Our group had booked a full day wine tour throughout the wine lands today. In total we would be visiting 5 wineries to taste with a stop for lunch. This would also be our last full day in Cape Town before flying to Johannesburg the next day to start our Safari adventure.
We started our tour at Villera Wines Where we were able to sample:
- Traditional Brut NV
- Mono Brut 2008
- Sauvignaun Blanc 2015
- Jasmine (off dry white)
- Pinotage 2013
- Monro 2006/2007
We then visited Remhoogte Winery. We were able to sit outside and enjoy the view of the country side while we tasted wine and cheese. There were a few dogs on the property which all of us really had a good time watching play with one another
Here we tasted:
- 2011 Sir Thomas Cullinan
- 2013 Honeybunch Chenin Blanc
- 2012 Estate wine
- 2013 Aspect Merlot
- 2013 Bushvine Pinotage
We also had a a great cheese pairing (unfortunately I didn’t catch all the cheese names)
Our next stop was more for lunch than wine at Middelvlei Estates, but we still have an opportunity to have some wine. We had a very fresh green salad, onion and tomato sandwiches along with a chicken kebab and sausage. I didn’t catch the name of the Red I tasted but it was yummy!
We moved to a more boutique winery Lovane where we had a sampling of wine paired with chocaolate. A lot of us were saying that the Chocolate may have been more tasty than the wine
Here we had:
- 2015 Chenin Blanc
- 2015 Sauvignon Blanc
- 2009 Berries only Cabernet Sauvignon
- 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon
- 2011 Cabernent Sauvignon
- 2011 Isikhati
We arrived at our final winery Annandale
This winery is more known for their “old” wines vs all the wineries we visited earlier that were relatively younger.
We sampled:
- 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon
- 2009 Cabernet Franc
- 2007 Cavalier
- 2005 Shiraz
- 2006 C.V.P (Desert Port)
We were all in good “spirits” by the end of this day and we returned happy to our Hotel. We were left to our own devices again in the evening, and while we were open to trying something new, we had set out to see if the McDonalds in South Africa was any different than home. Unfortunately it wasnt too different so we decided to visit a local Chicken Licken (kind of like a KFC) it was pretty delicious! We got home early because we needed to pack and get ready for the next day of travel to Johannesburg.
Gail wouldn’t be picking us up until later in the morning, so we decided to walk around the market outside our hotel (green market square) Its a neat market, but I would question the authenticity of all of the merchandise as a lot of it seemed to be repeated booth to booth.
Market browsing over, Gail took us to the airport where we got readyto fly! We checked in, passed through security and got on a Mango flight to Johannesburg.
The flight took about 2 hours and was pretty uneventful. We were transferred to our lodging for the evening, Malikana Guesthouse. It is run by this lovely lady named Soeki and her family. Its not like a regular hotel, but its her home that’s been renovated to have additional rooms for guests. She treated us to a local Brai (bbq) for dinner.
We met with our CEO for the Safari portion of our trip Arthur. He is this burly South African with a dry sense of humor but has his own charm at the same time. He walked us through what we were to expect for the rest of the trip and advised us to turn in early as we had a long day tomorrow. So we did excited for new adventures!
Galleries (Click on the thumbnail for a larger version)
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