Wine Country

Ahhh, felt like coming home when we entered into the wine country, passing vineyard after vineyard… and my palate tingled with the mere thought of all the fabulous wine to be drunk instead of the staple standard fare of beer.

We stopped in Stellenbosch, the second oldest town in South Africa with gorgeous old buildings and tree lined streets. Excitingly we also had free upgrades (courtesy of driver Jase) in dorms at a hostel called Stumble Inn. Unfortunately we arrived here on a Saturday midday so only had a few hours to explore the shops which were numerous and very cool. Also had the best coffee I’d had all trip at a funky deli – the smell was enough to pull me in! Then with the shops all closed for the afternoon, we had to settle for what we did best and go to the pub for a drink or two. Turned into a large and drunken evening with several pubs and clubs featuring on the agenda before heading back to the very aptly named Stumble Inn (apparently it has a reputation for being a hard core drinkers hostel, so what could we do???).

The next day was our full day Easy Rider wine tour… just what I felt like with large amounts of alcohol still coursing through my veins!! Straggled out of bed in time for the 10.00am departure and was unsure if I would be able to handle the prospect of more wine, yet alone taste anything when remarkably started to feel better and by the time we arrived at the first winery was back on form. The tour covered the entire scenic mountain region, taking in Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek and promised to give us the chance to savour a variety of styles and vintages. First stop was Seidelburg Wine Estate and we had some good pointers on wine tasting (fill glass, drink… oh and involve senses for those who wanted to do it the proper way). Then into the wines, my favourites here being the pinotage and the shiraz. The whites were not anything to write home about and not really comparable to NZ whites in my humble opinion. One of the group who couldn’t be described as a wine snob (or even enthusiast) came up with some brilliant taste descriptions, my favourite being that one tasted of a sweaty Arab sandal!!

Onto the next winery Fairview which is amazing and had the added bonus of having a cheesery as well, so got to taste loads and loads of yummy cheese and olives. Outside the winery entrance is a stone tower with a bunch of goats that climb the tower via the planks circling the exterior which was hilarious. Needless to say, some of Fairview’s most famous cheeses are goat’s cheese and they even have a range of wines under ‘Goats Do Roam’ label. We were only supposed to have 6 tastings here but if you went further along the counter to a different person it was possible to try quite a lot more. Of course being the wine connoisseurs we are, most of us quaffed 10 or more!! The reds which dominated the range were fabulous – if you ever see SMV, Sangiovese or Barbera wines on the shelf at home buy them!!

Then it was to lunch, which we’d already phoned ahead our orders and glass of wine (Chargrilled vege pasta and red wine for me) and then on to the next two wineries in the afternoon. I’m ashamed to say that while I remember the look of the wineries and the scenery in the afternoon, I can not for the life of me remember the names of the wineries (even checked the net and was not prompted by the hundreds listed!) or much of what I drank. Lost the tasting notes as well. But I can assure you that it was all very nice and mostly coloured red. And there was quite a nice bubbly somewhere in there as well. And a cake for Jason’s birthday. Afterward we somehow had dinner out, a few more quiet drinks and then actually an early-ish night for me as enough was enough!!