for reading your crowd Jacks, and an extra thousand points for apologising for everything that might have caused discomfort or hinted inconvenience. The pairing of food items, like dried tomato, biltong and nuts, might sound like the average accompaniment or bar snack you might find at a ‘smart’ night out with friends. Pairing these with the wines from Plaisir de Merle was extraordinary though and brought out the aromas and flavours of some of their best wines on the tasting list.
Even though this novel tasting experience was exquisite and the service impeccable, I fear that there is nothing else that might want me to come back as a regular or stay longer as a tourist. Having said that, I will definitely recommend Plaisir de Merle to every visitor passing through the area. The personal, intimate and out of the ordinary experience was a delightful alternative to the cold assembly line-type tasting rooms raped by corporate investment. How ironic was it then that I discovered Distell’s involvement … goes to show.
Also have a look at: http://www.batonage.com/?p=410
Tags: Best of Wine Tourism, Cape Town, Great Wine Capitals, Gryphon, GWC, Innovative Wine Tourism Experiences, Plaisir de Merle, Tourism, Wine
One Response to “Why Plaisir de Merle has a place in my heart”
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Hennie Says:
September 7th, 2010 at 09:30Interesting take on the place Martin. Have to agree on your take re the personal and intimate experience – not what you’d expect from Distell!
