The High Society Club

While we have sampled much of the less-than-luxurious portion of SA, our group decided to get with the times and sign up for a wine tasting tour. Wine is a huge export in SA. While it is no France in terms of wine production, it is well known as an up-and-coming part of the world with a few wine estates starting to win big awards for their tastes. SA, especially the Cape Town area is one of the few, if not the only wine producing areas in Africa as a whole.
We woke up to meet outside our apartments to be picked up in two separate vans. We boarded and became acquainted with our guide: James, and the two other fine English gentlemen. We traveled out an hour into wine country named Stellenbosch, Paarl, and I forget the last, but it too ended with an -osch as many things do around here (I live in Rindebosch right next to Kristenbosch). We started of with our first of four wine estates: Goats Do Roam.^^^At Goats Do Roam, they had this structure outside the wine tasting area. Yes, that is where they sleep at the the top.
I will say that this was the best place of the day not only because of the wine but fot the ambiance and surrounding beauty. At this particular wine tasting, you were allowed 6 different wines from a menu, and they would serve you roughly a fourth of a cup. I drank the first two glasses of wine and quickly decided that my state may become unfavorable at the rate I was going if I was to have 30 tastings in the day. I immediately went to the ol' two sips (or four on a good wine) and then pitch- which, surprisingly, is actually perfectly normal in these estates. Maybe they were making me feel better by saying it, but I saw other tasters doing the same thing. For the rest of the day, I took up the theme of "tasting" rather than "drinking". ^^^Me with my official wine tasters badge.
In the end, I think it behooved me because while many of my compatriots were sick and burned out, I was going strong in the tasting and taking notes on the flavor differences.We toured 3 more farms, each as beautiful as the next. We laughed, joked, and had a good time. I do wish I was a bit more of a connoisseur but we all have to start somewhere. I also wanted to bring some wine back to the states, but I didn't know the rules on that. They were selling some good wines for less than $10 a piece!!
When we returned I went out for a run, ate a big meal to finish off the day.