Wine Tasting in the Western Cape, South Africa
It's around 8:30am when Nick, our guide collects us from the hotel in Central Cape Town. There are another British couple on board and a guy from Boston. We politely say hello and Nick tells the quiet minibus that there's just one more pick up. At the next stop, José, a retired vet from Brazil, climbs on board with his wife and exclaims "let's get drunk!" The wine tour begins.
I had pre-booked the tour ahead of the trip to South Africa. I enjoy wine and with the region so famous for its vineyards it would be a travesty to miss wine tasting off the itinerary. I made the booking through an online travel site but you can make arrangements when you arrive in Cape Town. The open top bus will take you so far and there's also the Franschhoek Wine Tram. With a bit of research though the organised tour was slightly better value and included a guide and driver for the day.
At around 11:00am we arrived at the first Vineyard, Fairview Wine Farm near Paarl. I was particularly excited as I was already a fan of their Pinotage which is available in UK shops. The vineyard sits under Paarl Mountain and has beautiful gardens and includes resident goats. The farm also make cheeses which makes for an even more rounded tasting experience. After a short introduction from our guide, we took our places at the bar to sample the first of our wines for the day. In front of us were an array of cheeses to accompany the wine. Perfect!
We had six glasses in total, each matching a cheese perfectly. The measures were generous and everyone finished their glasses. We continued to visit a total of five vineyards, each with a similar set up and between four and six wines at each place on offer to try. At each stop our guide told us more about the history of wine in the region, the different processes and how it compared to different wine regions. We travelled from Paarl through Stellenbosch and Franschhoek stopping for lunch and more wine in between.
The tour was great fun, we had tried some great wines and learned so much about the region. The landscape was stunning and I couldn't recommend it more. At around 6:00pm we arrived back in Cape Town, much more chatty and jovial than at the start of the day. José's prediction had certainly come true!
African Story Wine Tours - 950 ZAR per person (around £50 at time of writing)
http://www.africanstorytours.com
I had pre-booked the tour ahead of the trip to South Africa. I enjoy wine and with the region so famous for its vineyards it would be a travesty to miss wine tasting off the itinerary. I made the booking through an online travel site but you can make arrangements when you arrive in Cape Town. The open top bus will take you so far and there's also the Franschhoek Wine Tram. With a bit of research though the organised tour was slightly better value and included a guide and driver for the day.
At around 11:00am we arrived at the first Vineyard, Fairview Wine Farm near Paarl. I was particularly excited as I was already a fan of their Pinotage which is available in UK shops. The vineyard sits under Paarl Mountain and has beautiful gardens and includes resident goats. The farm also make cheeses which makes for an even more rounded tasting experience. After a short introduction from our guide, we took our places at the bar to sample the first of our wines for the day. In front of us were an array of cheeses to accompany the wine. Perfect!
We had six glasses in total, each matching a cheese perfectly. The measures were generous and everyone finished their glasses. We continued to visit a total of five vineyards, each with a similar set up and between four and six wines at each place on offer to try. At each stop our guide told us more about the history of wine in the region, the different processes and how it compared to different wine regions. We travelled from Paarl through Stellenbosch and Franschhoek stopping for lunch and more wine in between.
The tour was great fun, we had tried some great wines and learned so much about the region. The landscape was stunning and I couldn't recommend it more. At around 6:00pm we arrived back in Cape Town, much more chatty and jovial than at the start of the day. José's prediction had certainly come true!
African Story Wine Tours - 950 ZAR per person (around £50 at time of writing)
http://www.africanstorytours.com
A farm worker sprays the vines in Franschhoek
Nick, our excellent guide and driver from African Story
We get more wine poured for us at a vineyard in Stellenbosch