Gretchen and I decided to eat lunch at another winery that was across the road from Haute Cabriere. Our table had a beautiful view over a grape vineyard and the food was fairly good. I tried a dish which I had never heard of before, and although the portion was a bit smaller than I had anticipated, it was good nonetheless. Gretchen’s meal was wonderful, but we both decided that dessert was in order.
The dessert we received was magnificent. Both of us agreed that it was the best dessert we have had by far. Although the Mount Nelson Hotel’s spread had great quantity (and excellent quality), the presentation and taste of this dessert was, as I said at the time, happiness in a dessert!
After lunch we decided to take pictures of our view:
We had lunch with a great view of the valley
The vineyard where we ate lunch
We still had about an hour before the winery tour was to begin, but we headed to Haute Cabriere early anyway. I am glad that we did because we were able to look around for a while and take some pictures. The woman at the desk informed us that she was waiting to see who else was coming on the tour and that we’d start in 20 minutes.
Haute Cabriere was built from an old mine so it goes into the mountain
No one else came...which was wonderful news for the two of us.
The tour was very informative in that we learned how they make champagne and the history of Haute Cabriere. There was one piece of information that both of us were shocked by. Apparently, they need to import their oak wine barrels from France. This is because the oak in South Africa is too porous and is lower quality. This was understandable. However, they pay R7000 (or around $1000 US) per barrel! If that weren’t enough, they can only use the barrels for three batches of wine. After that they are used for brandy but not for long. The barrels are then turned into furniture or used for other things, but not for fermented drinks. This knowledge makes me appreciate the low prices of wine here even more.
All of this was a precursor to the best part…the tastings! The two of us sat down and were given paper designed to inform us more about champagnes and the ones we were drinking. The first champagne was brought out and we were given our tastes. Honestly, we felt a little funny being the only ones there. It was great because everything was very personal, however, and the enjoyment overshadowed any strangeness. Perhaps the best part of the whole experience was with the second sample of champagne. In order to open the bottle, the owner’s wife showed us a method called sabrage.
Apparently, ‘in the olden days’, the armies would celebrate with champagne. However, the corks were poor quality and would often break off in the bottle. The officers, most likely to avoid mutiny, solved this problem by taking their sabres and simply cutting off the top part of the bottle. This is where, as we were told, the saying, ‘crack open a bottle of wine’ comes from! When I heard this, I expected the glass to shatter. However, she took us outside, counted to three and with one swipe the cork and piece of the neck went flying. I think it was mostly the process of opening the bottle that made this my favorite champagne. In comparison, the next three tastings seemed rather tame…perhaps they could have let me take a swipe at it!
Sabrage! (see the cork in the top right?)
The remainder of the afternoon was spent walking around what we assumed to be downtown Franshhoek. It was a quaint town with many shops. After having our fill of shopping, we decided to check into Realou and begin thinking about dinner.
Realou is absolutely beautiful. Gretchen and continually remarked that if money were not an issue, we would love to take a large group of people to stay at this bed and breakfast. There were five bedrooms spaced throughout the complex. In the middle was a swimming pool and a spa. The main building had the reception and kitchen in it. However, they had a covered porch with a sectional couch outside. It was amazing. Once again, however, Gretchen and I were the only guests.
The courtyard of Realou
After a day of tastings, I was in the mood for Italian. We drove along the main road and found an Italian restaurant (what luck!). I got a simple spaghetti with meat sauce…but it was absolutely incredible. The sauce was more meat than sauce and had a different taste. I do not know exactly how to describe it…perhaps a smoky flavor? Either way, awesome…just awesome. The restaurant itself was decorated wonderfully and the excellent atmosphere was topped off with a fire place near where we were seated. We once again had dessert. The food alone is worth the trip to Franshhoek. I cannot say enough about the quality of food and service this town provided. So, I will stop here…mostly because I am getting very hungry just thinking about it!
Our Italian dinner...so good
As I said before, we were the only guests at Realou Bed and Breakfast. This created a strange situation the next morning…not bad, just strange. Gretchen and I awoke and got ready for the day before heading to breakfast. We entered the main building and were directed to the dining room. Upon entering the empty room, Gretchen made the observation that there were more staff members present than guests! We were given wonderful service but the emptiness gave the room an eerie feeling. When we finished our meals, we had one more look around Realou then headed to our next destination: Oudtshoorn.
This part of the drive was rather desolate and we only saw a few other cars during the six hour car ride. The landscape, however, was enough to keep us company. Before going further, allow me to back up. We drove N2 to Cape Town, if you remember, but decided to go on Route 62 the way back through wine country…so our scenary was quite different. Anyway, so the drive was beautiful but as any six hour drive would be, long. Upon arrival in Oudtshoorn, we found Backpacker’s Paradise. This was both of our first experiences in a backpacker’s lodge, so we did not know what to expect. I am fairly certain that we stayed at the nicest backpacker’s lodge in Oudtshoorn. We were given our own room which had a full bath! It was very safe there and even provided exquisite dining (although we chose to opt out so we could see the town). Unfortunately, it was later in the day so we were not able to see the Cango Caves or ride ostriches! We were able to drive around town for a while and found a place to get food. Backpacker’s Paradise was still somewhat active with guests when we got back so we decided to have a look around there as well. There is a pool table and a bar in one area, a lounge with a couple of televisions in another and our building had its own kitchen, lounge and grill (or braai as it is known here)!
Our exploration finished, we retired to out quarters and fell asleep. Little did we know or expect the next day would bring some excitement!
An awesome dessert we got when we stopped for lunch en route to Oudtshoorn
Gretchen and I basically woke up, got ready and headed out the door to complete our journey home. Route 62 has sections in it that are not as smooth sailing as we had hoped for. The following event happened in such a place…
We were riding along the bumpy road making very good time. The car had been pulling to the left the whole trip and I attributed it to poor alignment. However, things suddenly got worse when I heard a strange noise. Gretchen and I decided to pull over. What else could it have been but a flat tire! I looked behind us…I looked in front of us…absolutely no signs of civilization. I have been taught how to change a tire, but am by no means an expert. My lack of experience coupled with the potential consequences of making a mistake created a little anxiety. Luckily, as Gretchen and I were rearranging the luggage in the trunk (the “boot” in South Africa), a car pulled up containing a gentleman offering assistance. One can only imagine how grateful we both were. Interestingly, the man was a teacher which gave us something to talk about as we (my labor his instruction) replaced the flat tire with the spare tire Dollar / Thrifty equipped our car with.
After completion, he handed us a dozen apples and wished us good fortune for the remainder of our trip and the rest of our stay in South Africa. He also decided to follow us to make sure everything was working as it should. Gretchen and I are still amazed at how fortunate we were that we received help so quickly. South Africa gave us yet another example of the wonderfully friendly people.
The rest of the trip was not eventful, for which we were extremely grateful, and we arrived safely at our flat. The next day we dropped the car off and were brought home by Dr. Singh who was anxious to hear of our adventures…and to make sure we were taking advantage of every opportunity!
Seven days and almost 2000 kilometers later, I was going back to student teaching and both of us thought things were going to wind down a bit…however, being in South Africa and having our personalities, we should have known better!
The landscape along Route 62
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