A session at the vineyards
Trip Start
Dec 16, 2005
1
96
125
Trip End
Jun 12, 2006
Cape Town, South Africa
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Left at 8:45am for a wine tour with a guy called Robbie and three other tourists, Steve, Richard and Diane. What an excellent day out, and Robbie himself was a wealth of information.
Our first vineyard was in Paarl and was called Fairview where they taught us the 4 stages of tasting -
1) Colour- the darker the older
2) Aroma - swilling the wine around to bring out the smell
3) Taste - rinse in the mouth and suck air through
4) Aftertaste - The longer the better.
One of the wines was called Pinotage, this one is unique to South Africa. I have to say this wasn't my favourite red at any of the vineyards. We also got to taste some very nice cheeses, from blue cheese to camembert, to goat cheese.
The next vineyard was in Franschock area. This was the area where some persecuted French Protestants came and there were still a lot of French names floating about.
The scenery around here was fantastic. Colourful fields from all the different coloured vines with imposing rocky mountains all around.
We stopped in the very picturesque town of Franschok at a chocolate shop for a tour of the chocolate making facilities followed by a chocolate tasting before heading to Stellenbosch and the Tokara vineyard.
Perched on a hill in a beautiful location it was owned by the 6th riches man in South Africa as a hobby!
We had a late lunch as at a place owned by Robbie's cousin. The food was fantastic, we had chicken schnitzel and a nicer bottle of Pinotage. After this we visited a cheetah farm before Robbie bought us a cheap bottle of sparkling wine for our trip back into Cape Town.
Nice sunset again.
One of my nicest days out yet!
Comments
Wine tasting
Not sure I agree with #4 Jon .. 'Aftertaste - The longer the better.'
I can still taste a very dodgey Chiliean White that I drank back in 1991 ... ughhh ... I dry heave even today just thinking about it!!!
Mind you, I did have a bit more than just one glass ;)
Al might remember better but I think we pushed it close to half a case a few times. Bloody students!
Col.
Re: Wine tasting
Well as I wrote that out I thought mmm maybe that doesn't make sense. That was what I remember them telling me, but who know, the trip to Africa now seems like some blur from the past! So maybe I'll rephrase it
'Aftertaste - For good tasting wines, the longer the better.'