We initially thought we had a guided tour of a few wineries set up for 9:30am, so we woke up early, had a little breakfast, and waited for our guide. Around 10:00 we realized there must have been a mix-up. A quick call, and we figured out that “The Wine Desk” had mixed up our reservation, and it was actually at 1:00pm. No problem. We decided to head to Stellenbosch to explore the first winery on our own: Simonsig.
OK, so it's winter-turning-to-spring here in South Africa, so the vines aren't at their prettiest... but we figured the wine would still be good... and at $5.00 per tasting who can really complain. We sat outside, had 5 wines, and let the morning glide by while we enjoyed the view.
Ming liked the “super-quaffable” Chenin Blanc. “Super-quaffable” apparently means easy-drinking, though a wine-snob beside us was quick to provide his translation: terrible. The clientele of these tastings seem to come in two forms. The first, the wine-snob, knows everything about the subject, always uses a spitoon when tasting, speaks in a hoity-toity British accent, and scoffs at the second type of patron: the backpacker. The first might be spotted at an upscale restaurant, enjoying a $150 meal (wine-pairings and all), debating the merits of the free-market economy with his 13 year old son. The latter might be seen with a group of fellow backpackers hiring out a van for a low-budget wine tour. Ming and I are somewhere in between.
Eventually one of the backpacker tour groups crashed our spot at Simonsig. It was entertaining watching the guide give his spiel. He even opened a bottle of champagne (oops... can't call it that 'cause it wasn't from France) with a sword. Can you spot the cork?
For lunch, we headed up the road to Simonsberg cafe to get a Simonsburger. Yummm. There was a friendly dog there. Ming taught it to beg. I'm sure the owner was thrilled. (whoa there -- Ian embellishment alert -- the dog clearly came over and started begging on its own, it was sooo cute and I had no choice but to feed it -- I admit, I did not help the situation, but I certainly did not instigate the begging!)
We finally caught up with our tour guide and dropped off our car in the town center. I was glad to give up the driving given the wine we were about to have. I can barely drive sober given the left-side-of-the-road thing they have going on here. Actually, it's not so bad after a while. The hardest thing to remember is that people pass you on your right. I got my fair share of honks for going too slow in the passing lane.
The first winery the guide took us to was called Spier. Nothing special in terms of the wine, but it had a cheetah farm... (does that count as another one of the big 7?)
The next winery was Uva Mira. The wine was definitely better here.
They definitely cater to the hoity-toity crowd here.
The server joked that they like their relatively high elevation because the backpacker vans can't make it up the hill. She had an English accent. She assured us she wasn't being “cheeky”.
The Uva Mira winery is owned by an old lady who lives in a mansion up on the hill. She has one of the most spectacular scenic vistas a house could have. Behind her, the craggy mountains that are pervasive in and around Capetown.
The day we went it was relatively hazy, but we could still make out the bay just beyond the valley which her balconies overlooked.
Our last winery of the day was Blaauwklippen.
I think we were both pretty tipsy by that point, so everything was tasting pretty good. We even bought a bottle of the Shiraz. Hope it tastes as good with a fresh palate. Sidenote: big thank you to Beth and Jesse for getting this tour for us. We can't say that we'll always remember all the details...but from what we do remember in our alcoholic-haze, it was definitely a blast.
With that, our guide drove us back into town. We walked around town a little, bought a few essentials, and then headed towards our dinner reservations. We had dinner at La Courtier Frances. This was one of our splurge-nights at one of the top 100 restaurants in the world... according to the in-flight magazine anyway. I had the 8-course set menu (wine pairings and all)... it was all I could do to refrain from speaking with a British accent and using words like “musn't” and “ghastly”. Still, I was able to forgo my manners long enough to take out my camera and get a shot of my food. Here's the third course: foie gras, prociutto, cranberry and smoked whisky dressing.
Ming got a 5-course meal. 
A lot of her dishes were actually tastier than mine. In particular, she had truffle and sweetcorn soup which was delicious. In any case, we were both stuffed after the meal, and it was getting late, so we headed back to the Corner House and went straight to bed.
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