Setting off this morning we drove first towards the town of Francshhoek and the Boschendal estate. Boschendal is one of the world's longest established 'New World' wine estates. Visiting the manor house (built in 1812) first, we then had a look round the impressive grounds and then headed for a tasting.
Having timed our arrival with the start of the cellar tours, we decided to go and have a look round. Our guide was very informative and friendly and it was interesting to go and see the processes involved in wine manufacture. Plus it was much cooler in the cellars!
Having had our tour, we sat down to sample a selection of the estates wines. Obviously used to tourists being unwilling to spit out any wine that they have legitimately paid for, it was quite acceptable to swallow the contents of the glass! Which is just as well, as to anyone in the know watching, it was perfectly obvious that neither of us have any idea, aside from knowing what we like, about wine. We are both fairly confident that we made all the right sloshing movements and correct noises; I suspect we weren't fooling anyone though.
Having partaken of the grape, we stopped at a pub for lunch before heading to another vineyard. This time we went to another long established estate, Rustenburg. The wine tasting in a smart, very modern building was a bit more of a serious affair than at Boschendal. Instead of choosing six wines that we liked the sound of, a selection was made for us. In general they were all pretty good and in typical fashion the nicest of all (a red), was also the most expensive. For our 25 rand (£2) we got to keep our tasting glasses, which made the whole experience a pretty good deal.
Deciding that two wineries was enough we stopped in the town of Stellenbosch to have a look round. The centre, especially around Dorf street, is full of attractive buildings and interesting shops. It would be a good place to sit at one of the many roadside restaurants with a glass of wine, watching the world go by. As it was, we had had a pretty full day so started the short drive back to Paul and Penny's.
A lovely meal with the family, washed down with some wine, one of which Debs had bought from our tasting sessions, rounded off a very good day.
We hit the road again tomorrow bound for Simon's Town.
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