A Day of Wine and Roses

The Cape Winelands

LEON:  Yesterday was another adventurous day driving around the countryside.  It is either one of the bravest or more foolish things that I have done.  Barbara is normally a very practical person, able to evaluate a situation and make a considered, informed decision.  I give her enough excitement driving in the states, but here, she should be on overload.  And also, considering public transportation as the more viable option for someone who intends to live a long life.  However, her zest for travel and the sites that need to be seen override her normally good judgement.  I am firmly convinced that by the time I leave here, everyone will be certain that we in the states use our windshield wipers as turn signals.  But I worry greatly here about how much the local drivers are using their horns.  And the drivers are so friendly here.  Quite a few of them honk at us in greeting and wave one hand at me.  The greeting is almost like shaking your fist at someone.  I just smile and nod at them since driving takes so much effort.

We drove to the wine country with the intention of going to three different areas.  But we only made it to one of them.  SA has been making wines for hundreds of year in this area, but they are just starting to get international recognition.  Barb loves her wines, and for better or worse, my South African cousin is a local chef.  She had given Barb lots of recommendations of wineries; and then solicited her friends for more.  With a list like that, Barb is much like a kid in the candy store.  But I am going to stop here and let her tell that story.

BARB:  When planning our trip to Africa, touring the Winelands had to be on the itinerary.  I love wine but more importantly, I love really good wine.  There are nine wine regions in South Africa that are known for their wines.  If you have ever done wine tasting in Napa/Sonoma, Walla Walla, the Willamette, etc., you know that the wineries can be spread over a wide area and there are hundreds of wineries to choose from.  When limited for time, you need to be choosy so that you are tasting wine you hope to enjoy.  I did research before I left home to find the best region and wineries to visit.  I talked to the wine shops here in Cape Town to get their opinion.  The most popular regions were Stellenbosch, Paarl and the Franschoek valley.  Soon after we arrived in Cape Town, I pulled out my map and started circling the top recommended wineries.  Then, I looked at it noting how far away some were and the concentration in certain areas. I had to narrow it down to  something that was realistic for us.  First, you can only taste so much wine in a day, and secondly, as we are limited for time, I didn’t want to ask Leon to crisscross the Cape.  We chose Stellenbosch and eight wineries.

The first winery, De Toren, was one that Cate recommended as one of her favorites.  When we arrived, we were told that they only do private cellar tours by the winemaker that have been pre-arranged.  So much for my planning... I could have sworn that I read somewhere that they had tasting room hours.  I must have looked sad and forlorn after my ‘but,we’ve come so far, and today is our only day for the Winelands, and your winery has been so highly recommended, and, and...’.  The nice young lady said that there was another private group coming in at 4 pm and we could join it if we wanted.  “Yes, thank you, we’ll be back.”

We arrived at the next winery on our list with such high hopes and anticipating wonderful wine.  I forgot to mention that I am the taster and Leon is the designated driver.  I will have him taste only what I love and would want to purchase (sort of like the royal taster making sure there is no poison in the wine). What a disappointment, and the winery was very highly rated, but everyone’s palate is  different so on to the next winery.  Again,a disappointment and we are beginning to get concerned.

These wineries were outside the ‘cluster’ so we had to drive quite a while to get to the next.  The scenery is beautiful with the rolling hills of grape vines, the massive strawberry farms, the mountains in the back ground and the signs of Spring all around us.  One long, narrow road was lined with fruit trees that were in full blossom. Another long road’s fences were covered in masses of climbing white roses.

Next stop, Rust en Vrede.  It is on a beautiful estate and was the first South African winery to make it

Now that is good wine...

to the Top 100 wineries in the world.  They must have something that I will like, and Leon would like a taste of wine by now.  In this tasting room, you don’t stand at the counter waiting for someone to pour your wines.  You take a seat at one of the small tables looking out on the beautifully landscaped gardens and pond.  It is very peaceful - actually “rust en vrede” means “rest and peace”.    You are served at the table and left to enjoy each pour.  Finally, I am able to write in my little “Wine Notes” book “best so far” for the day.  By the end of the tasting, I have finally found one that I would want to own, the “1694 Classification”.  It is a very nice wine and I’m not going to just taste it, I’m going to enjoy the glass of wine and savor it. The winery, or farm, was founded in 1694.  (The Dutch were settling this Cape Town area about the same time as they settled “New Amsterdam”, now NYC).  I didn’t buy any of the 1694 because I remember Leon’s little rule, “You can buy anything you want as long as you can carry it”.   They do import, so I could look for it in the US if I want, and we are coming back to Cape Town before we fly home.  However, this bottle costs R1200 (1200 Rand) which converts to $150 per bottle, so I’ll have to REALLY love it before I decide to buy any.  As we drive out of the estate, we notice woven ‘balls’ hanging from vines off of the limbs of the trees over the banks of the pond (or small lake) on the property.  There are small birds sitting on them.  As we get closer, we see

Woven Hanging Nests

that they are nests and one bird looks like she is swinging on a swing but she is actually weaving her nest and it is in the beginning stages.  It is fun to see a new form of  bird architecture and are amazed by their skill.  (You can see the detail a little better if you click on the picture to enlarge it.)

With our spirits high that we’ve finally found some nice wine, we set off for the next one with high hopes of more along the way.  No such luck.  My comments in my “Wine Notes” book say “not good, not good, best so far but not good, etc.”.  By now we are hungry so we leave the ‘cluster’ and head to the little town of Stellenbosch.  After lunch we have a little time that we could head back out in search of more great wine.  Maybe there are some on our list that would have been wonderful but I am ready to call it a day.  We’ll stop by De Toren on our way out and then head back to Cape Town.

De Toren is a small winery that bottles 7,000 bottles a year of just two wines, “Z” and “Fusion V”.  Once the party arrives that had pre-arranged the tour, we we all gather outside overlooking the vines in the fields for Charles the winemaker to explain their planting process.  It is fascinating and I learn things that I have never heard before at other wineries I have visited around the world.  We move over to the processing area where he describes how they gently carry the grapes to the first step in the process.  They treat the grapes like a baby.

We then head inside the cellar where we hear the rest of the processing story before heading into the tasting room where we taste the “Z” an “Fusion V”.  Both of the wines are wonderful and Leon is tasting as well.  We didn’t need to visit eight wineries so get in the full Wineland touring experience.  I wish that I hadn’t had to taste so many bad wines earlier in the day but what counts is that we found a few great wines.  It was a great way to end a day.

LEON: I told Barb that the last wine tour of the day was one of the best we have ever done.  And I got

Charles the Winemaker

one of those responses that we married guys long for, but seldom get: “ Yes, it was.  You’re absolutely right”.  Let me tell you about the young guy that gave the tour.  His name is Charles and he is a graduate of the local University’s Oenology school.  When he talks of the vineyard and the grapes, it’s like hearing an engineer talk who loves his work.  I never knew it could be so technical.  This is an new vineyard.  Before the fields were ever planted, they were first scanned by an aircraft with infrared sensors, at different times of the day and in different seasons, to determine how the soil was heating.  Another scan somehow looked several feet into the earth to analyze the soil for them.  From this they determined which grapes should be in which field.  The soil scan told them how the roots would thrive in the soil.  From that they determined how far apart each row needed to be planted - some close and some farther.  The vines themselves are grafted  hybrids - the roots from American plants and the vine itself from the French plants.  The American roots are pest resistant, and the French branches will produce the grape.  As the grapes grow, the fields are scanned again to know when to harvest.  The maps of the scan are kept by the tanks with each section marked to show where the grapes came from.

And then there is the “gravity tank”.  This vineyard doesn’t use water to wash the grape, nor pumps to

Gravity Tank

move the liquid.  When it is time to “pump” they raise the tank higher than the receptacles and the wine flows out, like a gentle pouring of liquid.  So much technology, and so much care put into a wine.  Technology is everywhere, in everything we do.  And things like this may be a variation on a very old “technology”.  Plus, the wine was good enough that even I could tell.