With South Africa known for it's wine we were definitely looking to try the wines and this tour sure does that! We were picked up around 9am and were dropped off around 5pm and the whole day was full of wine which is not a complaint at all. There was a lunch stop too which included a variety of delish options!
Our tour guide was incredibly interactive and the group itself were really fun so made the day all that enjoyable (in total there were 10 of us so a decent size group). We went to four vineyards being:
- Murati in Stellenbosch
This stop was fantastic where the history of the vineyard and building was super interesting. We tried 6 wines here in total and were told a bit about the history of the wines so was nice.
- Remhoogte in Stellenbosch
This stop was my favourite of the 4 as the scenery was incredible, with springbok and zebra roaming around. I also found their wine the tastiest and felt a bit more information was given here about the 4 wines we tasted here.
- Backsberg in Franschhoek
This stop was nice where we got to see the manufacture process of brandy from wine, so the tasting including 4 wines and a brandy paired with some dark chocolate.
- Fairview in Paarl
This stop included 6 wines with 6 accompanying cheeses so I was very excited about this... I mean wine and cheese is perfection. The only issue was compared to the other 3 vineyards that was very personal, i.e. there we had our own table and person coming to us, in Fairview it was completely full of tasting sessions. You stand around a bar where one person in the middle just poured drinks giving no information really and then would chat with other guests on the other side. Many of our group simply left and did leave a bit of a sour note on the fantastic day we had so far.
To be honest, in all places I was hoping to learn more about the wines, particular tastes to pick up on etc where largely it was more just a wine sample given with no further detail added. Although I mention too much wine is no bad thing, in this case I'd have much preferred Fairview to have been removed and more time spent at the other three to give a bit more detail of the wines. Additionally, if small food was provided at each tasting to compliment each wine that would have been a real bonus, e.g. olives etc.
Nonetheless, this was a great day out and I'd certainly recommend.