Stellenbosch is a small university town not too far from Cape Town and is the heart of the South Africa wine region. It seems that South African wines do not have the popularity of many other regions in the United States (even though they have been making wine here as far back as 1659). However, we can see this area becoming another wine "hot spot," particularly if you are a fan of red wines.
We visited 9 wineries or farms as they call them here in South Africa. Our first farm was M'Hudi. While doing some research on South African wines, I found out that M'Hudi is the only black family owned vineyard in South Africa. I emailed M'Hudi about a tasting and got an email back from Diale (the viticulturist) and got a date set. We met with Diale (or more commonly known as Oupa (meaning Grandfather) at their house and farm and chatted for almost three hours about practically everything! From Africa, America, politics, sports and of course wine! Oupa and Raymond (Oupa's daugther's husband's father... I think I got that right! Who also is also apart of this family affair winery) were fantastically friendly and funny. Oupa is super unpretentious. I had said that the Sauvignon Blanc had a green apple smell and Oupa laughed and said, "Really? I don't really know what a green apple smells like. I think there is more of a hint of cat piss! Though my wife would kill me if she heard me say that." Ha! It is true with a lot of South African wines, it has that minerally cat pee smell that sounds weird but totally works in a Sauvignon Blanc!
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Also their two grandsons were running around the yard and on their bikes. We really felt welcomed and almost like a family member just having wine on the back porch. We loved the wine and bought a bottle of the Pinotage and Merlot. Their pinotage has a real smokiness up front that then reveals dark fruits on the back end. Also their Merlot has old world characteristics and was really full bodied. We had to explain to Oupa that not every American hates Merlot post Sideways (a movie he has heard about but not seen!)
There are generally three things we judge a winery visit on: 1. Of course the wine; 2. How welcoming the the winery staff/tour is and finally 3. The location. M'Hudi has to be our favorite winery we have visited on this whole trip!
We also went to a few other wineries too! We headed to Thelema's beautiful farm where we had some pretty great reds including a really good Cabernet which is really dry but nice deep coffee flavors. I also loved it that they had a really cool dalmatian!
We then were at the super slick Tokara tasting room. Tokara has a beautiful view out their tasting room. More fantastic wines and great olives as well.
We ended our day in Stellenbosch with Glenelly Estate. This is a newer farm and owned by May de Lencquesaing, owner of Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande in France. We had a fantastic personal tour of their new "green" building. The bottles are beautiful with one of May de Lencquesaing's glass collection on the bottle.
The next day we headed to Franschhoek which is supposedly the "Napa" like area of South Africa with tons of hip restaurants and wineries. We started off at Dieu Donne for a tasting. They even had a brewery so Jim got to do a beer tasting as well. Dieu Donne has a fantastic view of the Franschhoek valley.
Just down the road from Dieu Donne is Chamonix which has a cool cellar that makes you feel like you are in the French countryside. We absolutely loved their Sauvignon Blanc Reserve 2008. It is fermented in French oak and it gives it a perfect wood/citrus taste.
We could not resist also Yonder Hill just for the picture...
We could have spent weeks here and still not made it to every winery (we did not even have time to make it to the town of Paarl!). Stellenbosch and Franschhoek are great wine regions and seemingly unpretentious people who just pour good wines. We are excited to try even more South African wines when we get home!
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