4th day – Wine country

First stop is the town of Stellenbosch.  This is the second oldest town in SA, founded in 1679, and is the heart of the Winelands.  There are over 200 wineries and all day, Jules and I thought we were right back home in Napa Valley.  Our first stop was to Waterford Winery and it was beautiful.  Jules went for it with starting off with a 7 tasting and I lagged behind with only a 3 tasting…as previously noted…I would pay for that last bottle of champagne the night before…ugh!  They are known for pairing their wines with chocolate and it was delicious.  SA does not have the insane liquid restrictions as the US for flights so we picked up a great cabernet reserve for when we are on safari.

The next visit was to Delaire Graff Estate.  This could be one of the most beautiful wine farms I have ever been too…to bad the wines did not live up to the estate…they were ok and have to say that two we wanted to try were sold out…but we passed on any purchases of wine but did purchase some scarfs and a pair of sandals in their boutique store.  We also passed on making any purchases in the diamond room.  This winery is owned by Laurence Graff who is chairman of Graff Diamonds International and he spared no expense when he transformed the property to an unbelievable spectacular place but they should have just stuck to wine making.

For lunch we headed to the town Franschhoek.  This is a settlement started in 1694.  These lands were granted to French Huguenot families by the Dutch East India company and helped to master the wine making in SA.  This was a quaint town with shops, galleries and great restaurants.