Stellenbosch (Wine Country)

This past weekend, one of my roommates, two girls from my spring break trip, and myself traveled to Stellenbosch, wine country.  The day started out great and only got better and better.  I made myself a to-go mug of coffee, SarahCatherine and I walked to the local bakery for warm croissants, and we walked to the other girls’ house, Allie E and Laura.  It was already hot out.  We all jumped in a cab to the train station and then got a 9:31 am train to Stellenbosch. 

(Stellenbosch Train Station)

Once there, two other girls from our spring break trip, who study at Stellenbosch, met us, Allie D and Franzie.  They had hired us a van for the day to drive us around to as many vineyards as we could get in.  The sun was already hot on our backs, but no amount of heat would make me change out of my fancy dress and makeup.  Today was going to be a classy day no matter what.

The first winery we visited was called Bergkelder. 

(Bergkelder)

It did not have a vineyard, but instead had extreme supervision over which grapes it got from other vineyards, and had one of the biggest wine cellars in the country.  As there wasn’t a tour ready yet, our buddy from Berkelder poured us a glass of wine, an unfiltered 2009 Merlot, and we walked around the store, admiring the many bottles of wine for sale, and then making our way to a mini museum in the back, full of old machinery and wine glasses.

(First glass of wine for the day)

At last, it was time for our tour.  Henrich, our tour guide, led us outside, past the distillery building, past an old storage house and brandy barrel, to a cork tree.  He explained that while many companies no longer use real corks, they help wine age the best, but take a while to make, as it takes about 40 years and three layers of cork before the tree is ready to be used. 

(Cork Tree)

He then led us into the wine cellar.  It was freezing and dark.  

(Cellar hallway)

The walls were covered with full wine bottles stacked to the ceiling, and each room had a light shining down on a small table where our wine to taste stood. 

(SarahCatherine and the bottles to the ceiling)

Henrich first explained that of all the wine bottles in the cellar, only about 3% is still drinkable, and yet no one knows what 3%.  He then proceeded to name each wine we tasted, showing us the color against a white board, and explaining to us what nose, tastes, and undertones we should find in each. 

(Wine tasting station)

We tasted a Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinotage (special to South Africa because of the grapes it is made with), Cabernet Sauvignon, and a Noble Late Harvest.  The Noble Late Harvest was a gold color, and tasted extremely sweet, like a mix of honey and peach jam.  Henrich informed us that this wine was extremely expensive to produce, as the grapes needed a certain pattern of weather to ripen, and each grape gave one drop of wine.  At the end of the cellar there were large wooden barrels carved with significant events of South Africa that are no longer used because of their wood to wine ratio, and then we saw the private wine tasting room where the chairs were more than R4,000 each because they are made out of the same material airplane windows are made of. 

(Private tasting table, expensive chairs, carved wooden barrels)

I must say, I sat in one and it did not feel like R4,000.  After leaving the cellar, we visited the distillery, and finally the storeroom, where all the wine was kept in barrels to age.  The room was huge and smelled of fresh wood.  Once we were finished taking pictures with the barrels like children, we made our way back to the main house, signed the guest book, and then headed out for the next winery.

(Storage room for wine)

Simonsig had a vineyard.  The dirt had a reddish tint below the grapes, and the mountains surrounding Stellenbosch rose up behind them.  It was beautiful. 

(Simonsig vineyard)

Here we tried five wines again.  There was no order, however, so we all tried separate wines, while sharing a cheese platter of bries and blue cheese.  I tried a delicious white wine, and only wish I could remember which it was. 

(Simonsig)

We had to move quick here, as there were more wineries to see, so after we had each enjoyed our five wines, we made our way back to the bus and Patrick drove us to Delheim.  At the Delheim vineyard we chose not to taste wine, and instead ate lunch on their patio. 

(Lunch at Delheim)

But again we were crunched for time, as all the vineyards close at 5 pm, so we ate quickly and continued on our tours.

The next winery was called Knorhoek.  It was a small winery with a little patio to sit on and drink wine, while at the bottom of a large mountain. 

(Knorhoek)

We sat around a picnic table, having a little more time, and enjoyed another five wines.  Together we tried their Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc (Silver Old mutual award), Rose, Pinotage, and Pantere.  The Pantere was by far my favorite wine of the whole day. 

(Favorite wine of the day)

It was a mix of 30% Merlot, 30% Cab Franc, 20% Cab Sauvignon, and 20% Shiraz, and it was delicious.

(The group at Knorhoek)

Our last winery of the day was the second oldest family owned winery in South Africa, Muratie.  They say second oldest, and they mean it.  There were thick cobwebs decorating the windows and ceiling, sheets of dust across sills and unused shelves, and large spiders running freely.  

(Muratie)

The tasting room contained an ancient piano, dated comfy chairs, and a tinted lamp.  The ambiance was a mix of ancient England and grandma’s house.  Again, we tried five wines.  I tried a Port wine for the first time…and probably the last.  It was sweet and a bit grainy, much too heavy for my advance wine tasting palate.

After Patrick dropped us off at Allie D and Franzie’s dorm, Academia, we recuperated for about an hour.  Then it was off again.  Stellenbosch is too small to have taxis, so we were forced to walk everywhere, which is probably for the better.  We walked into town and the two of them pointed out cool places they like to hang out at or eat at, and then we made our way to the restaurant Gino’s for dinner.  There we sat for three hours.  I ordered a large pizza and most of the others did the same.  We ate, drank water, and talked.  By 9 pm, we ordered dessert to go and made the long way back to the dorm.  Again we talked, but this time lay down, and slowly fell asleep, completely drained from a day of hard work.

The next morning we got up slowly, drank our coffee and tea, prettied ourselves up, and then made our way to a small café in town called Java.  Down town Stellenbosch reminded me a lot of Hanover, the town where Dartmouth College is, and where I used to live.  It was a college town. 

(Downtown Stellenbosch)

The streets were clean, and all the shops along the streets were white, small, and family owned.  Outside at the café, we sat, ate our breakfast, talked, and began to sweat as the sun shone bright. 

(I had to make my own latte, pouring the espresso into the steamed milk!)

Franzie and Allie D, the girls studying at Stellenbosch, told us what they do in town, where they go, and the culture.  The town is predominantly Afrikaner, white.  It is where apartheid started and it still very racist.  The girls told us that most of their friends from Stellenbosch would never think of setting foot in the one township outside of the city, and still segregate themselves from people of other races.  After brunch, we walked around the town, visiting the shops, and getting ice cream.

Before we headed back to the dorm, we stopped at the Botanical Gardens.  The dirt paths were sided with loads of colorful flowers, leading to a square pond with fountains.  Towards the edge of the gardens sat a circular pond, pink water lilies floating on the water, sitting in front of a rusted broken sundial. 

(Pond at the gardens)

After perusing the flowers and trees of the gardens, we headed back to the dorms, cooled ourselves off, then headed back into town to the train station.  The ride back to Cape Town took much longer than on the way to Stellenbosch because the train had to switch tracks multiple times, but we all rested from the long weekend, drinking in the beautiful vineyards passing as we headed out of Stellenbosch.

(Zebras on the train ride home)