An entry in the TFS Travel Journal.
We awoke to a gray, rainy day with clouds so thick we couldn’t see across the street. We dined at their breakfast buffet of plenty (offering serious competition to our beloved Alvear), then met Chanda, our 35 year old guide for the day, who bore a striking resemblance to Princess Diana (including the accent!).
We piled into her red mini-van and drove to our first stop - Vergelegan (”view from afar”), the hilltop home of one of the original governors of the Cape (several hundred years ago), now a winery. The title is interesting, as the governor used to use his hilltop vantage to see approaching ships, then pack up all his produce and get to Capetown (about 35 miles, but it took days back then) in time to be the one to sell to the ship before anyone else knew it had docked; he was eventually run out of town. The original manor house, Dutch style with the big gable and a thatch roof, is open for walking through, and has a wonderful flower garden in back and several stunning camphor trees in front that are so large and so old (over 300 years) that they’ve been declared national monuments.
We then tasted their wine offerings, as well as their first pressing of olive oil. They had a Reserve Chardonnay that sounded quite good (especially given how good the regular one tasted), but it was sold out. This was a theme repeated throughout the day, as the wines from this country have proven to be so good, and the industry/vineyards so underdeveloped due to all the years of sanctions, that most of the better wine gets exported (like we found in Chile) and there is, in fact, a real shortage domestically.
We then got a quick tour and description of Stellenbosch (from inside the van, as we’ll be walking the city tomorrow), frequently referred to as the most delightful town in South Africa. We stopped in at Blaauklippen (”bluestone”) vineyards, where we tasted more wines and purchased a damn good shiraz (for a whopping $5.50). All along, we marvelled at the lovely surroundings of the majestic Drakenstein mountain range, the rolling hills and the forrests full of thick, towering trees.
We also greatly enjoyed our conversation with Chanda, as she answered our endless questions about life here before and after The New Government, for blacks, whites, women etc. As much as we all know a bit about life for blacks under apartheid, it sounded a lot like life for Jews in Nazi Germany in the late 30s — totally restricted movement, separate schools, housing, everything. However, the media was so controlled, and reporting so limited, that the atrocities now being made public are coming as a shock to most whites. She and her peers, though, feel that the abolition of apartheid has brought them a great sense of relief, and while she acknowledged the unrest about which we’ve heard so much (though she felt it was primarily confined to the large Johannesburg area), she is basically optimistic about the future and opportunities, pointing out that there has recently been much foreign investment here, but that much more is needed given the massive numbers of unemployed. She also feels that the country could and should be an exemplar for the rest of the world of harmonious and economically successful race relations. In fact, her stories of the way blacks and whites relate to, and talk to, each other show a comfort and an evolved freedom that we uptight, politically correct Americans would do well to learn from.
It was time for lunch, so we went to Lanzerac hotel and vineyards, which was set beautifully in the vineyards, with the valley and mountains in the distance. By then, the weather had cleared perfectly, and we dined outdoors, needing their large umbrella to protect us from this powerful sun. The three of us shared traditional Malay style dishes, including snoek (a local white fish) pate, grilled chicken livers, a lamb custard, chicken tikka, and a vegetable pie that was so good we got a second half-order. All accompanied by a Pinot Noir, which was good but quite light. We topped it off by going in and tasting their wines, which were good but not great.
We spent the rest of the afternoon doing tastings at a few more wineries (at one we bought a very nice 1/2 bottle of dessert wine for $1.50!!), and driving around these wonderful winelands. Especially memorable was the town of Franshoek, home of the French Huguenots, which is small and cute and nestled into the mountainside.
Chanda then drove us home, stopping to show us her favorite street in Paarl, which is lined with old victorian style houses and white picket walls. We said our goodbyes, then capped off the day by enjoying a drink on the patio of our hotel, with the formal gardens in front of us, and the valley and impressive mountain range in the distance. We were sufficiently relaxed from our copious tastings, so we took a nap, and spent a quiet evening in the room.