2009-10-04 - Sunday is wine day too

Sunday is a sort of sleepy lazy day in South Africa in general. Most things are closed, and there tends to be little to do. With some exceptions of course. Spier Wine Estate is open on Sundays, so we decided to go there just to look around a little bit, and to visit the birdies at the Eagle Encounters section of the estate.

But first, Mr. Penguin did a wine tasting. Ms. Penguin was still somewhat unwell after yesterday's ordeal and decided to opt out, which made her a sad, sad penguin, but there really wasn't much she could do about it. Mr. Penguin did a tasting of the higher range of Spier wines. This tasting, if done by the book, would include tasting three wines (as opposed to five for the normal range). Things did not go by the book. Mr. Penguin got to taste 7 delicious wines, and got to compare vintages. Weee! He also ended up buying the Spier Private Collection Cabernet Sauvignon 2006. It is a wine that is ready for drinking now (it would be great with a good, hearty steak), but it can be stored for several years. The Penguins doubt they will be patient enough to delay drinking this wine...

After Mr. Penguin's wine tasting, we went to visit Eagle Encounters. This is where you see various birds of prey on display; they also do feedings and aerial shows. As we arrived, one of the raptor keepers was performing a little "operation" on one of the peregrine falcons, removing a cyst on its foot. Poor thing. There will be more information on these cysts when this blog entry is updated. When the operation was over and the bird was put back on its perch, it showed its appreciation for the ordeal by lifting up its tail and releasing a nice little "bomb." Hehe...

In the same general area, we also saw a little owl. A cute little owl. It was there because some kids had tied up its feet and wings, and kicked it around as if the poor sweet little owl were a football. Yes, you read that right. We were quite upset about this, but were happy to learn that the sweet little owl would be OK. There was also a big cage full of young barn owls (don't remember why they were in the "patients" area) and a box that contained an über-fluffy owlet that had fallen out of its nest.

We walked around the area, admiring the various birds of prey. But our RoFs were demanding food, so we left the enclosure and went to the deli to pick up some stuff for a picnic lunch. You aren't allowed to bring your own food, but they sell all kinds of things to cater to all kinds of tastes, including plenty of vegetarian choices and even halal stuff (on a wine estate!). Ms. Penguin knew she needed to eat, but didn't have that much of an appetite. However, she did get a big roll and some tasty hummus for herself. Mr. Penguin got himself some rolls and ham and cheese. There were lots of families there at the time, and many of them had a big blanket out on the lawn. Since we didn't have a blanket, we sat at a picnic table and enjoyed our lunch, while watching birds flying frantically about (spring, you know) and watching the darn kids all over the lawn.

When we were done eating, we went back to Eagle Encounters, to finish seeing what we didn't see. The ultimate highlight for Ms. Penguin was han‌dling a black eagle! Wheee! Despite the thick and stiff leather glove that Ms. Penguin was wearing, she could really feel how sharp the eagle's claws are, and how powerful its grip is. She was allowed to feel the eagle's thigh muscles, and concluded she would never ever mess with such a bird!

By then it was getting "late" - at least in relation to when we were going to move into our apartment (Blenheim Self Catering). So we headed back towards Stellenbosch proper. But not without another stop to a winery, this time Asara. Ms. Penguin also skipped out on a tasting, but she managed to taste a little bit out of Mr. Penguin's glasses. The tasting at Asara is done a little differently from all the other tastings we have been to. When you enter the tasting room, you inform the staff which wines you want to taste (up to five different ones), and then they pour five glasses so you can taste all of them side by side. Nice. This means it is much easier to compare the wines directly, and to figure out the differences. This is especially useful at Asara, where the red wines are quite similar in both style and quality, so the side by side tasting is quite educational. Anyway, the wines tasted were: 2005 Ebony (a nice Cab. Sauv./Merlot blend), 2006 Shiraz, 2005 Merlot, 2004 Cab. Sauv., and 2005 Bell Tower Estate Wine (a Cab. Sauv./Petit Verdot/Cab. Franc/Merlot/Malbec blend). We ended up buying a bottle of the 2005 Bell Tower Estate Wine, their flagship.

So now it was off to the apartment. And it's a nice one! A really, really nice one! With two bedrooms and a decent kitchen and even a (much needed!) washing machine. Woohoo! We moved all our stuff in, headed out to the local Spar to get some washing powder and food for breakfast, and then started a load of laundry and surfed the intertubes (yes, wifi works here).

Dinner was at an Italian restaurant called Gino's @ De Kelder. It was OK; Ms. Penguin had some ravioli and Mr. Penguin had a steak. The steak was ordered medium rare, but received medium. Or more than medium. But Mr. Penguin didn't complain about it. The ravioli was, on the other hand, just what Ms. Penguin needed. Calories and nutrients. In retrospect, we considered leaving the place after finding out their house wine was Drostdy Hof. For those of you who haven't tried Drostdy Hof, please don't...