An extremely well organised and good-value-for-money festival filled with mugs of delicious soup, good wine and plenty of fun.
When is it?
Annually in July.
Where is it?
Various wine farms and establishments in the Rawsonville, Slanghoek, Goudini and Breede River areas.
How much does it cost?
A full weekend pass in 2019 was R250. This included a branded enamel mug and wine glass (yours to keep), along with half a mug of soup and 5 wine tasting coupons per participating winery or establishment.
Why should I go?
Apart from some really delicious soups, you get to explore some lesser known wine farms in an often overlooked part of the Western Cape. It is also excellent value for your money – in 2019 there were over 17 different soups on offer and 18 wineries and establishments to visit. That is a lot of soup and wine to get through! In addition, it’s extremely well organised.
I have attended plenty of festivals, but none have been as well organised and as good value for your money as Soetes and Soup in the Breedekloof Valley.
Wine festivals generally give you wine glass (of which you already have plenty of) along with wine tastings (sometimes you only get a smattering of coupons for wine tasting). At Soetes and Soup you get the glass and the wine tastings, but you also get a cute enamel mug to take home, as well as half a mug of soup at each wine farm. My friend and I managed to visit just over half of the participating wineries and each got through almost two litres of soup in two days!
The soups
These guys go all out with their soup with each farm making around 4 000 litres of soup for the weekend. Seasoned Soetes and Soup festival goers plan their itinerary by the soups and once you see what’s on offer, it’s not surprising! Here’s a few of the soups that were on the menu this year:
- Waterblommetjie Soup
- Beetroot, Ginger & Coconut Soup
- Mexican Meatball Soup
- Mushroom & Port Soup
- Turkish Red Lentil Soup with fresh Fennel Yoghurt
- Honey Roasted Carrot & Cumin Soup topped with Basil Foam
My favourite soups were the Honey Roasted Carrot & Cumin Soup at Bergsig Estate, the Thai Sweet Potato Soup at Monks Gin and the Beetroot, Ginger & Coconut Soup at Deetlefs Estate. The most generous portion of soup was at Mountain Ridge who gave us a full mug of thick Chicken & Vegetable Soup that had plenty of pasta shells at the bottom. Considering it was our first stop on the Saturday morning, it definitely lined our tummies for the day! Whilst half a mug of soup was included in your ticket, if you wanted more you simply paid R15 for a refill.
The wineries
As mentioned already, the event is extremely well organised, having detailed information available on the website as to what each participating winery and establishment has on offer for the day. There was live entertainment, food trucks, wine pairings, kiddies play areas, hiking trails, coffee stalls and discounts on wine. Apart from complimentary soup, you could tuck into curry and rice, potjiekos, roosterkoek, vetkoek, hamburgers, hotdogs and pizza. If you’d had enough of wine, some places had craft beers, gin cocktails or a licensed bar. In addition to all of this, you could also have Hanepoot Jelly Shots, Shiraz ice cream and wine slushies. You could even watch the rugby!
We arrived on the Friday afternoon and only managed to get to 10 places out of the 17 over the two days. Every place we visited had something different to offer and we loved exploring the valley while discovering some new wines and scoffing lots of soup! We also enjoyed our wine and food pairing at Bersig Estate, which was well worth the extra R120. In fact by the end of the weekend we were positively stuffed and had a bootload of wines to take home (the wine prices are also very reasonable and the port is downright delicious). Would I go again next year? Absolutely! I will just make sure I am there at 09h00 on Friday so I can fit more farms in!
Below are some images from the weekend to give you an idea of what to expect if you decide to get your soup on in the Breedekloof Valley next year!
Inside information:
When they say that the day ends at 17h00, they mean it! So don’t go to a wine farm at the last minute, thinking that once you are through the door you can carry on quaffing wine and drinking soup. Whilst you can linger for while once they are done you won’t be able to get any more soup or wine after closing time.
Published July 2019 | Tickets sponsored, wine pairing own cost