Magic of Bubbles Champagne Festival spritzes up the Franschhoek wine route

It was a sparkling day in the Cape Winelands. On the lawns of the Huguenot Monument in Franschhoek, white marquees shaded buckets of flaked ice, speared with dewy bottles of French Champagne and Cap Classique.

Like humming birds drawn to nectar, wine lovers hovered around the tables, eagerly foisting little white tickets and empty champagne flutes at the wine makers in return for a fizzing flow of liquid bubbles. From there, they drifted across green lawns, soaking up sunshine and bubbles, chattering above the beat of live bands. It was a sort of secular heaven.

This year’s Magic of Bubbles Festival, held in Franschhoek from 3 to 5 December was probably the best possible way to jump-start the festive season. After all, there’s nothing quite as likely to put you in the mood for a party than a glass of bubbly in a beautiful place on a sunny day. Folllowed by another. And another. And, well, yes – another.

I did my best to taste everything available, including Nitida’s extraordinary Shiraz Cap Classique (a red bubbly, which wasn’t really to my taste, but very interesting nonetheless). When I discovered that even the hotdogs were exceptional, I extended my tastings to food. My lamb sausage hot dog came with a gourmet apricot mustard sauce that temporarily stopped me drinking and forced me to focus on guzzling.

We found marvellously gooey camembert and brie at another stand and spent the money we were supposed to use to buy oysters for our wine guru Harry Haddon there instead. (A tip: take plenty of cash, as the stands don’t have credit card machines and you will want to buy lots of food.) Shamefaced, we returned to the Backsberg stand, with hot dogs, biltong, dried sausage, chocolate brownies and cheese, but no oysters. After a second foray, we would have returned with strawberry cheesecake, except that we ate it all on the way.

Despite my best efforts, by the end of the day (and we were among the last to leave) I hadn’t managed to taste all the bubbly available. And we never did manage to get those oysters. Obviously, this is a very good excuse to go back and give it another try next year.