After a week of “roughing it” in Botswana, we settled in for
3 days of self-indulgence in South African wine country, which is slightly east
of Cape Town and encompasses the towns of Franschoek, Stellenbosch and Paarl.
The first thing you learn about wine country is that the
scenery is beautiful. Pictures 1 and 2 show the rolling hills, low mountains
and ever-present Agapanthus.
One winery served their homemade cheese with their wine
(Picture 3). Another paired their wine with chocolates: Shiraz with Marsala
Chai in dark chocolate, Cabernet Sauvignon with rock salt in dark chocolate,
and their dessert wine with rose geranium milk chocolate (Picture 4). Another
served picnic lunches in the garden, with a nice bottle of rosé (Picture
5).
After tasting about 30 wines, we selected 3 to bring back to
the ship (Pictures 6-8). As you can guess, we are Pinotage lovers. The Mata
Mata is a Cape Blend, which is a Bordeaux-like blend, with Pinotage making up a
relatively large portion of the blend. All were $15-$16 per bottle.
Life is good for Americans in South Africa. The exchange
rate is 11 rands to the dollar. When I was traveling here on business it was
6-7 rands to the dollar. A 3-course dinner for two at a nice restaurant, with a
good bottle of wine, can be had for $50-$60.
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