2009-10-06 - waddling from winery to winery

We had been looking for some kind of organized winery tour to do, so that Mr. Penguin didn't have to spit. While at the Stellenbosch Adventure Center for something somewhat unrelated, Ms. Penguin found a leaflet for Wine Walks - you walk among the vines along the Simonsberg route, through different vineyards. They have a special marked trail set up for it, and you can go with a guide, or on your own...

Our guide was a fantastic and interesting woman named Annelee (Anli). She is very energetic and enthusiastic, passionate about nature and good wine, and also very knowledgeable about the wine region, the varietals, and the wines. We learned about the different varietals and how to recognize and care for them, about regular vines vs bush vines, about the different families in the area, and about how the end of apartheid has changed winemaking in the region.

The starting point was DelVera, an area that houses a bunch of independently-owned businesses. It's a starting point for some wine trails for both walking and cycling. The trail itself is beautiful - not only do you see the vines, you get the beautiful mountain scenery, you encounter friendly farm workers, and you see interesting wildlife. Among other things, we saw some gorgeous blue cranes, South Africa's national bird.

The weather was cool and drizzly; not a bad day for a walk. However, the farmers were very stressed. Farm workers were frantically spraying the vines with an anti-fungal substance (sulphur with an organic resin as binding agent). We also saw a bunch of Sauvignon blanc vines where the leaves had been attacked by disease - a disaster for the crop.

Our first tasting was at Warwick Estate. In Norway, they sell an excellent blend called "Three Cape Ladies," which is exellent stuff, and their "Trilogy" blend is even better. Their Professor Black Sauvignon blanc 2009 was also lovely.

Laibach was our next destination. Their best offering was the 2006 Friedrich Laibach.

Next, we stopped at Delheim for both lunch and a tasting. We were first greeted by a man named Simon - a black South African guy - who started speaking Norwegian to us! It turns out he had lived in Bergen and had studied music there. Cool! Anli knew this beforehand so she somehow or other arranged for this little surprise. How fun!

We started with a very lovely sparkling (Brut) while deciding what to have for lunch. Ms. Penguin ended up with dolmades (rice wrapped in vine leaves) with sundried olives as starter and snoek fishcakes with salad as main dish. The fishcakes were so goooooood! Mr. Penguin had the samosas as his starter and a green bean and lamb stew as his main. Very tasty, and very filling!

We did our tasting as we ate lunch. Our favorite was the Grand Reserve 2004. Delheim also makes a nice dessert wine - the Edelspatz Nobel Late harvest 2007.

The final stop was at Muratie. Our favorite there was the Ronnie Melck Shiraz 2006. They also make a very lovely port, the LBV Port 2004. But if anything, Muratie's tasting room has a rather interesting decor, and it's worth a visit there just for that.

All in all, we had a great day! If any of you are in the Stellenbosch area, DO THIS TOUR! For information, contact Annelee Steyn at info [at] capexpectations dot com.

Since we had such a big lunch, we only had "snacks" for dinner - we bought a package of ravioli, cooked it, and munched on what we wanted to munch on.