2009-10-03 - wine is best when shared with friends

Ms. Penguin hangs out on certain travel-related discussion forums on teh intertubes, where she meets interesting people from all around the world. One of these interesting people, "L", and her husband ("D") lives in the Cape Town area, so we arranged to get together to do some wine tasting. Long story short, they drove to our guest lodge in Stellenbosch, we discussed where to go and which wineries to visit (Helderberg wine route), and then we were off!

Our first destination was Alto. They had some really nice reds. Our tasting companions bought a bottle here.

Next up was Bilton, just a few hundred meters down the road. This is a small winery with a range of some really impressing red wines. We ended up buying two yummy wines there - the Bilton Shiraz 2005 and the Bilton Sir Percy Classic Blend 2005.

By then it was time for lunch, so we headed out towards Haskell, as the Penguins had been there in 2006 and had wonderful lunch at their little restaurant with an incredible view. However, when we arrived, the whole place was dead. No tastings, no restaurant. Nothing. Totally deserted. Only the buildings and the stunning view remained. WTF? Disappointed, we left. We later learned that Haskell had moved its operations to Greater Simonsberg.

Disappointed, but still determined to get some lunch, we headed towards Rust en Vrede. The place is well known for its restaurant, so it should be a piece of cake to get a good lunch there, right? Wrong. Turned out that for lunch, they had only one dish on the menu, and it was a meat dish. Since one of the Penguins' tasting companions does not eat meat, our plans were foiled. Again. However, Rust en Vrede is well known for having good wines, so we did the wine tasting since we were there. The wines did not disappoint us, and we ended up buying their 2005 Shiraz.

By now, we were almost desperate for some food, so we headed off to Guardian Hill to get something to stuff our hungry RoFs with. Did we get to stuff our faces with food immediately? No such luck! The restaurant was full, so we had to wait for a table. Ever noticed how slow time goes when you are hungry and can see and smell food around you? Anyway, we finally got a table. Ms. Penguin had the baby marrow (zucchini) soup, while Mr. Penguin had the v‭enison (Mr. Penguin doesn't remember what kind, and Ms. Penguin didn't write any notes for the day, for reasons that will be explained in the next entry).

After lunch, again, for reasons that will be explained in the next entry, we had to end the day. It was a shame because under different circumstances, it could have gone on and on. But it was nice to meet L and D - they were wonderful company! We hope to meet again sometime!