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SA doesn’t fail to surprise. Just as we were getting into going home mode we decided to do the Stellenbosch wine route. My Lord, what an experience. We started out by popping into a couple of wine estates, just to get an idea of the procedure etc. We thought it might be a case of hard sell, to buy wine, but I can assure you it wasn’t. The staff in the winery’s were really pleased to see their visitors and were very welcoming. They appreciated that as overseas visitors we are restricted to what we can take home.
Our first real “taste” experience was with the House of J.C. Le Roux a champagne and sparkling wine house. They cannot call their product champagne although it is made under the same process. For £2.50 we had a video presentation, a tour of the processing factory and six tastings of bubbly. On this tasting we met two young boys from Winchester. We sat and mulled over SA and our six glasses of sparkling. The boys advised they were doing the wine tour on bicycles. They also said that they were staying in a backpackers shared dormitory and had blagged their way into the
local student union bar. They were so cool. Roger and I came out of this tasting glowing. The boys said they were going to visit another 3 wine estates, on bicycles,!!!!!! I Let us know boys if you succeeded.
Roger and I went off to two further wine estates. The grounds of these establishments are amazing. Everything is so tasteful and high quality. You got to pick the wine you wanted to taste and believe me they weren’t mean with the amount we got. Naturally we chose the most expensive wine some costing up to £50.00 per bottle. We were able to pick 5 different wines each and the cost was £2.50 per person, not per drink.
We then finished our tour with a visit to Van Ryn’s Brandy Distillery. Wow. This place was so opulent, all dark wood and leather sofa’s. We partook of the brandy, chocolate and coffee tasting. Coffee and brandy I don’t drink, but when in Rome etc. I managed the brandy, ate the chocolate but had to drawthe line at the coffee. Roger was in seventh heaven drinking world award winning 12, 15 and 20 year brandy. He could tell the age of the brandy
purely by the smell. He said the 12 year old was of the standard of Remy Martin and after that it was just fantastic. I must say the older it got the better it tasted. The 20 year old was like velvet but at a £120.00 per bottle it should be.
We were overcome with our wine tasting tour, so much so we are going to another region, Constantia, tomorrow for a repeat trip. Whooppeeee.
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Danielle
non-member comment
"They appreciated that as overseas visitors we are restricted to what we can take home. " This hasn't stopped you before!