A trip to Stellenbosch is not complete without a drive along the wine route and visit to a least a couple of wine cellars to taste their wares. So on Sunday morning, after a late breakfast, we hopped in the car and drove out into the countryside. Unfortunately, JC le Roux, my favourite South African sparkling wine producer, is shut on the Holy day so instead we took the advice of our guidebook and visited Blaauwklippen, established in the 17th Century and housed in beautiful buildings.

Following our trip through the Champagne region of France, Dave and I have some experience of tastings at these often pompous wine houses, and were prepared for the glass swirling, sniffing, gargling and spitting that is involved. Despite that, we were still amused by the cellar master’s tasting notes, our favourite being ‘hints of pencil shavings with the delicate flavour of peas and asparagus’. Really? Does that make for a good wine?

We had fun taking part in blind tastings, trying to guess the grape variety or match the wine to the tasting notes. Even better was turning the tables on our friendly host, testing his ability to identify his wines. He proved to be a real pro, identifying them from their smell alone.

At Tokara, Helen and I were more intersted in their house chocolate than their grape juice, much to the amusement of the trainee cellar assistant.

From Stellenbosch we drove onto Franschhoek for a pancake lunch, then up and over the mountains to Hermanus. We took advantage of the roof top jacuzzi at our homely B&B, but the blustery cold winds meant only a short dip. We’re now safely tucked up inside, huddled around their log fire and drinking wine from the local area. A lovely end to the day.

[Show as slideshow]