Wine Tour

I am mildly regretting now not checking my itinerary earlier as today was the wine tour not the Cape Point tour as I initially thought! So, I woke feeling slightly woozy still and then was back on the drink again by 10am! I am not cut out for this type of madness; note to my future self reading this, you really weren't a typical 22-year old, was you?

Anyway, I got picked up from my accommodation at 9.00 by a guy called Julien who had already picked up 6 other guests from the city; 4 from Denmark, 1 from Brussels and 1 from Switzerland. We started off the tour at a small family run farm called Anura in Stellenbosch where we had a tour round the cellar and the man also explained the process of making the wines. He explained that white wine is just the juice from the grapes whilst red wine also has the skin in the barrel as well; he said how, depending on the types of barrel, depended on the taste you would achieve for the wine. They are currently experiencing a drought over here, so obviously that seriously

decreases the yield of the grapes by around 40% less they reckon, which is upsetting for the owners but when we spoke to the wine makers, they said that because of the drought, the grapes that are growing are far more concentrated and, therefore, taste far better, so they are secretly thankful for the drought. It is mad how the wines can taste so different depending on the type of grape; I never even realised there were so many different types! At Anura we tried 2 whites, 1 rose and 3 reds; the Pinotage wine from here was probably my favourite 1 out of the 6.

The next place we visited was called Fairview; it is a winery and cheese mill so for this tasting, we also had cheese pairings with the wine. We had 2 options to choose from, either the classic tasting or pioneer tasting which is slightly different and uses more unusual grapes or blends; this is the one I opted for. My favourite one from this winery was probably the red Pegleg Carignan wine, which was

paired with what reminded me of a red Leicester and currant cheese. We also got to try the Pinotage grape here after it had just been picked which had a strange taste to it as it wasn't bitter but nor was it sweet; the grape was also so small that the seed in it was hardly noticeable. The next winery we went to was called Vrede en Lust, this was very grand and gave incredible views out over the vineyards. By this point, I must admit I was so tired/tipsy that I do not actually recall which wine was my favourite as they all started blurring into one. We had 1 rose, 2 whites and 3 reds at this winery. Next stop was thankfully lunch to absorb some of this wine so that we would all be a bit more conscious. As soon as we got in the bus on our way to lunch, I fell asleep for the entire journey and had to be woken up once I got there. Lunch was really nice, and I ordered a grilled hake with chips; they also had on the table this sweet bread which was really nice. I just had water with my meal even though wine was on offer, I am not sure how the others could handle having more wine with their lunch. Afterwards, I felt a lot more livelier although that could have been the result of the power nap that I had in the van as well. We headed for the final winery which was in a valley with incredible views and a very relaxed atmosphere with modern architecture; this was called Glenelly. Here they gave us 2 whites and 2 reds to try, both very similar but with a slightly different contrast for example with the two white wines, one had been oak barrelled whilst the other one had not.

You could taste the difference and see the difference in the colour as well, the oak barrelled one being slightly darker. I think I preferred the one that had not been in the barrel though. The 2 reds they gave us were also very similar but had been barrelled for different lengths of time, the one that had been barrelled longer tasted a lot stronger and richer than the one that had not been barrelled for so long, in fact I could not finish the longer barrelled wine. After we finished the tasting me, Olivia and Daniel, the other two who were travelling alone, all went outside to try and take some jumping photos of us and the background. The mixture of wine did not help with the precision of the picture taking, but in the end, after many attempts and falls, we all succeeded in getting a decent picture each.

We then began the long drive back battling through traffic to drop each of us off. I think I finally got dropped off around 6.45 and the party was already up and running; every Wednesday all 3 hostels come together for a traditional African stew called a potjje as well as a campfire and music, although I could just about comprehend the idea of having dinner let alone a party. Thankfully though, everyone else seems quite tired so there does not seem to be much of a party going to happen meaning I should be able to go to bed early without too much noise to disturb me. The potjje was alright although a bit bland but still tasty enough to enjoy; I had a bit of

the seafood and a bit of the chicken one. I am now in bed about to crash from exhaustion and wine so hopefully a peaceful night's sleep will follow.