Today, Debbie picked us up at 9 am. This gave us time for a leisurely breakfast at our wonderful hotel. This was the chef’s special today!

After this we had a quick look at the ocean… weather was socked in again and quite cool and rainy…the water looks angry once again!

At last, we loaded our suitcases into the car and Debbie started us off once again on a day of adventure. Today’s destination was Franschhoek, but with a stop at 4 wineries on the way, 3 in the Stellanboch region and the 4th in Franschhoek. Ok, ok, one was a lunch stop!

The first winery was a small estate known as Mitre’s Edge. The owner and vintner, Lola gave us a personal tasting and paired each of her wines with cheese…a chenin blanc with Camembert etc. Quite an education. You see cheese has both fat and salt, 2 flavour enhancers, and with the added protein it helps tame the tannins! Her Cabernet Sauvignon gave off hints of eucalyptus which are grown around the property.

Our next adventure took us to the Waterford Estate (no relation to the Irish). Here we had pairings with some interesting chocolates, including a salted dark for the Cab Sauvignon, a Marsala Chai with the merlot and a rose geranium milk chocolate with the late harvest. Another interesting way to bring out the various notes in the wine! Later, our hostess took us on a short tour of the cellars.

From here we got in the car once again and traveled through the university town of Stellanboch. A beautiful town, rich in Dutch heritage.

We soon headed out of town and onto another winery. This one a little bigger again called Boschendal. This winery is big enough to supply some of their wines to the LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario – the largest single wine buyer in the world!) this is where we had a lovely lunch, with of course a glass of wine. I chose a Brut, or sparkling wine and it was delicious!

From here we went on to Franschhoek and to our last winery, Haute Cabriere. Here we tasted a few more wines, enjoyed a bit of scenery in tween the clouds and learned about fortified wines as among the tastings was a dessert wine.

With the wine tasting over, we headed off to our hotel for the next 2 nights in Franschhoek, the La Fontaine. We had to say goodbye to our travel companion and guide, Debbie, as tomorrow we will join a small group tour on the “Wine Tram”. Sad partings as she has been a dear.

Once checked into our hotel, we were asked if we would like reservations made for dinner. Yes, Please we replied. then we were asked if we would like fine dining or something casual. I asked it fine dining would require a jacket and tie, and the reception person told us that we could go into town to buy something for dinner if we like as the shops were still open….that wasn’t going to happen, so casual dining it was!

We decided to go to the French Connection, a lovely French bistro and were not disappointed.

After we finished our dinner, we headed back to the room for some R and R. We commented that this was the first place we have been in where we could safely walk back to our hotel since arriving in Africa. It had been another long day, and it’s time to put our feet up! Until tomorrow, have a great rest of your day!