A Toast to Stellenbosch

Happy Easter Everyone! While the weather here has taken a turn for the not-so-great, yesterday was absolutely perfect for our short jaunt to Stellenbosch, the Cape's wine country. Eight of us girls took the train out and spent the day with a tour group checking out four different vineyards, tasting lots of wine, some cheese, and enjoying the spectacular scenery and even better company.
We started off at the second oldest vineyard in the country, called Simonsig, world-famous for being the first vineyard to start cold fermentation on white wine. According to our tour guide this was kind of a big deal because before then all wine was fermented at room temperature, but cold fermenting white wine brings out more of the natural flavor and makes the wine better (red wines, on the other hand, are always fermented at room temperature and more commonly in oak barrels, which bring out different flavors). Simonsig also has one of the first sparkling wines, and arguably one of the most popular, in the region: here it's called Cup Classique because Champagne can only be applied to sparkling wines cultivated and made in the Champagne region of France (fun fact!). I absolutely loved all five of the wines we tried, even the two reds, particularly the Shiraz which has the most amazing chocolate-coffee undertones and fantastic color. And the winery itself was of course absolutely gorgeous, with beautiful mountains all around, row upon row of vines (empty now because harvest season just ended about three weeks ago), and absolutely clear blue skies.
Next we traveled to Fairview, which is also famous for its goat's cheese and other cheesy products (not tacky, but literally cheese goods). Another beautiful estate on the side of the mountains, with gardens and a big koi pond outside the tasting room. The atmosphere inside was also really great, with the walls tastefully decorated with photos and historical plaques about the vineyard and several tasting stations stocked with Fairview's different labels: Fairview also produces La Capra wine and Goats do Roam, which we were able to try. My particular favorites here were the Viognier Special Late Harvest, a pale-gold desert wine which tastes like ambrosia, as well as, surprisingly, the Chardonnay, which is the best Chardonnay I've had since I got to South Africa. Definitely both worth trying, but I didn't dislike any of the other five wines I tried either.
As I mentioned before Fairview is also known for its cheese, so attached to the wine tasting room is a cheese tasting center, where you can grab a toothpick and taste away to your heart's content. After trying some wine, tasting some cheese, trying some more wine, and tasting a little more cheese, we were hustled back into the van to head off to lunch, which was served at a small coffeehouse with some great ciabatta bread. It was nice to get off our feet for a little bit and discuss our observations so far, and we were all feeling ready to go by the time we needed to be back in the van for our next tasting.
Our next stop was Dieu Donne vineyards, perhaps not my favorite for the wine but certainly for the view! The farm is set literally on the side of the mountain overlooking the Stellenbosch valley, so the view was just spectacular as we sat out on the patio and sampled our wines. The girl at the bar was also incredibly knowledgeable about the wine making process and the wines we were tasting, which was very helpful.
Finally we made it to our last stop, Boschendal Wine Estate, was also incredibly picturesque, with wrought iron tables and chairs set up outside the main building under a huge tree surrounded by tree-lined drives and grassy fields. The glasses were already set up for us, making the tasting rather quick and simple, but there was no sign of anyone who worked at the farm to tell us about the wines, which I found a bit off-putting. I also didn't find any of the wines particularly great, although I did find my sudden ability to judge wines a little interesting. But in all honesty I don't think the wines at the last two estates were really that great compared to the wines at the first two places.
All-in-all it was a fantastic day, and it really isn't that expensive to get out to Stellenbosch (only R25 round trip) and about an hour's journey by train, so I'd love to try and get back sometime to explore more of the town and shopping malls (the girls are already talking about trying to get back tomorrow, but we'll see about that).