South African Wine Country….Stellenbosch

I've mentioned before that I love Cape Town because it is essentially just like California but half the price.  Well, California has Napa Valley, Sonoma and Paso Robles and Cape Town has Stellenbosch and Frenchhoek just 45 minutes away.  Same same…..just like I said.

The wine in South Africa was absolutely lovely….and inexpensive thanks again to the current exchange rate.  The vineyards in South Africa were painted with lush green vines with a mountainous backdrop, it was incredible.

I was super lucky this weekend because my friend Shirley, from Mozambique, popped into town to explore wine country with me.  Our visit was met with torrential rain that postponed our trip one day knocking Betty's Bay and the penguins off of our excursion plans.  It turned out to be a good thing since the rains flooded the road between Betty's Bay and Stellenbosch, but not the roads from Cape Town.  Plus, what else were we to do in a beach and mountain climbing town in the rain?  Drinking wine was a perfect alternative game plan.


We had plans to hit 4 vineyards, so I hired a car to chauffeur us around town safely and we stayed the night at the Stellenbosch Hotel.  The day started with the Stellenbosch open market which was still pretty good considering half of the vendors didn't show up because the grounds were semi-flooded.  The food looked spectacular, but we didn't stay long since we thought we were at the wrong farmers market and we had to check into the hotel and get ready for our chauffeur.

South African Farmers Market's idea of funny highway art

We were picked up around 12:30 in a grey sedan and hit vineyard after vineyard each one more beautiful than the last…I think.  I was pretty tipsy after the 3rd vineyard and we were able to visit 5 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday.

VINEYARD #1: MEERLUST

Shirley and Emily at Meerlust

VINEYARD #2: JORDAN

I made Shirley do this….but I think she'll be glad she did

 VINEYARD #3: DeMORGENZON

DeMorgenzon was interesting.  The girl that did our tasting was telling us that there is one patch of grapes that was divided in two.  Theoretically, they should produce grapes that are exactly the same since the soil conditions are the same, the sunlight is the same and they are harvested right next to each other. However, one patch has classical music played to it 24-hours a day and those grapes mature 3 weeks later than its twin harvest.  They think that the bacteria in the soil reacts differently to the music keeping the grapes on the vine longer and producing a higher quality wine.  Interesting, right?

Musical grape patch

VINEYARD #4: JC LeROUX (sparkling wine)

This tasting room looked very "Las Vegas"...

We made it just in time….

VINEYARD #5: WARWICK

Shirley is DONE!

Winning

Its safe to assume that I fell asleep at approximately 6 PM that night.

On Sunday, Shirley and I headed to Frenchhoek to see how those vineyards fared compared to Stellenbosch.  Needless to say, the weather was incredible.  The torrential rains produced crystal-clear air and grand puffy clouds embracing an animated blue sky.  As you can see from the photos, the mountains looked incredible sandwiched between the bright green grass and absurdly blue sky.

La Motte Winery

Leopards Leap Vineyard

Sunday afternoon, we drove back to Cape Town and caught some live music in Du Vaal park with my friend Gil.  More wine….more cheese….more fun.  It was a great weekend.  The rain was no match for excellent company, good (and bad) wine and a designated driver.

Gil, Shirley, Em