We took a 2 day Pass for wine tours just so we could visit the winery's, taste the wines and not have to drive while " Potentially " under the influence. These winery's are not just a tasting room where they pour you a dribble of wine and hope you purchase a bottle or two. These winery's are really upscale and most have a resturaunt and some also have a " Guest House " which is a B and B to us. On the 26 th we went to a Brandy distillery. I'm sure you all know that Brandy comes from grapes but it is the process and the length of time it takes to make good brandy that was interesting. We were toured thru the processing plant, then to the storage area where the Brandy is store in a " Zillion " Oak barrels. The fumes from the evaporation is so strong that a Flash Bulb could cause a fire so we could not take cameras into the Oak storeage area. One intersting aspect was the Old "Cooper" ( a barrel maker ) demostating how a barrels was constructed right from cutting the right angle on the Barrel stave. Of course, nowadays they use machines to cut,shape and groove the pieces but it still takes a Cooper to construct the barrels and this company employes 20 Coopers so you can imagine the amount of Brandy they turn out. You could taste up to 5 different ages of Brandy but I opted for 10 yr old and 12 yr Old. Carroll took the 20 yr old, not for her but for me.
After tasting the Brandy's, the tour guide ask for opinions and everyone lied and said it was great. Then she ask me; I said your 10 yr old was like gasoline; your 12 yr old was a better grade of diesel but the 20 yr old was as smooth as anything I have every drank. She agreed with me. Carroll purchase some fruit cake made with Brandy but we have not tasted it yet.
We visited a total of 5 winerys and most will give you a taste of 5 wines from a selection of 10 or 12. they usually pour a generous shot.
Our tour had 5 people from Switzerland, and 3 from German. The Swiss come to ZA often as it is a direct, 12 hour flight with no time change, so they do not feel the jet lag. Much the same for the Germans. We did have a few interesting conversations but the Germans were there to drink.
On the 27 th we had a different crew on our Tour. We had a young Cdn couple who are presently living in Thailand and working for the Cdn Embassy. We also had a young guy from Italy who spoke good English and a German guy who lives and works in Switzerland. He spoke fluent English. This was a tour of 5 winerys but one winery gave us a rundown on the process for making different wines and a walk thru of the "Cellar" , actually where they store the wine in bottles and we did the tasting of several varities as we ended each Cellar. Apparently from Jan , when they start picking until early apr; the Brew Master and his crew are on 24/7 with little or no time off.
However, the highlight of the day was swapping stories with the other people on the tour. The young couple from Thailand said we must come to Thailand as it is the safes country in the world. The young lady says she never hesitates to go shopping by herself. It was another great day in ZA
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