Today I took a wine tour in the Stellenbosch region. I never knew that there was a wine culture in South Africa. According to history, the Dutch and the French had a large influence on bringing wine making to this area in the late 1600s.
Honestly, I’ve never been all that interested in Wine. During my years of bicycling around the Lake Erie region I usually skipped out on visiting the wineries. Having lived in California for almost two years, I’ve not really considered visiting the many wine regions. Some of my friends have recommended I give it a go.
Our first stop was Fairview. Here we focused on some lighter wines to get us into the spirit of the day. This stop included some cheese tasting. I wish we could have enjoyed cheese at every stop.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Next, we visited Backsberg (“back of the mountain”). Here, in addition to testing out the wine, we had a go at some Brandy and Chocolate.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
After that we went to Verde en Lust. This farm was unique in that the master winemaker was female. Nice to see the ladies representing!
 |
 |
 |
Finally, we ended the day at Anura (“frog”). At this farm we got to view the wine celler. It was interesting to see a combination of both high tech chemistry as well as traditional oak barrels being used.
 |
 |
 |
