Cape Town - 5:45 pm - I can't believe I didn't get to put in my two cents worth about the wine tasting!! You can't possibly appreciate the nuances of yesterday from a guy who thought $1.50 for 500 mL of beer in Tanzania was the best thing he'd ever seen!!!! So, since our hotel has free internet access...I'll just add a few pertinent details.
First of all, I will confirm that South Africa wine tasting is by far the most generous pours I've ever seen (not a bad thing at all!) and they do export at least half of their production. For those that have an interest - apparently Canada and the US are THE hardest places to export wine.
It is incredibly difficult to find "secret" wines (ie: those you can't buy in Canada) so harbouring that small disappointment, I forge forward nonetheless! I was going to make a "wine history" - buying a bottle from every winery we visited (like I did in France with Little One!) but Mr. Practical pointed out the inefficiencies of this little project and I couldn't argue since the last time I tried it through BC we had a cheap cooler leaking water from the melted ice all over our trunk (and our luggage).
As for the snooty woman - I agree she was snooty but even snooty people can have good insight into wine. I will, in my defence, say that I was still sober enough to notice that she tried to charge me $10 insteady of $2 for the wine tasting (I'm not as "rose colored glasses" as I used to be - now I'm a force to be reckoned with!!).
We did find a fabulous winery with a very helpful tasting guy that had one of the most interesting "bordeaux blend" wines here - full of all kinds of spices...oregano, thyme, sage! It appears that "bordeaux blends" are a big crazy...next to Pinotage out of the Stellenbosch region. They also made a brandy which surprised me (and an extremely large pig living on their lawn but the pig didn't affect the wine tasting so...live and let live!).
As for our dinner (which cost less than $100 CDN)...the sommellier spoke the most beautiful French I'd ever heard! She was incredible! Since Grant was totally amivalent while I ranted about the 130 wines by the glass...I almost went home with her - simply mesmerizing!!!
Looking forward to dinner at the hotel tonight which also has a fabulous bar (confirmed by the sales guy whilst out shopping - he was very well dressed and sold me a great pair of jeans so he must be legit!). It was on the front page of the local paper today that they've just launched a new martini - with a diamond necklace in it. Grant doesn't know it but maybe I'll order that before dinner! ;)
As this is all (too) quickly coming to an end, tomorrow night I am insisting that we have dinner at a winery - notwithstanding that Grant looked at the menu and it's apparently "boring". I can't really complain as he has an excellent sense of direction, has been a great designated driver and down deep...I think he really enjoys all the adjectives and all the process of wine tasting!!
k (&g)
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Trust Kim to get her version in, seeing as her experience differed significantly from your description, Grant! Apparently a looonng day for you, Grant, but right up Kim's alley. Thanks for being such a supportive D.D. I've taken you at your word and let you do all the worrying! As for snob factor, as long as the wine is wet and is pleasant to drink, it's all good as far as I'm concerned. Have to admit that we are getting anxious to have you back home. See you in a few. We're off to babysit Alexis tonite.
Kim, quelle chance que tu as rencontre quelqu'un avec qui tu pouvais passer une conversation en francais. J'espere que les mots etaient "au bout des doigts" et que tu te sentais bien capable d'exprimer tes sentiments.
Mom
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