I am going to start this entry in London’s Heathrow airport as my experience of South Africa, will start the moment I get on the South African Airways plane bound for Cape Town.

After 8 hours of waiting in London, following a tragic 9 hour flight to London all I wanted was to get in my seat, close my eyes and feel a little refreshed. My desires were quickly squelched when myself and all the passengers were informed that dinner would be served in 1 hour after take off… I had to stay awake for dinner as every light was on.

If the hospitality of SAA was any indication, I was in for a great trip. First came the drinks cart of which I ordered a glass of bubbly if they had it (Business Class got Moet… I did not). The flight attendant then asked me if I was expecting to have dinner. A puzzled look crossed me face as if to say “duh, that is why I am still awake.” She then said “I understand why you have asked for the bubbly as a palate cleanser, but would you like something to go with the meal?” That is a question I have never been asked before on any airline. Wow I thought.  “Good catch, what is for dinner?”  I asked assuming that it was a choice between rubber and mush. “Lamb with a mint sauce, potatoes and carrots, or chicken in a red curry sauce.” Hmm, that was more than I expected so I also ordered a glass of the Man Vintners Shiraz.

You may remember an earlier post when I made clear my excitement for this trip came from a sense of the unknown. I had tasted South African wines before, but I felt that what I had tasted could in no way be a true representation of an industry that is responsible for 3% of the world’s total wine production. That is a lot of wine. There had to be more, and this with a couple of broad assumptions is all that armed me as I twisted the cap on the Swartland Cuvee Brut Extra Dry.

My god my hopes have been dashed against the beautiful shores of Cape Town. What a trajedy this wine was. It tasted like the worst of the South African wines that I had tasted in the past. If this was the harbinger of things to come I was in store for a very long week of fake smiles and small talk.

Handing the wine back to the attendant as she served my lamb I needed something to cleanse my palate. Anything would do. I hesitantly opened the Man vintners and poured it into my glass.

There is something about South African wines that makes them stand out. The kind of thing that anyone, once introduced to it, would be able to pick out in a heart beat. Many people describe this as licorice or beet root, I describe this as mesquite smoke. Anyway you describe it you have to like to enjoy South African wines. All of the wines that I have tasted in the past had this characteristic. Some more, some less, but all had it. It is a very nice component if it doesn’t overshadow the rest of the wine and works as an integral part of the grander orchestra.

With this in the back of my head I brought the Man Vintners to my lips.

You know it was pretty good. Lots of ripe black fruits flavours that I expect out of Shiraz, some underlying spice and some of the smokey flavour that seemed to work in this wine as it was checked and seemed to share the spotlight with the other flavours. After this experience I am now ready for South Africa.

At about 11am local time (1am Victoria time) we landed and I was collected by a very nice guy by the name of Jaat (Yaat). In the space of 25 mins from the airport to my accommodations for the first couple of nights, I got some real insight to where South Africa was.

Did you know that South Africa has 25-40% unemployment depending on who you talk to. Can you imagine that. ¼ to ½ of the population unemployed? As it turns out this has translated into a number of ‘creative’ jobs for people like Car Guards. A Car Guard is someone who stands on the street and presumably insures that you car does not get stolen. As I now understand, Stellenbosch has almost no crime of any sort, so the Car Guards simply greet you when you park and ask for money when you leave. I guess this is Stellenboschs version of street side window cleaners.

The other thing that the massive unemployment has lead to is hand harvesting. Let’s face it why employ 1 machine harvester that could damage the grapes when you can employ harvesters that are doing it the old fashioned way.

After our 25 minute drive I was dropped at the River Manor (www.rivermanor.co.za) which is a beautiful little guest house that was built in the 1800’s. See pictures attached.

Upon check in I was informed by the very pleasant and well meaning desk manager that check-in was not until 3pm (4 hours hence). My crest had fallen. After a total of 35 hours of travel either sitting up right or walking around Heathrow, I desperately needed a clean flat bed. I told the desk manager my plight and she endeavoured to get the room ready. In the meantime I sat in the open air courtyard and started to read many of the pamphlets that were left for m upon check in.

Did you know that from the period immediately following Apartheid to now no other wine region in the world has invested more into their industry? It seems that the response to the first wines released to the world following the establishment of democracy (that is how that time is referred to here) was less than encouraging. Consider for a moment that for an entire generation wines were made for only a population of 10million white South Africans. That will insure that the wines will not be ‘international’ in style, but very localized and thus working with a lot of the local cuisine. Many of the wines were made to go with ‘braai’ which is an Afrikaans word for Barbeque. They became very rustic, gamey, and not very appealing unless you were going down to the Keg or the White Spot for a nice haunch of Springbok or Guinea Fowl.

To make a long story longer the South African wine industry sent its viticulturalists and wine makers around the world to see what and how other regions were making wine. The result is that today the South African wine industry is one of the most advanced on the planet. Let’s just see if advanced means better wines…

After an hour or so of reading my room was finally ready. The temperature had reached 33C and I felt that I was going to pass out at any moment, so I flopped onto the bed and proceeded to pass out for 3 hours.

Upon awaking I had a shower, grabbed my camera and set out on foot to discover Stellenbosch. What I found is one of the most beautiful and quaint towns that I have ever visited. Many of the buildings were originally constructed in the Dutch Style in the late 1600’s and early 1700’s. These buildings are either stark white or saffron yellow that when contrasted with the vibrantly blue sky is a sight to behold.

After walking about town for an hour I felt it was time for a beer so I sat down in one of the may open air street side bistro’s and had my first ever Namibian Lager called Windhoek (Vint-hook).

It may have been the heat, or it could have been the residual exhaustion that was still lurking inside me, but that was one of the best beers that I have tasted. Very fresh and clean with an emphasis on hops like most European beers that we have in market.

To go with my beer at Beads restaurant I had a plate of rolled goat cheese. This consisted of 6 small rounds of locally made goat cheese encrusted with fresh ground black pepper, seasame seed, and local cilantro. Accompanying the goat cheese was local bitter lettuce and sun dried tomatoes. This was exactly what the doctor ordered. Real food with a real local bent.

After I finished the beer and the cheese plate I went back to my room to refresh for dinner which was to be at the very highly touted Cape Town Fish Market.

I arrived at the restaurant looking for a classic South African seafood experience. What I found was a bad version of a concept restaurant that was intent on sitting me down, feeding me, and getting me out as soon as possible. I had their ‘specialty’ seafood platter which had both over cooked prawns and undercooked crab cakes. Needless to say I was happy to oblige them and asked for the bill and returned back to my room.

By that time it was around 11pm local time and I was feeling pretty tired, so I fell into bed in the hopes that I would sleep right through until my driver was to collect me the next morning… only in my dreams.

I was wide awake at around 2am and proceeded to get updated on the Canucks game against Pittsburgh, what happened in the NFL playoff games, and play around with the video function on this computer and my camera. At about 4 I climbed back into bed with the idea that my alarm would wake me in time for breakfast. Wrong! I slept right through until the phone rang at 5 to 9am. My first winery visit was to be at Delhem Estates at 9am. I jumped into the shower had a quick rinse and without a morsel for breakfast or a hint of caffeine we raced off to Delhem and that is where I will start the next post. Cheers