The last Baz Bus stop before the Mother City of Cape Town is the famous university and wine region town of Stellenbosch. You leave Hermanus at about 7 in the evening to meet the shuttle at the cool bar – again everything was on time so no drink at the cool bar! Stellenbosch also has a shuttle from the Baz Bus stop so we arrive at the Stumble Inn Backpackers around 9. Everyone was hungry so we went just across the road to a lovely place called Ginos! Pasta and pizza for all! That made for a late night before our wine tour the next day!
Gino’s Restaurant! on our last night we went back for dinner again and we met Gino. He was awesome – gave the girls each a little Xmas pannetoni and gave the girls a lovely bottle of wine! Last night dinner at Gino’sThe friendly staff at Gino’s – and a bit of Xmas spirit!Our room at the Stumble Inn – our only window was into the kitchen so it was really hot and noisy. This picture was taken from the kitchen thru the window!
Stumble Inn had a nice common areaA cool little bar tooHostel also had a big back garden where we met some interesting folksThe back garden with fire pit – there was a fire every night! Stumble Inn nightly fire!The fire!
The Wine Tour
The next day we met up with our tour guide Aaron and our group to head to numerous vineyards and taste a lot of wine. These tours really depend on the group and our group turned out to be pretty good! We had a German couple on their honeymoon (didn’t speak English too well but were fun nonetheless), two women from the Baz Bus that we knew – a young German girl and an older English lady. Also there was a Swedish couple of similar age to us and they were great too! Overall a good bunch and all keen to drink some wine. Our only worry was how the girls would fare over the long day! They survived…and so did the adults!
Our guide was great – enough info for the keeners and a lot of humour for those of us just along for the wine! I think we went to 5-6 vinyards and had well over 20 different wines – red, white, rose and sparkling. I think we even had an ice wine (dessert wine). Hard to tell. I do remember that South Africa bred and created the Pinotage grape. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinotage The girls tried some wine but mostly got juices at each stop. Lunch was included and was more a traditional South African fare to chose from… Not much else to say….the pictures will tell more of the story!
Everything started off civilised. Lovely estate -very old world called LanzeracReally lovely place Very old world Bacchanalian feel
So much space NOT used for wine…..Kids anticipating a big day! Bring it on!First bottle! Nice start with bubbles!
Getting a bunch of information on wine etc….they try hard to make it seem it is not all about the drinking…..
I do remember many of these estates began in the late 1600’s .So many barrels, so little time.A barrel that the vintner used to test with its spillage!So much wine! Those silver things in the floor are drains for the wine that can flow – crazy!Residual wine in the floor drain….First estate and the girls look a little bored with all the wine information….each estate supplies their own guide. They know more about wine than i have ever forgotten.
Old skool grape press! I asked if i could get in and crush the grapes with my feet. No one was impressed….Pinotage is South Africa’s contribution to the wine world. This grape was bred in S.A. In the 1920’s and is a blend of Pinot Noir and Cinsaut.Willow seemed to like it here….Never ending barrelsAll the numbers mean stuff. Barrels can only be used so many ties so the dates are stamped right on it. The ‘toast’ is how much the barrels are burned to add taste (i think).
I actually got some pix of actual vinesSome grape pix tooA lesson on grapesManual Wine pump Skye opening champagne (sparkling wine) the traditional way!..Woo hooMore wine at Simonsig estate.The wine tour gang!Kids trying to pay attention….Skye and her sisters trie to catch a bird with wire around one talon. They were gong to try and help it. To no avail.No idea what this does…More vines and beautiful views
.Happy kids table…The Stellenbosch wine region is amazingly beautiful! The Stellenbosch wine region is amazingly beautiful! Lunch was had by this monument to the Afrikaans language! Each obelisk is for a different group of languages that. Contributed to the Afrikaans language – European (English, Dutch, German), the smaller one for Asian contributors (Malay in particular) and then African languages (Khoisan, Zulu, Sotho, etc). http://www.taalmuseum.co.za/taalmonument-symbolism/IN this place we were around a half circle bar -they paired wine and cheese – the girls liked the cheese! it was super fun! Happy wine tour kids!We tried all of theseWe tried all of these…7 different grapes!!!.This place fed my goat fetish.- no not in that way!
“Don’t be a nerd – run with the herd!”..Great label!More massive vatsThis guy is working hard!Lovely scenery between the vinyardsbarbed wire and fences....Back to vinyards and barbed wireNear the town of Franschhoek which means French Corner – a lot of Huguenots settled here and made wine!Another vineyard in Franschhoek region. How many does this make?Luckily not a real one!.More wine! This time with chocolate. The fun’s never ends!
.More great scenery of the area
More great scenery of the area.Sunset on the way home...The next day. We caught up,with a lovely French Canadian lady and her husband who had worked with M.Cs dad in Switzerland – we ate at another wine estate!Everyone in front of the Stumble Inn .
The wine-tasting bit of global travel is a tough gig, but someone has to do it! Nice shots.
After the first 20 or so samples I lost an ability to tell them apart!