Wine me!

The wine is South Africa is not only affordable, but delicious! I had no idea! I loved 98% of everything we tried.  I also need to mention the most expensive bottle we tried was a mere $12 USD.  I love South Africa!

Here are a few of the vineyards/wineries that we visited while staying in Franschhoek:

Vrede En Lust

• Vrede En Lust: I loved it all! Even the reds.  It is so beautiful there. We sat on the porch overlooking their grapes during our 11 wine tasting.  These wines ended up being some of my favorites of the day.  Here was our view:

Vrede En Lust

•  Boekenhoutskloop: Really cute Porcupine made of wood on their patio!  All of their wine was great too!  They've got a GREAT patio.

• Graham Beck: This one is a bit fancy... there's a buzz about this place because Nelson Mandela used it for his birthday party... William and Kate used it at their wedding... and Obama used it his inauguration party or something like that...  We not only did a wine tasting here, but we did Champagne tasting! It was even Mike's idea and I was SOO on board. I love the bubbly!  So glad it was lunch time after this one!...  We tried 5 champagnes, I liked the 3 that were not Rose`... I am definitely not a fan of their Rose` champagne, but Mike liked it... and I liked all the others and their wines.  The inside of their tasting room is funky modern, we liked it, the outside of the building though is a bit ugly in my opinion...

Graham Beck

• Lynx:  This estate was #1 on TripAdvisor.com   so I of course, had to go see what all the fuss was about...  It was a small place... one might call it the equivalent of a "dive bar" with a great porch that has a breath taking view.  I'd hang out there any time.  The guy running the tasting was fantastic, we felt like we were hanging with a friend.  His dogs were also pretty cute.  I can't even remember how many we tried, but they were yummy. Not my favorite of the day, but definitely yummy.

Lynx

Lynx

Lynx

• Spier: I really liked their Chenin Blanc de Blanc, but all of their wines are good and they've got a great set up.  I totally recommend this place.  The people who worked their were SOO nice to us.  They were also giving us more of a "glass" than a "tasting" which was better after a long day petting cheetah's, eagles and owls.  It's a bit more commercial than the rest of them, but it's huge and you could spend half a day there and be content to do so. 

Bad picture, but in my defense it has been a long day.

Spier

Spier

Loved the chandelier at Spier!