WINDMILL CELLAR in Paarl is celebrating a decade of delicious farmers’ markets on Saturday, October 5. This amazing fresh produce market has drawn the crowds for the past 10 years with unbeatable local products.
The co-operative cellar opened its tasting venue in 2006, which enabled it to broaden its offering to the public. According to cellar master Danie Marais, the introduction of a farmers’ market was a natural extension of activities to appeal to more visitors. “We host the farmers’ market on the first Saturday of every month, except in January, and it has become a unique lifestyle offering,” he says. “Wine lovers like an entertaining and educational wine experience and the market provides the perfect opportunity for them to taste and buy or wines as well as delicious produce.
“The Windmeul farmers’ market has proven to be an extremely popular meeting place and draws market goers from far and wide. Historically, the local farming community brought their grain to be milled at the windmill that was on site and it is great to see this tradition continuing.”
Marais began the market by personally approaching producers and suppliers and carefully sourcing top quality products from the region. “Windmeul wines have become synonymous with the quality and craftmanship we wanted to continue this with the farmers’ market,” says Marais. “Our focus is on fresh and preserved food products as well as excellent quality meat and chicken. Consumers have become more demanding about the products they buy and artisanal products that have been crafted with care are very trendy at the moment. We also feel that it is important to be proudly Paarl and to support local and sustainable businesses.”
Left to right: Mart-Mari Truter (wine sales), Johnny Fortuin (senior cellar assistant) and Danie Marais (cellar master)
Celebrate the Windmeul farmers market’s 10th anniversary on October 5 with live music by Herman Kleynhans from the group TWEE and Wynand Windpomp. Come and enjoy a lively atmosphere with great children’s entertainment and lucky draws with fun prizes throughout the day. The market runs from 8am till 12pm, but visitors can sit back and relax with live music and wine sales only wrapping up at 3pm. During the farmers’ market, the tasting room offers 10% discount on wines.
Windmeul Cellar was established in 1944 and currently harvests approximately 13 000 tons of grapes annually. It was in the headlines recently when renowned British wine critic Tim Atkin named it the best co-operative cellar in the country in his latest South African report, which is considered a benchmark publication in the global wine industry. The cellar performs consistently well in varietal competitions such as the ABSA Top 10 Pinotage competition.
For more information, call 021 869 8100 or click here. Follow @WindmeulKelder on social media for the latest news and updates.