As promised, I am finally getting round to writing up some details of my wonderful recent trip to South Africa!
My holiday was fairly action packed and varied - with visiting family (Durban), climbing mountains and feeding wild zebra by hand (Drakensberg), hanging out with friends (Durban and Cape Town) and enjoying the beaches, I (sadly!) only had time for a day of wine tasting in beautiful, stunning, gorgeous Stellenbosch!
I would highly recommend a visit there if you get a chance – and next time I will definitely make time to stay longer in the Stellenbosch area.
My friend and I had no desire to drink less so that we could drive ourselves round and were very pleased to find the Vine Hopper. What a great service! For well under £20 each we had a minibus and driver who drove us around the various wineries. Our driver, Hussein, was awesome. He was able to recommend which vineyards were worth a cellar tour, which were great for scenery, the best lunches and which had the best wines! This was all the more impressive when you consider that Hussein does not drink!!! If you’re heading to Stellenbosch, you can find full details here: www.vinehopper.co.za
We visited:
Bergkelder – a large scale winery in beautiful surroundings. The cellar tour of the (allegedly!) haunted cellar included a tasting and lots of interesting information from a very knowledgeable guide but it was all on a very large scale! The wines were very all very nice, but nothing with the “wow” factor!
Beyerskloof – famous for their Pinotage that is sold in just about every supermarket in SA (and in Tesco here too!) I did not have the highest of hopes! The Beyerskloof visit was literally just a tasting facility - as their wines are made elsewhere - but it is beautiful with lots of atmosphere and the staff are really keen for you to try all their wines and not just the flagship Pinotage! Their Pinotage rose (still and sparkling) was very pleasant as was their standard Pinotage… however the real winner for me here was the Pinotage Reserve – a big, meaty beast of a wine. Loved it! (In fact, loved it so much that I bought some more at the airport!)
Simonsig – Simonsig was one of the highlights for me. SUCH a stunning place with a really mellow vibe, friendly and knowledgeable staff and some of the best wines I tasted. (Even the vineyard cat was fast asleep in the slightly shaded outdoor tasting area!) Many of their whites were tastefully oaked and absolutely divine – my favourites were: Chenin Avec Chene and their Viognier Sur lie en barrique which were both elegant, sophisticated whites with lots of refined flavours. Their Redhill Pinotage was also spectacular – big and bold and highly recommended. And yes… again, more Simonsig wines were bought at the airport! Rowan… *please* can we have some Simonsig wines on the site??? (I have contact details!)
Delheim – our fab driver recommended Delheim as the best place to have lunch. This turned out to be a great recommendation. Another seriously beautiful place – more like a botanical garden than a winery - against a backdrop of beautiful mountain scenery. The lunch and the scenery, however, proved to be nicer than the wines which whilst pleasant, did not have the wow factor for me. The best of those I tried was the Chardonnay Sur Lie which whilst excellent… was just not in the same league as the incredible Simonsig whites.
Knorhoek – our final stop on the tour. Again (I know this is getting repetitive, but in every case it was true!) just incredibly beautiful. I could happily spend weeks at Knorhoek, let alone the couple of hours I had! Knorhoek is a small, family winery and their hospitality was nothing short of outstanding and we were made to feel incredibly welcome. After a couple of tastings and lots of questions, we were offered an impromptu tour. This turned out to be a million miles from the mass-production Bergkelder tour: the tiny winery and cellar was somehow so real with evidence of real grapes, real smells and the fab experience of watching the wine maker at work. It was fantastic to be able to speak to him in person about his craft, what he was doing and why. But no doubt you want to know about the wines! They were nothing short of lovely. They mainly produce reds which I found to be generally bold, complex yet elegant wines. My favourite was, undoubtedly, the Pantere (and had they stocked this at the airport… I would have been way over my duty free allowance!) Rowan – these guys surely have Naked potential?!?! Again… I have contact details!
A wonderful trip – despite having lived in SA for 10 years I had never done the wine route and I can’t wait to go back to do it properly! I came home completely blown away by the scenery… with a new found love of Chenin Blanc and Pinotage… and I REALLY can’t wait to go back! (And I will also say that the horrible 12 hour flight home passes much more quickly after a day wine tasting in the sun!) :-)
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