This morning we headed north out of town, along the Silverado trail, deep into wine country. Nestled among the vines are big, as well as smaller, micro wine farms, all with wine tasting venues. Where to start – if you have spent time in the Stellenbosch area you will know what I’m talking about. This area is reminiscent of Stellenbosch, but Stellies surrounds are prettier, being South African I am allowed to be biased in this observation.
Our first tasting was at Judd Hill, where we tasted their small production wines. The wines in the valley are really nice but the tasting is seriously expensive, on average $35 (R470) for a 5 wine taste. Robs, you and your Stellies friends would have to stick to vodka.
We then stopped off at Darioush, a tasting venue with a Persian flair (or could be California kitch), the gardens were beautiful. The tasting here was $48 (R650), you can buy a case of wine for that – ridiculous.
It was recommended we go to V. Sattui Winery for a picnic lunch, but the area was packed, so we found a deli restaurant and enjoyed their delicious sarmies.
What we found fascinating about the area was the way the vines are grown or trained. The vine sections are more thinly trimmed and not as spread out as our vines.
We then did the same as the day before, picked up fresh produce in town, swam, chilled and braaied halibut for dinner. This went really well with our wine.
Pandas in Africa 