Day 13... The wineries of the Cape... and disaster in Durban...

Could not have been any more wrong...

Price was the same and the tour would be unchanged, but I would get more say over what we did, so the going into old shops to look at old stuff could be bypassed, and we could head on to more wineries. Sweet!

First winery we visited was called Zevenwacht and it was in Stellenbosch (the Western Cape's most famous wine district)... There I tasted some pretty good stuff... Nothing to blow the mind or anything, but then there was a cellar tour... That was pretty cool... A big guy took us through the cellar and explained how the wine was made... He started salivating when he said the word “juice” too, which I thought was telling.

After the cellar tour, we moved on to a winery called Tokara. It is named after Tom and Kara, the owner's children. Tasted a few really special wines here, guided by a lovely young lady, but they were pricey and I didn't think I'd be able to lug them around South Africa for the next 3 weeks. So I decided (unwisely) against purchasing any.

After Tokara, there was a fair bit of driving through the lovely countryside with Aubrey explaining some bits and pieces of history and getting lost halfway through a story as he got distracted by something else. His genealogy stories became stories about South African history which morphed into a story about a particular flower as he would change mid sentence.

As always, the wine region countryside was quite magnificent and there were some lovely towns. We got to Boschendal which was where the tour stopped for lunch. This winery has claims to be the oldest in the Cape as it was established in 1685, and they have a range of wines named for this fact. First there were the tastings. 5 samples were allowed and you had to choose off a list with accompanying tasting notes. I picked the 5 that looked interesting and they arrived on a sheet of paper with 5 wine glasses and a glass of water. I chose 2 whites and 3 reds and some of them from the premium “1685” range. The “1685” Chardonnay was a gem as was the shiraz of the same range. The standard shiraz smelt of dog's arse and tasted like dog's arse juice, a point sadly neglected in the tasting notes. The Chardonnay was too good... I bought a bottle and headed to lunch.

Lunch was the only thing not covered in the cost of the tour, so I chose something to go with a white as they had the Chardonnay available by the glass in the restaurant. Lunch was delightful and then there was a chance to check out the Manor house. A lovely old home from the 17th century which had been preserved as a museum. Photography was banned here, so I only took one or two quick photos when no-one was looking... hehe...

Next was Vrede en Lust in Franschhoek. For those who don't speak Afrikaans the name means Peace and Passion as was explained to me by the extraordinarily attractive young lady that came and sat with me to explain the place and get me ready for the wine tastings. As I sat and waited, I had a brief look around and saw that even though the girl running through my wine tastings was a stunner, she was not alone in being pleasant on the eyes. She was also very knowledgeable about the wines, the estate and it's history and the whole Franschhoek region. I got to sample about 7 wines in this winery and there were a few absolute crackers. I bought a red and a white and wished I could have bought more.

Finally headed off to the last winery. A place called Fairview and was told that there was a 6 tasting limit. I asked the guy behind the counter what he would recommend to give me a good overview of the winery. He said OK, and started numbering them 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5 etc... 11 tastings later and 1 bottle bought and an idea of where I can by more, we got back in the van and went home.

Received a text to let me know that Mum and Dad had arrived as the game was on the next day. The plan, was for Dad and I and 2 others to go to the games, but the 2 others had to pull out about a month before we left...

They invited me up to their place to watch the Australia v Germany clash... I went, Australia weren't good... Tim Cahill got the worst red card I have ever seen... Got a call from one of my friends from the bar... Had a few drinks... Got home at 4...