Last Sunday evening I decided to grab a glass of wine. Little did I know it would turn into a wine tour through South African vineyards.
I walked to the bar adjoining my hostel, asked for a chardonnay, then sat at a large table with three people who obviously didn’t know each other. Two of the women I recognized from my Cape Town city tour earlier that day and the guy was quickly typing away on his laptop.
When you think about it too much, it is slightly awkward to sit down (alone) at a table with a glass of wine and start talking. However, I never really minded the “first week of freshman year dining hall phase” and therefore decided to give it a whirl again. We started chatting about the tour and eventually were exchanging our stories. We got to how I got here, and then I heard someone else chime in.
“Wait, you booked on Airtreks, too?” The guy with the laptop interrupted.
I’m going to save you the whole exchange. But, just imagine you ran into someone who told you a string of coincidences 7,700 miles from home. Mind boggling.
One of those coincidences (less of a coincidence, more of a tourist attraction) was to drive to and through South African wine country. I like wine, but am not a die-hard wine-o, although I gathered that this experience was like going to Oktoberfest and not drinking beer. So when the Guy With Laptop asked if I'd like to join, it was a no-brainer.
As GWL didn’t seem sketchy and I had already researched that we weren’t going somewhere sketchy, I didn’t violate my Avoid-Death rule. So, we exchanged contact info and decided to meet in the morning.
When I woke up on Monday I slurped my cappuccino, grabbed my Canon DSLR, and met Austin (GWL) near our hostel at his rental car. Turns out, he is a bit of a car junky (he had previously left his job at Tesla) and so had already rented a shiny, white Mercedes. This was quickly turning into a rather luxurious trip.
Root 44 Market
We planned on driving Route 44 to eventually make it to Franschhoek. One of the stops along the way is The Root 44 Market.
The Root 44 Market is located on Audacia farm in a town called Stellenbosch. Farmer’s booths litter the aisles of the market. Most stands have food like ostrich pies (tastes like beef), pizza cones, gourmet cupcakes, and of course, wine. Even better, these stands have free samples.
I really need to work on self-control, but in the meantime, I tried every sample. Thankfully, my enthusiasm for their artistry (I’m talking about the food) even allowed me a free pass for some blatant photos of the chefs at the booths.
After gorging ourselves on free and purchased food, we made our way outside to grab some wine. Audacia Farm has their own brand of wine. Apparently, some of their red wines have hints of local flavors, like rooibos or honeybush. My palette is not that refined so I couldn’t tell. But, the chardonnay did taste rather smooth and delicious.
Stellenbosch
About 50 kilometers east of Cape Town lies Stellenbosch. Aside from being a university town, it is also the heart of South African wine country.
Renting a car granted us the luxury to turn wherever we wanted in Stellenbosch and beyond. So, when we saw another market located next to rows of grapes, it was a no-brainer to pull over.
This market seemed rather peculiar as I had no idea where I was. This place looked oddly similar to Napa Valley. And, maybe I was just delusional, but I swear I heard some Californian accents.
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, these Californians assembled a phenomenal smorgasbord of savory food and art.
Franschhoek
I don’t entirely know the difference between Franschhoek and Stellenbosch in terms of wine terroir. However, I can tell you that while Franschhoek lacks a university, it does have baboons.
Unfortunately, I found this out right before Austin left me on the side of the road.
You see signs like these EVERYWHERE. Baboons rule the land here. People even have jobs, called Baboon Monitors, to make sure that they are not breaking into people’s homes and cars. Apparently, the problem arose because tourists started feeding these “cute” little animals. Then they intelligently got the hunch that we people hide our food in cold boxes in homes (and that we like to take that food everywhere we go).
Austin told me he wanted to test the limits of the rented Mercedes. He very politely gave me a few options, with the major ones being: Stay in the car with him as he goes for a joy ride OR I could take photos at a scenic lookout point for a few minutes until he comes back to pick me up.
So, I opted for the latter.
I did think about what if he never came back? What if he drove away and left me on the side of the road with baboons? What if I got attacked by one of these baboons? Do I stand my ground and fight the baboons back? Do I run away? Surely I can run faster than a baboon. But, then I have to remember to run on the left side of the road, too.
I took my backpack and my chances with the baboons, and bid adieu to Austin. After he drove away and when I turned around, I saw this:
Totally worth it. I completely forgot that the guy that I just met who had driven us two hours away from my hostel left me on the side of the road (in a nice way) to fend off baboons.
In fact, when Austin came back nine minutes later, I told him to go for another drive.
Turns out I saw zero baboons that day, even after we made the two-hour drive back to Cape Town. Yet, I still had multiple glasses of South African wine, met a new Around-the-World traveler friend, and saw some stunningly beautiful scenery.
It’s truly amazing what happens when you go to the bar alone for a glass of wine.
Comments
Post a Comment