The family business on the farm Groenendal near Wellington has just released a gift package of fruitcake and Shiraz red wine, namely Ardens Andreu, and immediately reaped the rewards. Owner Hennie Andrews and his competent team received the Cape a la Carte Legend Award 2004 for the most memorable way in which the product was introduced.
The Ardens Andreu package is a permanent product and not a once off presentation. The Cape a la Carte festival was held in Cape Town recently and the awards recognise excellence and herald the extraordinary, the most memorable and the most creative.
The ingredients for the fruitcake in this awarded presentation have been passed down from one Andrews generation to the next. Weighing in at 1,5 kg, the cakes are matured in locally produced brandy for six months in the cellar at Groenendal. The 2003 Shiraz which is the fruitcake's partner in the gift package was the first wine vinified in the Groenendal cellar.
Third generation baker Hennie Andrews founded the franchise King Pie in 1991 when the family was still living in Pretoria, as well as the bread bakery franchises Butterfield and La Banette. The Andrews family bought the farm Groenendal at the foot of Bainskloof a couple of years ago to satisfy their passion for food and wine.
"Our family has been baking for many generations and it is a wonderful experience to combine it with making wine here in the Boland. I sold all three franchises a couple of years ago to become part of the winelands," says Hennie.
It is their love for both products that inspired the family to create the concept of fruitcake and Shiraz as perfect partners for a special tasting experience.
"The flavours of spice, pepper and cloves in Shiraz combine perfectly with the very similar flavours of the fruitcake, while the meso-climate in the Wellington ward suits top quality Shiraz red wines. That is why we married the two and the results leave a very warm feeling in our hearts," says Hennie.
Ardens Andreu is the trade name for both the gift package and the Shiraz wine on its own. Ardens is Latin for "passion for" and Andreu is the original Irish name for Andrews.
The most important hands on the fruitcake are those of Hennie's daughter, Amy-Lee, who is also responsible for the marketing, while his wife Annatjie manages the packaging.
Hennie was practically involved in making the wine in his cellar without any formal training, but gives a lot of the credit to his co-winemaker and viticulturist, Howard Heugh from the previously disadvantaged community in Wellington, who now is part of the heartbeat at Groenendal.
According to Howard, who has the Higher Certificate in Oenology from Elsenburg Agricultural College and who is currently studying Agriculture at the Cape Technicon, all the grapes for the Ardens Andreu Shiraz 2003 were bought from a neighbouring wine farm in Wellington.
"Shiraz delivers excellent results in this area. Our aim from the start was low volume and high quality and therefore the identified vineyards were culled to produce a low yield of only 6 tons per hectare. The result is highly concentrated flavours in the grapes.
"In the cellar at Groenendal the best bunches were selected by hand and after that only the healthiest grapes from each bunch. The wine fermented very slowly under cool conditions and was matured in four different kinds of new French oak barrels. To fully express the art of winemaking, the big challenge lied in blending these different barrels to ultimately create the finest wine possible. The Ardens Andreu Shiraz 2003 has prominent but smooth flavours of cloves, nutmeg, spice, coffee and cream. Everyone who tasted it at the Cape a la Carte festival was highly impressed and that made us very happy," says Howard.
Six hectares of Shiraz were planted at Groenendal three years ago and the first grapes for vinification were harvested this year. The 2004 Ardens Andreu Shiraz wil thus consist of grapes bought from the neighbouring wine farm and grapes cultivated at Groenendal, which will raise the volume from 10 000 bottles to 20 000 bottles.
"You are grateful and blessed when a family shares the same passions and therefore make a good team. The serenity of Wellington and our baked family tradition all work in our favour," says Hennie.
For more information on this unique Ardens Andreu fruitcake and wine, call 021 873 2286 or 083 625 0106, or e-mail groenendal2003@yahoo.com
Caption
Proudly displaying their awarded product, Ardens Andreu, are from left Howard Heugh, Hennie Andrews and Amy-Lee Andrews. This fruitcake and wine package received the Cape a la Carte Legend Award 2004 for the most memorable way in which the product was introduced