WINE DINE AND TRAVEL SUMMER 2020 -- SOUTH AFRICA
What to do with a gap between two travel adventures - the end of our thrilling Kenyan safari and the start of an exotic cruise from Cape Town? What else but explore another of the world’s iconic wine regions. Since we met three decades ago, whenever possible, my husband and I seek out wine country pleasures - bucolic views, charming inns, leisurely tastings and casual fine dining. If trips bring us near vineyards - Virginia to Oregon, France to Australia, we visit for an afternoon or several days. This time our wine country destination was South Africa, one of the oldest wine-making regions outside of Europe, where Dutch and French settlers began tending vines in the mid-1600s. For a week, including Valentine’s Day when we celebrated our 31st anniversary, we explored the stunningly beautiful Winelands of the western cape, less than an hour drive from Cape Town.
What to do with a gap between two travel adventures - the end of our thrilling Kenyan safari and the start of an exotic cruise from Cape Town? What else but explore another of the world’s iconic wine regions. Since we met three decades ago, whenever possible, my husband and I seek out wine country pleasures - bucolic views, charming inns, leisurely tastings and casual fine dining. If trips bring us near vineyards - Virginia to Oregon, France to Australia, we visit for an afternoon or several days. This time our wine country destination was South Africa, one of the oldest wine-making regions outside of Europe, where Dutch and French settlers began tending vines in the mid-1600s. For a week, including Valentine’s Day when we celebrated our 31st anniversary, we explored the stunningly beautiful Winelands of the western cape, less than an hour drive from Cape Town.
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We arrived in time for a winery tour, underway
even though harvest was in full swing. Destemmers
rumbled and rattled as we carefully navigated
sticky, hose-strewn floors. Piled high in
white bins, purple grapes, some of the 13 varietals
grown across the sloped land, waited their turn for
the crush, Babylonstoren’s ninth. Resulting wines,
along with olive oils pressed here from farm-gown
fruit, share the estate’s label.
Our tour ended in the airy tasting room where
we sampled some previous vintages with a platter
($10) of rustic farm bread, salad, cheeses and
cured meats including the jerky-like biltong found
throughout southern Africa. The room was packed
and service scattered, as tour guides, now waiters,
scurried to keep glasses filled. The pace suited us,
since we were in no hurry to head out into the afternoon
heat.
For our visit, Babylonstoren’s popular restaurant
Babel, set in the farm’s old cow shed smartly
updated with floor-to-ceiling windows, was fully
booked, so we could only peer at the appetizing
farm-to-fork menu. Reservations open nine
months in advance, so this is a “plan way ahead”
experience. No booking is needed for picnic fare
served at the aptly named Greenhouse, tucked beneath
oak trees at the far end of the garden.
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