OK, Cape Town was a great experience but after a few days, time to get out of town and check out the local wine industry, which produces arguably some of the worlds best wines. And to make it worth while, we booked a Cottage in the heart of it for us to spend two nights.
Our arrival experience nothing short of special as we appropriately booked a wine tour on our way to get there. Why waste time, right?
So by 10:00am we are on the Spice Tour, which Offers the first glimpse of the beauty of this amazing wine country. This particular establishment is also a delightful Wine Farm that masterfully combines a multitude of artisanal arts and crafts. Starting with an Art Gallery of course there is also this glass blowing workshop where artists are creating delightful glass art right in front of our eyes. We skip the ice cream shop but we can’t walk pass the chocolate room. So the morning begins with a chocolate tasting and some shopping for the best flavors. And yes, their deli shop is pretty nice too, can’t really leave without a small taste.
Then off we go and by 11:00 we are at the Fairview Wine Estate and before we know it, we have the first six wines lined up in front of us for tasting, each suitably paired with a lovely bite of cheese. That’s what everyone should do at about 11:30am, right?
With that chore out of the way, it is merely a short drive to Kanonkop where no other than one of the owners himself pours our tasting of wines as we enjoy his educational talk about this large family owned estate and their wines.
As enjoyable as this was, we do need something solid into our system by now. The actual town of Stellenbosh is a lovely, colorful and quaint little town with nice restaurants lining the streets. Delicious food being served we are now ready for a few large bottles of … yes, water!
With renewed energy, back into the car to drive up to the exclusive Graff Wine Estate for yet another wine tasting. The majestic arrival experience promises a lot and the Estate holds it all.
I try to hustle Liz pass the extensive display of diamonds just next to the wine cellar as we make our way through an extensive display of art, out to the tasting terrace. Somehow I missed on taking a picture of the diamonds but I am glad the wine cellar made it.
Liz gets comfortable in the lounge for a few short moments. Then we find our place on the terrace. The view is breathtaking with Simonsberg in front of us and Drakensberg just off to the side. Moments later we have a line up of three wines in front of us.
By now it is early afternoon and it is time to move on.
Our final destination is the Angala, a beautiful boutique resort nestled in the Winelands of Franschhoek. We arrive at around 3:00pm and of course to a welcome of Champagne… ooops, excuse me my French friends… Sparkling Wine!
The resort is stunning and our private cottage offers more space than we can occupy. But that’s never the point, is it?
We take in the stunning views and a beautiful sunset.
After a short rest, we are off to dinner which of course is accompanied by a nice bottle of wine.
The next morning we are off to visit, yes, another wine Estate. This is for a wine tasting and brunch at Vreede en Lust.
If we sound like alcoholics, that’s fine …, we are in Winelands after all and this is what you do here! But admittedly, after a day like this we have just about had it and we are ready for a detoxifying recovery run/ hike.
Lucky there is always a nice hill nearby. I just hustled up these serpentines.
Sadly the Hill a little bare as it recovers from extensive fires, which have ravaged the landscape during an earlier drought. It feels a bit strange …, so we are soon headed back.
This was perfect, and now off to dinner, more wine waiting to be tasted!
