NATURALLY SPEAKING: Stellenbosch Wine Route

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October 25, 2006

Stellenbosch Wine Route - Tasting Notes

The Stellenbosch region of the southern cape of South Africa is a great place to visit and go wine tasting. The wines are a nice mix of reds, whites and dessert wines. Surrounded by mountain ranges, you can travel from winery to winery very quickly compared to larger areas like Napa in California.

The wines are complex, but we found the quality varied more than we've found in California. By this I mean that there were some fantastic wines, and some exceptionally not-so-good ones. But one thing is for certain, the prices cannot be beat. The price of a good bottle of wine, even a flagship bottle, is often exceptionally reasonable by US standards. The trick, however, is how to get it home. Shipping is very expensive and not doable to many places, so you're often forced to carry it on yourself. We bought enough wine to carry on the rest of our honeymoon around the world as well as the rest of our time in South Africa.

We used this map of the Stellenbosch wine route to plot our course.

Tasting Notes

Avontuur

Our Notes: Overall one of our most pleasant wine tasting experiences in South Africa. Margaret and Natalie were very good to us. The 2005 Vintners White was nice and sweet and the 2003 Shiraz was quite mellow. The 2001 Baccarat was nice and tart. All the Avontuur wines had character, which made them well-rounded.

We walked off with:

Avontuur Baccarat 2001
2005 Avontuur Vintners White
2000 Avontuur Above Royalty
Avontuur Estate Brandy NV

Visit Avontuur's website.

Spier

Our Notes: Deli was fantastic

We walked off with a lunch of bagettes, grain mustard and brie, olives and dolmades, a lemon tart and Grapetizers.

Visit Spier's website.

Asara

Our Notes: Most reds a disappointment. The 2006 Dry Rose was mediocre, while the 2002 Shiraz, 2001 Cape Fusion, 2001 Merlot, 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon, 1999 Bell Tower Estate Wine were only ok. The 2003 Noble Late Harvest was good, but the 2004 Spirit of Chenin had a very strong alcohol taste, making it feel too young.

We walked off with:

2003 Noble Late Harvest

Visit Asara's website.

Waterford

Our Notes: The 2006 Pecan Stream Rose was very tart, fruity but not citrusy. It should be paired with something sweet. the 2006 Sauvignon Blanc was a bit boring, but the 2006 Chenin Blanc was fruity, crisp and had nice body. It was roughly equivalent to a Bonny Doon House White. We've always been partial to Malbec, so we enjoyed the 2004 Shiraz/Cab blend.

Still, it was the chocolate and wine pairings that really made Waterford one of our favorite tasting experiences.