A South African Vineyard – South Africa

A South African Vineyard
South Africa

The next day, another SA friends of ours, Natasha, which we met in Korea, picked us up in Cape Town and took us to our next destination of Stumble Inn backpackers in Stellenbosch. Stellenbosch is a big wine region with beautiful vineyards, mountains and rustic buildings. We hung out in town, swapped stories and pigged out on all you could eat Mexican food in the town’s only Mexican restaurant.

The next day Lizzy and I embarked on a wine tour of the region. We went to four different vineyards, each with its own unique brand of sumptuous wine and atmosphere. Simonsig and Fairview were two of our favourites. The Stumble Inn really does have a great deal going where you get the tour and cheap accommodation if you stay two nights. The tour started with a briefing of the areas that were going to visit and then we hopped on the bus that our tour guide magnanimously offered to be the designated driver for. Upon arrival at the first vineyard we were told how to properly taste wine as opposed to just throwing it back down our throats and putting the glass on the bar for a refill, as is the temptation for most, I believe. At the very least, we thought we looked like we knew what we were doing. The instructions are as follows: Once the velvety (red for example) wine is poured into your glass, look at the wine in your glass while making astute observations about its colour like, hmm. Looks red.

Next, comes the sniffing part. As easy and obvious as it may seem, one can seriously screw this part up. The distance at which you hold the glass to your nose is central, not because it affects what you smell but how you look when you are smelling! If you hold it about a foot a way below your nose and attempt to actually smell something with your nose, your going to pull your face in such a way that makes you look like a pompous aristocrat. Particularly if you follow up your scrunched up face with, oh, a slightly aromatic bouquet of floral lure yet combined with a scent of stale oak. On the other hand, you can take ‘smelling’ to mean something else and put your nose too far into the glass only to extract your big sloppy, dripping, red schnozz when you realize that wine is better tasted going in the mouth rather than through the nose. Immediately after swishing the dark liquid around in your glass to release the aroma, hold your nose to the rim of the glass, even slightly tilting it towards you, and gently smell the swirling wine. Comments like, smells alright to me or, smells like booze are sufficient.

The next step requires a lot of will power. Purists will suck up the liquid in their mouth, make an O with their lips and suck in air to percolate the wine and then spit it out in a spittoon. The tasting part is basically from the moment that it is in your mouth to after it has left your mouth. I must say that the sucking air part really does change the taste of the wine and helps to distinguish between certain flavours. It may require a bit of practice or wearing a bib, whichever you feel comfortable with. With a bit of time (and lots of wine), you may be able to make such comments as, “There is a distinct chocolate oak flavour mixed with salami, reminiscent of Cabernet Foufounes’ second edition of its 1982 stock. A blend of familiar old time nostalgia blended with new spunk. It’s like Hollywood’s remake of old series classics with a twist. Salami and chocolate oak?” I asked too, and was told that no, they don’t put chocolate or pepperoni in the wine, but that certain kinds of oak wood that they use for the barrels have a similar taste to salami and chocolate for example, that affect the taste of the wine while it ages. Once you have overcome the incredible urge to grab the bottle and chug it proper, rinse your glass and mouth out with water. O.K. so you have teased yourself long enough. You have tried it the ‘professional’ way and feel like you know what you are doing. Now drink!

Three out of the four places that we went to were really relaxed and had great service and interaction with the public. You tell them what you want and they give you a little sample of it. Believe me, after three vineyards at a loosely guarded limit of six different tastes at each vineyard, you start to feel a little rosy. For lunch I had a game stew of springbok. It tastes like venison and I liked it. After lunch and the remaining two vineyards we were driven back to our accommodation and we flopped down into bed.