Wine Country

Nestled in the colorful valleys of SA's mountains, wine country is literally exactly that. Made up of hundreds of miles and several towns of field after field, acre after acre of grape trees, olive trees and wineries. The three main towns of South Africa's wine country are Paarl, Franschhoek, and Stellenbosch. We started at the Northern most town of Paarl with a winery called Fairview. One of Fairview's vineyards is responsible for supplying the grapes to one of our favorite wines- Fairvalley's Chenin Blanc. The Chenin Blanc grape is a popular one in South Africa.

We arrived at Fairview just after 11:00 am, still full from our scrumptious breakfast at the mill. We entered the driveway of the winery and drove towards the garden laden main house to park. We learned quickly that the mascot of the winery was a goat, given the goat pen that was front and center on the property.

Inside we tasted six different wines, finding for the first time, a dessert wine that we actually enjoyed. The wine we had here ended up being the best of the day. We were able to taste some cheeses with our wine as well. We made some purchases and then headed to our next target.
The roads through wine country are often fairly low key, not crowded at all. You wouldn't actually know you are driving through wine country except for the well marked entrances to each winery along the way. Each winery is its own world of color, smells and style. Each of the three we visited were very different in character and style. It was definitely very interesting.

The second winery we made it to was Tokara, just outside Franschhoek, in between Paarl and Stellenbosch. The view from the parking lot was a breathtaking array of golden manicured fields with a view of a valley beyond them. The winery building itself was stylistically very modern. It boasted decent wine and fairly yummy olive oil, both of which we were able to taste for free.

The last winery we hit was one of the furthest South, called Spier. Spier is known for being a bit more touristy, but has much to do on its grounds beyond just wine. The wine was actually our least favorite of the day, but the winery's on site Cheetah farm and Bird reserve made up for the sub-par wine. Justin and I paid to pet the a Cheetah, which was fun mainly to say we did so. We ended the day at the bird reserve which was much less exciting before we started talking to one of the guides. The reserve had several cages of rare African birds of prey from condors to eagles of all shapes and sizes. They had three barn owls on a rail that you were able to pet until your hearts content.
To no surprise, Justin struck up a conversation with Ian, one of the bird experts. It turns out that the bird reserve houses, cares for and rehabilitates birds that were hurt or dying. When possible, the rehabilitated birds are released back into the wild. In some cases, such as a condor they were caring for that got caught in power lines, will be introduced to an on site female in hopes that they mate. They do this to hopefully bring up the numbers of this bird in the wild, as it is an endangered species. Any baby birds that result of the mating will be fed with a "feeding glove" that is carefully crafted to look almost exactly like an adult version of the bird so that the babies do not get used to being hand fed. This way, the birds can be released back into the wild.

Ian was able to tell us some of the rescue stories of the various birds that they housed. Some that would be able to be released back into the wild and some whose injuries had made them unable to survive on their own in the wild.

We closed down the bird reserve and headed out to our next hotel called the Chartfield Guesthouse in Kalk Bay. Our drive gave us a magnificent view of the sunset over the coastal bay area and mountains. We definitely stopped to take pictures.

By the end of each day we keep saying to each other, "This just can't get any better," our days have been incredible. South Africa is a beautiful country.