South African Wines Part Two: Kindergarten

We started our on-site training on South African wines in earnest this weekend. We visited vineyards and cellars south of Cape Town in Noerdhoek (Cape Point) and the Constantia Valley (Groot and Klein Constantia) and east to the Stellenbosch (De Toren),  Paarl (Fairview) and Franschhoek (Rickety Bridge) winelands. The variety of grapes are endless! You name it, they produce it! Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Chenin Blanc, Pinot Noir, etc., etc., and of course the classic Pinotage everyone associates with South African wines.

Throw out every assumption and opinion you have made about South African wines, especially the signature Pinotage. Compared to the quality available here in South Africa, the Pinotage exported to the USA is dreck! The wines here are complex and a pleasure to drink.

And the wine country is magnificent to tour. Vines as far as the eye can see in the shadow of picturesque mountain ranges dotted with thatched white Dutch colonial farmhouses and vineyards diving down to the sea amid olive, eucalyptus and palm trees. And keep an eye out for ostrich, baboon, penguin and leopard toad crossings! We saw them all!

We added six more cases to our collection and we've only just begun! In fact we barely scratched the surface in Lesson One. We think to begin Lesson Two, we will start by going north from Cape Town towards the Northern Cape along the wine and olive route or maybe further east to Plettenberg Bay along Route 62 and the Garden Route or northeast towards the Karoo. But not until we drink through some of this wine haul to make some more room!

It's a tough job but somebody's got to do it!