Porterville, situated only a 140 km from Cape Town is the ideal destination for city folk to smell, taste and experience local products. Historically, this little country town’s economy was dominated by the wheat industry, but during recent years alternative crops have been introduced and creative processing of local produce adopted. The common trend, encouraged by an international sustainable and healthy lifestyle approach is organic living. The summer season is the best time to visit as this is when most of the produce are harvested and the hands-on experiences are prolific. Choose your own destinations and design your own itinerary to fit your schedule.
1. Andante Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Is made from olives grown on the Wêreldsgeluk Olive Estate near Porterville. It is a family-owned and run business, born of a dream to make great olive oil. Owner Willie Duminy and manager Han-Hendrik Basson, planted their first trees in 2006, and now have 3189 hectares under cultivation in an intensive system, with 34 000 trees of 7 cultivars. A combination of the best organic and scientific farming practices are implemented. Its a flagship brand, Andante, is made solely with olives from Wêreldsgeluk and has earned national and international accolodaes which include first positions with the SAOlive Awards and amongst others, the New York International Extra Virgin Olive Oil Competition.
2. Indie Ale:
Bernard Kruger and wife Susan have bravely pioneered the growing craft beer industry and introduced their own unique range of beer as brewed on the farm KleineLiefde, just outside of Porterville. Indie Ale is a family owned micro-brewery with the ambition of later becoming a spirit distillery. The name Indie, resonates their independence from the mainstream trends, as revealed in their first three beers, aptly named for local heritage: the 24-River Blonde Ale, the Cochoqua Red Ale and the Porter’ville Porter. Visit the Indie Ale tasting room for tasting and a short tour of the brewery. Its attractive décor and shaded outdoor seating, makes it an ideal lunch stop over weekends. Light lunches include pizza and other homemade dishes.
3.Tulbagh Wine Cellar:
Porterville Cellar - The Porterville Cellar forms part of the Tulbagh Wine Cellar, which after its merger in 2006 became one of the largest cellars in the country. Porterville is rated among the top 27 of 388 wine farms, producing almost 12 million litres of wine annually. Porterville has been certified to manufacture organic wines. Very few large-scale commercial wineries have received this accreditation, as it requires strict control and management of conditions and pests. During December and February the Cellar is a hive of activity as grapes are brought in by the truckload from the surrounding farms. Wine connoisseurs should pop in at the Porterville Cellar for a taste of the Porter Mill Station range of export wine, recently branded as one of Porterville Tourism’s trademark products.
4.Magic, micro greens:
An increased emphasis on healthy living has led to the revolution of the standard garden salad and today most grocery store shelves boast a variety of gourmet greens. Award winning farmer Steve Botha, started his 0.7ha garden more than 10 years ago. This ‘backyard-garden’, inside the town of Porterville, has since literally grown to such an extent that he now cultivates an additional 1.2ha farm outside of town which supplies micro herbs, baby salads and veggies and edible flowers to close on 120 restaurants in Cape Town, as well as to an established grocery chain. Join Steve on a stroll through his garden in the heart of town and learn about the medicinal properties of common garden species and see how micro greens cultivation takes place.
5.Delicious:
Situated in the centre of the town Porterville, on the main street, Delicious is now the official point of sale and a tasting station of local Porterville produce. Lizelle Wentzel has recently moved to Porterville and immediately grabbed the opportunity to promote the area’s rich talent. All the products in the shop are hand assembled. Olive oil, Fig preserve and freshly baked cookies are amongst the products on sale and available for tasting. A variety of local artists also provide handcrafts and artworks to exhibit in the shop.This makes Delicious the ideal stop for gifts and souvenirs.
6.Figfun:
Is the brainchild of Karin and her mother-in-law, the late Petro Knoetzen, to deal with figs on their farm Eikenhof, not destined for the export market. Husband, Hanro, planted the first fig trees in 2007 and today produces Parisian and Ronde de Bordeaux figs for overseas markets. Figfun produces a range of products and preserves, jams, chutney, salad dressing and dried fruit and fruit rolls. Granadillas, also grown on the farm, are added to some fig products as the flavours complement each other. All products are individually handled and no preservatives added, not even sulphur in the dried products. The end of December/beginning of January sees the start of the harvest and this continues for approximately four uninterrupted months. Figfun products are available in town at the Porterville Pharmacy and local produce supplier, Delicious.
7.Exotic fruits and home brews:
Houdconstant Farm, outside Porterville, is home to garagiste Fan Olivier. A wide variety of produce is harvested on the farm including grapes, pomegranates, citrus and vegetables. The farm is also a processing plant for the power fruits, pomegranates and dragon fruit. The fruit is sourced from the area and the pips and juice exported to the USA and UK. Fan’s latest addition to his crops is lemon grass – an increasingly popular ingredient of modern dietary preferences. Figs and other seasonal vegetables from the surrounding farms are also packaged on the farm. The farm also specialises in producing barrels of fermented wine. During harvesting season (February) visitors can see how barrel fermented wine is produced according to the old ways with a vintage winepress.
8.Berghoff Proteas:
Three kilometres from town, the winding Dasklip Pass leads the way to Porterville-on-the-Mountain. This route offers a spectacular panorama of the area and as one steadily climbs higher ‘fynbos’ fragrances fill the air. On reaching the summit a gravel road takes one to Berghoff, an export, cut flower farm and home to the endemic Proteamagnifica. Owners Margot and Marius Huysamer have been farming with cut flowers since 2009. Join Margot for a drive through the fields of Barbis, Ice Queens and Snow Princesses. The packing shed will enchant all flower lovers. Here deft hands clean the proteas of excess leaves and the perfect flower heads are carefully placed in tissue clad boxes for their overseas journey. Visitors are welcome to arrange a short tour of the farm and packing sheds. Flower season is June to December.
9.Disas in the Groot WinterhoekWilderness Area:
The winding Dasklip Pass takes one up the mountain and to the Groot Winterhoek Wilderness Area, outside Porterville. The Reserve comprises of 30 608 hectares and include rare, threatened and endemic vegetation species. During the summer months of January and February the area offers a spectacular display of nature, as the DisaUniflora (the red disa), blooms along the streams in the Reserve. It is the only place in South Africa where one can see fields of these flowers in nature. There’s plenty to do in ‘Groot Winterhoek’ besides taking photographs of flowers. The Reserve itself has accommodation available and surrounding farms also offer a variety of facilities.
