Franschhoek - BradJolina was here

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Sunday, June 29 - Monday, June 30

Early Sunday morning we were collected from Birkenhead house and transported to Franschhoek. Franschhoek is extremely safe given its remote location, quaint small town feel (only 13,000 residents), maintained shanty town, and wine subculture. With a fell of Napa, this area was settled by the French escaping religious persecution from Louis XIV and has strong Dutch undertones throughout the town. We stayed at Franschhoek Country House and Villas and although BradJolina frequents Franschhoek as does the likes of Elton John and other celebs, they typically lodge at the poshest place in town - Le Residence. The town center about one mile from our hotel, it was a brilliant day - sunny and crisp - although chilly. It felt like a small mountain town that boasts of ski slopes and sledding and the wind gave plenty of bite to our journey into town. We stopped by a local Pizzeria - a happening place, made our way to a local monument, and then began the trek back to our hotel. For dinner, we managed a reservation at what Conde Naste Traveler has labeled the 50th best restaurant in the world - we had to go given this accolade and although we enjoyed it, think we may have missed some of the better items on the menu. The next day we woke to a wine tour at 10AM. Christna, a five year resident of Franschhoek and partially professionally educated (although you would think a master) in wine graciously took us to three wineries. Dior Dionne, Glenwood, and well, the third is a bit hazy. Dior Dionne had sweeping view of the valley and mountains and clouds that seemed to pour just over the crest and retreat ever so quickly. The winemaker had recently built a restaurant into the ground, or at least made it seem as he covered the restaurant with dirt and topsoil, and we enjoyed around 8 varietals outdoors. Again, bright and refreshing but very windy and we were soon happy to get back into our van. Next, we headed to Glenwood where again we had the entire estate to ourselves - this time we opted for an indoor tasting. In 1983, the winemaker had purchased tons of acres for only 45,000 rand (at todays rate around $6,000), and the estate today is sprawling. Here, we tasted about five different wines as well as what is called the best wine in South Africa. Finally, we headed to a winery that I can’t recall the name nor can I recall really what we tasted - but this winery was by far the most contemporary and modern and looked more of a wine resort than a wine estate. Getting back to our hotel Tabitha crashed for several hours while I watched one of my favorite films of all time - Scent of a Woman. We ended the night with a casual dinner at Rueben’s, a well known chef’s creation, but headed to bed early to wake for our 6AM flight to Livingston in Zambia - home of Victoria Falls - the largest I believe in the world behind falls Brazil.

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