On Monday, the 11th, we took a trip out of town to explore three of the many vineyards in the winelands. Stephen, the owner of the lodge, gave us a detailed map with suggestions for which vineyards to see on our day trip. With 100s to choose from, his advice was helpful.
Our first stop was at the Fairview Farm, where they also make their own cheese. This was a highlight as we went straight for the cheese tasting! It was so delicious and we both instantly fell in love with goat’s milk camembert and a goat’s milk chevin. There were also great cow’s milk selections, including a cream cheese and a blue-style cheese called white rock with apricot. We immediately purchased a small wheel of the goat’s camembert and a loaf of freshly-baked ciabatta bread to have for lunch later that day!
After walking through the winery and the farmyard, we made our way to the town of Franschhoek (pronounced somewhat like Frahnzh hook), an adorable town with a tree-lined main street and delightful little shops and cafes. The town is also known for culinary excellence and is considered a food and wine capital. We stopped at the Haute Cabriere Vineyard which is nestled right up into a mountain overlooking the vast vineyards and town of Franschhoek. We visited the cellar to see where the wine is bottled and stored. Afterward, we wandered the main street of town and sat along the green in front of a Dutch colonial building where we indulged in our bread and cheese lunch with a nice cold Ginger Beer (a fave soda from New Zealand and Australia that we are so glad it here, too! Oh and South Africans also use sweet chilli, another fave from down under that we can’t get enough of.).
The next stop took us to the college town of Stellenbosch. Along the route, we came to Hillcrest Berry Orchards where we were quickly absorbed in the smells of berry everything – so many jams and fruit purees and frozen options. Ginnie tasted the fabulous Citrus Blossom Honey and instantly wished for pancakes over which to drizzle its deliciousness. We did pick ourselves up frozen treats; Anthony had the frozen apple juice (it was an apple juice ideal!) and ginnie had a homemade strawberry balsamic ice cream (it may sound like a weird combo, but it was really good and did not taste like vinegar at all). The journey continued with a stop at Tokara Wine and Olive Farm, which had the most interesting looking vine fields of all that neatly and uniformly curved along the hillside. This one makes olive oil and has four flavors, all of which looked incredible.
We also made a stop in Stellenbosch to check out another town of tree-lined streets and shops and cafes. The Oom Samie se Winkel is a curio shop that is a must for a walk-through so we spent time browsing the variety of odd items for sale – at one point ginnie walked nearly into some hanging dried fish! The Dutch in South Africa came up with dried meats (biltong) as a simple hand-held traveling food and there is a lot of it everywhere. The good thing is there is also a lot of dried fruits and many healthy snacks with nuts, fruits, and grains. We are stocking up since we don’t know what we’ll find in weeks to come.
A tour of the wine country is definitely a must on a visit of Cape Town as the scenery is beautiful and the vineyards are plentiful.
ukuthula na-uthando!
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