Adventures in South Africa: Lunch + Wine Tastings

One of the most memorable foods I ate in South Africa was not from a South African restaurant but rather a Bavarian cafe. I had a long and thin baguette sandwich with prosciutto, baby arugula, and parmesan cheese. It was very simple and on second thought, this sandwich sounds more Italian than Bavarian to me.

For dessert, I ordered a cinnamon and apple danish. I was intrigued at how well the apple complemented the cinnamon.

After our brief but satisfying lunch, my mom and I began our wine tour. We decided to dedicate one of our two afternoons in Cape Town tasting wine because South Africa is known for their wine. There are also a lot of wineries relatively close to Cape Town.

We first went to Fairview, a beautiful winery which sells several wines, cheeses, and other awesome food products. My mom and I sat at a table in the tasting room and sampled 6 different wines we picked from a menu and a variety of interesting cheeses.

My favorite wines from Fairview were the Darling Riesling, the Fairview Chardonnay, and the Fairview Stellenbosch Merlot. The Riesling was nice and sweet and tasted like melon, the Chardonnay was a bit dryer but still light with hints of orange and honey, and the merlot had a good amount of body but didn’t feel heavy. The cheeses included honey chèvre (I liked it but my mom didn’t), garlic camembert (very good), a feta which tasted too salty, parmesan (yummy), and a cheese with cranberries (not my favorite).

My mom and I also split a pretzel which was very tasty. THAT is more Bavarian!

There were goats outside of Fairview, and I wonder if they make the goat cheese from their milk.

After a pleasant experience at Fairview, we went to our second and last winery called Warwick. Unfortunately, the wineries close around 4 or 5pm, so we were pressed for time. I liked Warwick even better than Fairview.

There was a huge Nelson Mandela figure made entirely of tiny beads right outside of the Warwick winery.

I forget which wines I sampled, but besides the wonderful wine, I liked the atmosphere of Warwick a lot. It felt very cosy, and there was even a fireplace. Michelle Obama visited the Warwick Estate in 2011 and loved the wines so much that the owner decided to name a few of their wines after her, like the “First Lady Chardonnay.”

It definitely was a winederful day!