Wine Tasting: a classy concept that seems to inspire smarter ensembles, a listening ear and a more discernible palate than one actually has.

Chris, Lindsay and Carly

Wine tasting isn’t something you can’t do elsewhere. And during our planning sessions for South Africa, we almost vetoed this idea because of that fact. But that would have been a mistake, as everyone – travelers and residents – that we asked for suggestions on activities in South Africa mentioned we needed to spend a day trying the grape products of the Western Cape. Not only is there delicious alcohol involved in the equation but beautiful landscapes, a little bit of learning and no doubt fun people in it as well.

We were in.

Our guide, Merinda, picked us up in the morning along with five young others who all possessed that wine sparkle in their eye. Our schedule was to hit four or five vineyards that all had something special to offer: unlimited goat cheese tasting, sparkling wines, stunning views, and the best, most varied selection of Pinotage around.

And it was here we found the one thing that made wine tasting in South Africa unique: a combination of Pinot and Hermitage (so I was told…can’t remember exactly for some reason…hic!). The king of Pinotage had white, blush and red versions of this South African specialty, and we tried every single one of them. I tried to differentiate the tastes between an oaken barrel and steel tank fermentation and decided wood trumps steel any day.

The drive back was dramatically different than the drive there. Everyone had a plastic glass sloshing recent purchases and chocolate fingers. Red teeth dressed up every photograph captured. And a massive sing-along of Aussie national songs and American classics like “American Pie” commenced that probably rocked our driver’s ear drums. The day ended at 5 p.m., and for some of us, that was pretty much all we could handle.