Jan 122012
 

This is the view in the opposite direction from the previous photo I posted. This is the Waterford winery and was our firstwine tasting stop. Just before coming here we’d been to the Spier winery to interact with the cheetahs at Cheetah Outreach. Our visit to Waterford was a great experience. The building is beautiful. It’s definitely got an upscale feel about it, which was interesting as we traipsed through in hiking boots and shirts surrounded by a much smarter looking crowd.

We decided to do the wine and chocolate pairing. This involved 6 wines, 3 of which were paired with custom-made chocolates. One of the chocolates had rock salt in it. It tastes pretty horrible on its own, but paired with the wine it was incredible.

 

Brown dirt road flanked by lavender and greenery heading to the entrance of the Waterford winery in Capetown, South Africa.

Dec 292011
 

This is the driveway to the Waterford Estate in Stellenbosch. After two days of adrenaline, cage diving with great whites and going on a combat flight in a Huey Helicopter, it seemed a good idea to have a more relaxing day. Wine was the perfect solution. That being said we still decided that we had to stop off at Cheetah Outreach to become acquainted with a few big cats on the way to our first vineyard. We didn’t want the day to feel too safe. After enjoying a wine and chocolate pairing (mandated by Shannon’s exuberant cheer while hearing the options), which involved 6 or 7 wines and three chocolates, everyone was suitably mellow.

Not mellow enough, however, to prevent them heckling from the car as I set up for this photo. The reason for this one and only display of tensions at my photo taking was quite understandable. I spent so long setting up, and adjusting the positioning of my camera that we were too late for the game sampling lunch we had planned. Fortunately this disappointment was replaced by one of the great experiences of our trip – bobotie. It’s a South African dish made with minced beef, raisins and spices topped with an egg film. It looks like a cottage pie but that’s as far as the similarities go. It’s also served with mango chutney and bananas. I have no idea how anyone decided this combination was a good idea. When I’m next in South Africa this will be one of the meals I seek out.

In the end, I’m happy with this picture and my time-wasting resulted in a great meal, so it all worked out nicely.

Dirt driveway to the Waterford Estate in Stellenbosch, South Africa flanked by lavender and bushes and storm clouds overhead.