During our research and planning, Julie found a tour company that shuttles people around to different wineries all day, and includes a guide who gives you some background and history of the area as you go through the towns. The cost of the wineries was included in the tour fee, so there was absolutely no stress or responsibility at each place...you just walk in, sit down at a table reserved for you, and begin your tasting. This sounded like a perfect way to introduce ourselves to an unfamiliar area, so Julie booked the tour in advance of the trip.
After another egg and bacon breakfast at the hotel, and a quick consult with the front desk about our daily activity, we set out on a beautiful hour-long drive out to the eastern wine country. One thing we discovered was that the day before we arrived it had been pouring rain and gusting wind, which was typical weather for Cape Town winters. However, from the moment we set foot off the plane to the morning we left Cape Town, we had all sunshine and no bad weather. By the time we left a few days later, the locals were asking us to stay so the weather would continue. Anyway, the drive was absolutely spectacular, with long rolling green hills, beautiful puffy clouds and thick green patches of trees lining the countryside. We knew we were in for a treat.
The drive to Stellenbosch.
We navigated our way relatively easily to the pre-determined meeting point where the shuttle would pick us up, and within minutes our van pulled up. Our driver for the day, Keith, got out of the car and introduced himself, and within seconds of knowing him, Julie and I knew this guy was going to be awesome! We got in the van to find that only two other people had booked the tour, so the four of us would have a relatively private, small tasting experience all day long. Definite advantage in the world of wine tasting! The two girls, in their early-mid 20's, ended up being from Texas, and were very easy to talk to. They were celebrating one of their birthdays, and they told us very early on that their goal for the day was "to get hammered." More on this later.
*SIDE NOTE* - Apparently as the van pulled up to meet us, Keith looked at us and then said to the two girls in the back, "That Julie looks thirsty!" Yep, already sizing up the wife as a boozer!
Once we were all situated in the van, Keith first drove us around downtown Stellenbosch and gave us the historical background of the town, its Dutch heritage, and some great information about the buildings and their original purposes. I think Stellenbosch was a unique blend of Napa and Solvang, with a wine-country setting in a smaller, quaint town feel. After our quick driving tour, we set out for our first winery of the day, L'Avenir.
Arguably the most beautiful grounds we saw all day, L'Avenir is a beautiful, small tasting room that sits on a large plot of grassy land that overlooks its vineyard. We were fortunate enough to sit outside overlooking the grounds, and we had a very nice tasting as we soaked in the sun and the sights of wine country. As he would for most of the day, Keith would join us at our tables, introduce us to the staff, and just be our concierge while we drank and asked questions. Not necessarily our favorite wine of the day, but certainly one of the best overall experiences.
Wine tasting on the patio
L'Avenir grounds
From there we continued on to Warwick, a popular winery that has a large distribution in America as well. Once again we had the ability to sit outside, and this time our tasting room attendant was extremely knowledgeable and gave some excellent descriptions of not only our wines, but the history of them and the winery itself. One of the more unique moments of the trip came at this winery. Keith told the winery attendant that we had recently married (slight stretch of the truth, but he did it for our benefit), and later on in the tasting he came out with a bottle of wine and a very unique drinking container called "The Wedding Cup." There is a long folklore story that goes with this, that I will attempt to briefly paraphrase:
A silversmith wanted to marry a princess, but her father (the King) said he would only allow him to marry her if the young man could make a cup that allowed both a man and woman to drink from the same time, without spilling. After many attempts, the young man came up with this chalice, inspired the shape of a woman's body. As the man drinks the top cup, the bottom cup swivels away, toward the wife. The cup worked, the King approved, and they all lived happily ever after. This cup is now used by the Warwick winery for weddings and anniversaries. So we were instructed to drink from the cup, but with one additional set of rules - Julie was not allowed to use her hands. So I held up the chalice, and as I drank, I ducked down so she could drink from the bottom cup. Odd, but totally fun moment.
The Wedding Cup
Look ma, no hands!
After we finished up at Warwick (and bought a bottle for home), Keith drove us just outside Stellenbosch into a neighboring wine-town called Franschhoek, where we had a lunch reservation at La Petite Ferme. Keith did not eat with us, he just dropped us off, then drove off to go eat an orange in his van until we were ready. The restaurant was perched atop a very high mountain, and had an open-air patio that overlooked the entire valley of vineyards. It was, without question, one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my whole life. The four of us sat down for lunch, where we ordered a cheese board, more wine, and, on the recommendation of Keith, some amazing entrees. The quality of the view was matched by the quality of the food. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip.
Cheese board at La Petite Ferme
The view from above La Petite Ferme
Stuffed from our lunch, we lumbered back to the van, ready to go to our next stop. But before we set off, we first drove up the mountain a bit higher, where we found baboons on the side of the road, taking in the view like we were. It was here that Keith informed us he wanted to take us to FIVE wineries in one day, and we needed to pick up the pace if we were going to make them all. SIR, YES SIR!
Baby baboon!
Baboon crossing!
After the quick detour, we stayed in Franschhoek and quickly reached our next winery, Boekenhoutskloof (yeah, it's a mouthful). Much to Julie's excitement, as soon as we got out of the van we were greeted by 4-5 massive dogs, including a couple Great Danes. They had some deep, scary barks, but proved to be all talk, as they immediately fell victim to tons of petting and cooing from my crazy wife and the two drunk girls. Once we finally got them away from the dogs, we went inside to start the next tasting. Boekenhoutskloof is known for a special wine named "Chocolate Block", which is a blend of Syrah, Grenache Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault and Viognier. We tried that wine (and weren't huge fans) among some other ones, and after a very quick round of tasting (the girls were starting to pound the wine at this point), we bought a bottle on our way out and headed out to hit our fourth winery of the day, Grand Provence.
Large porcupine sculpture outside Boekenhoutskloof
Unfortunately I do not have much to say about Grand Provence, as we were there for a very brief amount of time. The Texas girls were plastered at this point, and started to become slightly rude as they would say things like "We don't need the history of the wine, just pour!" Not exactly my favorite moment of the trip, but due to the combination of the drunk girls and trying to hit five wineries in one day, some of the typically calm wine tasting experience was lost at this place. The grounds were nice, as were the people...and that's about all I got.
The entryway to Grand Provence
We finished our wine tasting quintet with a trip to Tokara, a stunningly beautiful winery with a tasting room that is elevated above a valley of vineyards, with a floor-to-ceiling window for customers to view the area. Our wine tasting facilitator was a very nice, young South African guy who had never once left Cape Town. He was very passionate about the wine, and was very informative. After our experience at the last place, Julie and I tried our best to separate ourselves from the drunk girls, and I think the attendant picked up on it, so he just poured for them, then turned his back and spoke to us. We had a wonderful time and walked away with a couple bottles of wine from Tokara. Definitely my favorite wine of the day.
Stopping for a photo at Tokara
With the two Texas girls hammered into oblivion, and getting slightly emotional, we were ready to make our way back to Stellenbosch and call it a day. We had an absolutely amazing tour, with huge kudos to Keith for making it an incredibly special experience neither of us will ever forget. He dropped us off at our car at around 5:30, we hugged him and thanked him for his hospitality, and then he drove off, with the two drunkies passed out in the back.
Keith, our hilarious wine guide
Earlier in the trip we had decided that we would stay in Stellenbosch for dinner, as there were many highly-rated restaurants in the area, including some suggestions from Keith. Not quite ready for dinner, we stopped at an ice cream place where we got some incredible, wonderfully rich ice cream, and sat inside discussing our dinner plan. After scarfing down the ice cream (sorry Mom, we spoiled our dinner), we walked toward our restaurant of choice, only to find it was closed for construction! We regrouped, found a new restaurant and walked about 15-20 minutes to De Oewers, a place specializing in fancy South African cuisine. After a little bit (okay, a lot) of confusion about where the restaurant was, we finally realized that two restaurants shared a wall, and (we think) had same ownership, and there was no visible delineation between the two. Apparently De Oewers was not the place we wanted, but rather its sister restaurant, De Volkskombuis (yeah, another mouthful).
We had an excellent dinner, with Julie ordering a sampler platter of different African meats, including a chicken pie and bobotie (beef curried mince, spices, egg custard), while I ordered a braised oxtail. Between all the wine and the extremely rich food, it did not take long for us to realize that we were absolutely zonked. We quickly paid the bill and very slowly ambled our way back to the car, ready for our hour-long drive back to the city. The drive was relatively calm, with the wife dozing off every now and then, and finally we found our way back to the hotel, parked the car, walked up the stairs, kicked off our shoes, and drifted off into sleepy-wine-la-la-land.
*NEXT UP* - We visit Crayola-colored houses, go to the southern tip of the continent, meet some ostriches, and have one of the most uniquely wonderful meals of my lifetime.
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