So Many Wines, so little time

Forgive the delay since I last posted, chalk it up to a massive hangover :(

Wednesday afternoon we drove into Stellenbosch and headed straight to Kanonkop Wineries. The women who assisted us was a little flighty and a bit pretentious, but the wine was good. Their flagship red is called Paul Sauer, after “grandfather” and it was worth buying, so of course, I did. One bottle already in the car and we have been tasting only 20 minutes.

Down the road we stop at Delheim Vineyards to taste their Shiraz, which is Kevin’s absolute favorite. At this point I must explain that most wineries do not charge for tastings, as they do in California, and even more significantly, they have tables and chairs for you to sit at comfortably while tasting their wines. Delheim had many to taste, so I skipped the whites and went straight for the reds, but my companions started with whites so we were there for quite a while.
Mike, our server was quite knowledgeable about the wines, and as the tasting progressed, we were better able to enjoy his dry sense of humor as well. His German accent causes a brief delay between his delivery of a clever line and our catching the humor. This was never more evident than when he described the last wine of the day, a sweet dessert wine named Spatzendreck. He showed us the bottle and said "This wine is called Sparrow Shit". After the five second delay, we all looked at each other as if to say "did I just hear that"? Oh yes, indeed we did, and he never once cracked a smile! Scott bought a bottle here, and we bought a bottle of shiraz for Kevin, since he has been more than outstanding as both guide and sommelier.

Next we headed toward Franschoek, our home for the night, in a driving rainstorm. But, not without a quick stop at Grand Provence Wineries for one more quick tasting. Scott again bought here, and we wandered their art gallery as well. Our guesthouse, the Rustof, was just down the road a bit and lovely. When Kevin had booked it for us, they had one regular and one superior room, so I made myself at home in the superior room (ha ha, take that one boys) and fixed a cup of tea and hot bath to get rid of the chill that was settling in my bones after so much rain and cold.

We ran the ½ block to dinner at Reubens, in a downpour that just would not let up. Dinner was delicious, Karoo lamb (its becoming my favorite dish). Scott’s was not up to snuff though and we had problems with the service. Seems we are the only people in the entire world who ever have had a problem at Reubens. Everyone at the Rustof was astonished when we told them. Then back through puddles and deluge to snuggle under as many blankets as I could find and sleep, which I needed after all that wine!