Day 16 Franschhoek wine tour

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We woke up at a reasonable time and headed to breakfast. Another wonderful assortment of fruit, cold foods and hot breakfast. Nothing to want for! Coffees, well you had a selection of anything you could desire…cappuccino, latte, americano, etc.

Bellies full we were ready for our day touring the Franschhoek area wine wonders on the wine tram!

Just look at Dan’s creative cappuccino!

We left the hotel and headed to the tram’s main depot in town. Franschhoek is not unlike Niagara on the lake, for our Canadian subscribers. Small town. Centred on the wine culture. Dan and I were on a semi private curated wine tour with tastings.

Our first stop was a winery owned by Richard Branson, of Virgin Airlines fame, Mont Rochelles.

We were welcomed with a white Chenin blend and began our wine tour. This winery bottles about 8,000 litres per year, and all the wines we tasted were wonderful! (Alas, no room in the suitcase!!!) We proceeded through a tour of the crushing, aging and barrelling space.

Aging barrels of red wine in French Oak

We then moved onto lunch with a wine pairing though the appetizers. But before then. We had a test from our wine guide.

Thank goodness Jovandre did this at the beginning of our tasting tour! Pretty detailed, and it was apparent that each of us discovered out own flavours in the wine!
We had a lovely white blend with a spicy black bean wrap not he left, followed by a deep fried goat cheese with a Chardonnay, followed by a Cabernet Sauvignon with a grilled beef bite. All interesting how they brought out the flavour in the food and food brought out the flavour in the wine!

From there we selected our main course for lunch ( the table chose grilled kingklip with white wine parings ( 3 out of 4 choose the Chardonnay) and then a delightful dessert! A wonderful; tasting .both of food and wine!

For our next stop on the tour was La Brie. A winery which offered again, 2 whites, and 3 reds…a merlot, a Shiraz base and a Cabernet Sauvignon.

Just had to include the rhino!
Here Dan is with our new friends from Australia on the tour. Paul and Sarah Ware! The fire was indeed welcoming as the high for the day was 14C!

From here, we continued on our wine tram..

Here’s our guide Jovendre. Very knowledgeable and patience with us!

Our last winery, Heritage Wine estate, we had a choice of paring with Oysters and Sparkling wines and rose, reds with savoury bites and desert wines with nougats. We all chose the oysters and sparkling and roses. Each oyster was toppped with a flavourlful garnish, The first two were to be eaten with the sparkling wine and the last one, a spicy garnish, with the rose. Another amazing experience!

The winery was filled with interesting art which we had a chance to explore before the tasting. Unfortunately Paula had to leave us before the end of the tour…something about a massage booked for the afternoon!!!
Our oysters with their pairings. Slightly bigger than Malpeque, but delicious nonetheless.
A wine bottle chandelier in the tasting room.
Dan and Paul solved all the problems of the world as we sipped away in front of yet another fireplace.

Our tour was soon finished and it was time to head back to our tram stop and then hotel.

Such a lovely way to spend a rainy cold day in the beautiful wine country of South Africa!

Dan and I soon said our goodbyes to Paul and headed back to our hotel. A much needed r and r and then off to dinner once again!

I wish I could say it was a light meal, but it was certainly delicious! Now time to kick my feet up and say goodnight! Until tomorrow’s adventures when we chat again!

Categories: An African Adventure

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