November 27. Wine and more wine. 9:30 am start with our driver from the hotel. I would suggest that anyone interested hire a guide that really knows the wine lands rather than a driver. Ivan had kindly made notes for me yesterday for suggested vineyards and that was a blessing. Our driver, Voomila, very nice, but not knowledgeable on the vineyards at all. Last time we were in South Africa, we visited Stellenbosch (no I didn't get back to Neethlingshoff), so we opted for Franschhoek this time, with three of Ivan's top recommendations in hand. The drive took about an hour and a half, first on the list was Provence. As we pulled into a beautiful estate, we checked in with the guard at the gate... oops, sorry, they did not have a tasting today. We drive through Franschhoek to the second name on the list, La Petite Ferme. We joined a group that had just started the tour of the vineyard. What a delight! They have about 100,000 hectares of vines, producing 100,000 bottles of wine annually. 90% is sold through the vineyard, 10% is exported to England, and in turn, England exports a small amount to the US. Our guide taught us which grapes La Petite grows and how each has its own requirements for successful growing. The vineyard has a variety of soils, with various growing conditions so it's able to grow quite a variety of grapes... I learned that Sauvignon Blanc likes cool mornings and sunny afternoons so they plant it next to the trees; but they also grow Sauvignon Franc higher on the mountain, Shiraz, Chardonnay, Merlot and Sauvignon Cabernet grapes. Their biggest seller is the Sauvignon Blanc and they are able to bottle and distribute it the same year, making it very profitable. Our guide was really knowledgeable about the vines, the grapes, the wine making, taking us step by step thru the process, of picking, fermenting, tracking sugar vs alcohol. They store the wine in the large stainless steel vats until they are ready to be put in casks or bottled. We had the added treat of tasting a 2015 Merlot directly from the vats! Down steep brick stairs to the cellar where they age their wines in either American or French oak casks. The difference? None, just tradition. He named me an "ABC", standing for "anything but Chardonnay" person!
Each of the barrels storing red wine was circled with a wide swath of red around the center of the barrel where the tester was. I had never seen anything like that before... they dry the grape skins, pulverize them and color the cask with the powder. After our "Oak" lecture, we headed upstairs for our tasting. The Sauvignon Blanc was delicious, Chardonnay was delicious, the Shiraz was delicious and Merlot was good, but my least favorite. Believe it or not, La Petite Ferme Chardonnay could convert me to a Chardonnay drinker... beautifully aged in French oak, but hands down, the best of all was the Shiraz! Winner, Winner!
Petite Ferme was a surprisingly small vineyard, that made and bottled all of their wines from their vineyard only, and what beautiful wines... unfortunately, carrying home wines with the amount of luggage we have just isn't possible, too much of a hassle, so I will enjoy it here and look for them at home.
We had made lunch reservations at La Motte, another beautiful vineyard. The restaurant was exceptional - awesome actually, with a separate tasting building and a shop for local goods. We ordered a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, and found La Petite's was far superior. But then, La Motte mixes their wines from a number of growers, where La Petite uses only the grapes they harvest from their land.
After lunch, into Franschhoek for a bit of shopping. Very upscale community and beautiful shops. Fun shops, not many bargains, but fun shopping anyway and a great Gelato shop! After our break, we decided to head home instead of trying another vineyard, it was 4:00 pm and another tasting would really be a stretch. We were all content with our experience and were ready to head back to the hotel.
Back to the hotel we shared another bottle of champagne from wine country in Lisbon... just didn't want to take it home. It was Mongo Brut from Casal Branco outside of Lisbon, not as much to my liking as the demi-sec Cava from Madiera, but tasty none the less. Dinner downstairs outside on the patio next to the pool. Beautiful night; cool with a nice breeze an an almost full moon. Just perfect!
Tomorrow we break camp and head to Johannesburg before our flight home.
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