From December 2025 until February 2026, something exciting is happening at Hasher Family Wines. The estate will be hosting Epoché, a new seasonal pop-up featuring multi-course feasts created by Michelin-starred chefs Edwin and Tom Vinke of De Kromme Watergang in the Netherlands.

The menu will blend their creativity with the Hemel-en-Aarde valley’s award-winning terroir. The pop-up is a collaboration between the talented Vinke duo, the team at Hasher Family Wines and the family behind two beloved Hermanus spots, Ficks and Daan’s Bakery.

Edwin says that while the menu for Epoché is still taking shape, the location and its ingredients will guide it.

“The surroundings are everything. I arrived yesterday evening and we walked through Hasher Family Wines’ conservation areas as the light was fading. The buchu were flowering – the scent stopped me in my tracks. That’s the kind of detail I’m here for. You can’t write a menu from a distance. You have to smell the soil, touch the leaves, meet the people who tend the land.” And that’s just what he’s doing.

“This morning, I visited a local abalone farm. We’ll be using their fresh algae, but also their filtered ocean water to boil potatoes. Imagine that – potatoes cooked in the very sea that borders this valley. I’m also in contact with one of the neighbouring apple and pear farms, and we’re already discussing pears that will come into season mid-January. The menu will evolve as the season evolves; it must remain alive, responsive to what the land offers in each moment.

“Every element of the environment is folded into a single gesture. That’s the approach. I’m spending this week meeting suppliers, foraging, tasting, learning. The menu will be a portrait of this place, in this season, through the hands that work it.”

Taking its name from the ancient Greek word meaning “a pause in judgment”, Epoché’s dining space is set beside the farm dam, surrounded by vineyards and mountain slopes. The pairings with Hasher Family’s cool-climate wines are central to the experience, and the Hasher family have given Edwin complete freedom.

“The wines are deeply expressive of this terroir – wines that genuinely speak of place. I love that philosophy. It mirrors my own,” he says.

“As for the pairings, I’m leading the process without preconceived rules. A rosé with a main course? A red with dessert? Why not, if the flavours ask for it? Wine and food shouldn’t follow conventions – they should follow each other. The harmony I’m after isn’t about textbook matches. It’s about creating a conversation on the palate, where neither the dish nor the wine overshadows the other, but instead, they reveal something new together. That’s the magic we’re chasing.”

 

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What does he hope to take back to Europe from this South African experience? His answer is deeply philosophical. “Of course, I’m here to understand the native flavours, the way ingredients behave in this climate, the techniques shaped by this culture. That’s essential. But what I know I’ll carry home are the people – the farmers, the foragers, the winemakers. Their stories. The way they speak about their land. The connections we make over a shared meal or a morning spent harvesting together.

“I’ll also be cooking over fire here, using wood that Hasher has kept aside for me – Port Jackson, an alien tree they’ve been clearing from the conservation area. There’s something profound in that: taking what doesn’t belong and transforming it through flame into something that nourishes. Cooking over fire is, of course, deeply woven into South African culture. It’s a technique I know well, but here it carries different meaning, different memory. Cooking is never just about ingredients. It’s about the hands that grew them, the traditions that shaped them, and the generosity of those who share their knowledge. That’s what deepens my work. South Africa will leave its mark not only in flavours, but in the way I see my own landscape when I return. That exchange – that’s what makes this meaningful.”

Epoché opens for lunch from 12pm on Wednesday to Sunday, and for dinner from 4pm on Wednesday to Saturday from the beginning of December. Bookings are open online.