Wine tasting around Cape Town

The Dutch aren’t acknowledged to be among the great winemakers of the world, but we have them to thank for the emergence of South Africa as a nation that’s earned respect for its viticulture and quality wines over the past few decades.

South Africa’s first grape harvest took place in 1659 on a farm managed by Dutch navigator, surgeon and colonial administrator Jan van Riebeeck near what’s now known as Cape Town. While wine has been made in this region of the country ever since, it wasn’t until the end of Apartheid in the 1990s that the world started paying attention.

The Stellenbosch region east of Cape Town is perhaps South Africa’s most internationally recognized winemaking area and produces about 15 per cent of the nation’s wine. Since I was spending a week in Cape Town, it was a no-brainer to spend a day on a Go Touch Down wine tour starting in Stellenbosch.

The first stop was Skilpadvlei, a 78-hectare farm with accommodations, a restaurant, event venues, a gift shop and a children’s play area. After a breakfast of fresh fruit, yogurt, muesli and honey on the restaurant verandah, the wine tasting began at a picnic table around the corner at 8:45 a.m.

I’m a much bigger white wine drinker than red, which was the opposite of the three other people on the tour. This meant that I got to have the majority of the white for the rest of the day, since they just took a small sip and poured the rest into my glass.

Skilpadvlei has been in the Joubert family since 1917, and it’s been making wine for four generations. We sampled six bottles: three reds, two whites and a rose. My favourite was the 2018 Chenin Blanc, a mildly sweet wine with a hint of green apple in the flavour. I liked it so much I bought a bottle for 60 rand ($6).

We got back in the van and drove 10 minutes down the road to Neethlingshof Wine Estate, where wine has been made since 1692. A kilometre-long avenue of pines leads to the large property, which features an impressive manor house and other old buildings, and is flanked by the Bottelary Hills and Papegaaiberg Mountains.

Neethlingshof features a restaurant, tasting centre, event space and a store. Our server was excellent in explaining the history of the estate, the stories behind the wines and the flavour profiles of each of the three whites, one red and one dessert wine I sampled. My favourite was The Jackal’s Dance 2018 Sauvignon Blanc, a rich and full-bodied young wine with a tropical fruit aftertaste.

Franschhoek is another popular wine region in the area, so our next stop took us there and the 19-hectare Grande Provence Heritage Wine Estate, which dates back to 1694. This is another impressive property, which includes accommodations, a restaurant and bistro, a tasting room, event spaces, an art gallery, a sculpture garden and a very small cheetah reserve.

After sampling two whites, a rose and a Zinfandel, I was most satisfied with the very fruity aroma and flavour of the 2017 rose. I was even more pleased, however, with my lovely open-air, three-course lunch comprised of: a starter of cured beef, mustard, Boland cheddar, shallots and mushrooms; a main of duck leg confit, sweet potato dumplings, sultana and Chinese cabbage, served with an apple chutney; and a desert of chocolate fondant, peanut butter ice cream and apricot.

With a full belly, it was back in the van to drive to the touristy food and wine town of Franschhoek. I had an hour of free time and spent it walking around, looking at the Huguenot Monument and then sitting down to sample five beers at Tuk Tuk Microbrewery. I wasn’t particularly impressed with any of them, with the golden ale and pale ale being the best of the lot.

I enjoyed the countryside scenery on the way back to Cape Town and the final stop of the tour, a lovely multi-space restaurant called Blanko that’s part of the Alphen Estate in Constantia. The former farm has been converted to a high-end property with a boutique hotel and restaurant.

Still full from the large lunch, I ordered a local fish called kingklip that was topped with orange, herbs and pink peppercorns and served with saffron rice. I ate so well during my time in Cape Town and its surroundings that, while there was nothing wrong with the food, it may have been my least favourite meal. At least the glass of Brampton Sauvignon Blanc I had with it was very good.

While I didn’t partake in tastings at them, I had two other dinners at wineries. The first was at Cassia Restaurant, which is part of Nitida Wine Farm in the Durbanville Wine Valley. I enjoyed a mildly spicy soup with beef, sausage and vegetables, followed by a swordfish steak and roast potatoes, and accompanied by Nitida’s excellent 2018 Riesling.

The other dinner was at Durbanville Hills, where the restaurant terrace provided great sunset views of Table Mountain and Table Bay. Duck spring rolls followed by a sirloin steak hit the spot pretty much perfectly. In South Africa you’re allowed to buy a bottle of wine with a meal and take it with you if you don’t finish it, so I purchased a bottle of dry but effervescent Durbanville Hills Sparkling Sauvignon Blanc (which had notes of citrus and tropical fruit) for 85 rand ($8.50) and drank what I didn’t have there when I returned to my condominium.

I bought a few other bottles of cheap and cheerful Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc during my time in South Africa. They were certainly drinkable, if not exceptional, and I have no issue with paying 50 rand ($5) for a bottle of wine to accompany some quiet reading and writing.

Baseball and beer in Denver

Denver, Colo. is known as The Mile High City due to its elevation and, more recently, its legalization of cannabis.

Union Station

My two days in the state’s largest city, however, largely revolved around baseball and beer. That started as soon as I dropped my luggage off at the well-located 11th St. Hotel and Hostel before noon on the first day of summer. From there it was a five-block walk, a ride up 16th Street on the free shuttle bus, and another short walk past the refurbished Union Station to Coors Field.

SandLot Brewery at Coors Field.

It’s the home of the Colorado Rockies and the SandLot Brewery, the first brew pub ever located in a baseball stadium when it opened in 1995. Its Bellyside Wit became so popular that it was mass-produced by Coors as Blue Moon, which is known as Belgian Moon in Canada. I bought a pint of it, partially using my $15 Rooftop ticket, which gave me access to a standing room area high in left field and nearby seating on a first-come, first-serve basis, as well as a six-dollar credit toward concessions. I split my time between standing, sitting and walking around the stadium, which offers good views of both the Denver skyline and the Rocky Mountains in the distance.

National Ballpark Museum

Following a Rockies victory over the Mets, a Polish sausage and three more beers at Coors Field, I went to the National Ballpark Museum, which focused on classic early 20th century stadiums that are no longer with us. It was interesting but tiny, so I don’t know if it was worth the $10 admission. But it’s run by a non-profit organization and the woman at the door was friendly and knowledgeable and gave me a two-dollar discount coupon for the History Colorado Center, which has a temporary baseball exhibit this summer.

The area around Coors Field is full of bars and brew pubs, and I took advantage by drinking several different beers at Falling Rock Tap House, Tap Fourteen, Blake Street Tavern, Cherry Cricket, Chophouse Brewery, Wynkoop Brewing Co. and Yard House before grabbing a pizza at Dominos on my walk back to the hotel.

Molly Brown House Museum

I transferred to the more suburban Cherry Creek Holiday Inn the next morning, since that was the departure point for a Cosmos bus tour I was starting the following morning. A round-trip city bus trip took me back to the area where I started, which is known as the Golden Triangle Museum District. It was a short walk to the Molly Brown House Museum, where I took an exterior photo but didn’t go into the former residence of the Titanic survivor, activist, philanthropist and actress.

You won't find Pete Rose or Mark McGwire honoured at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, but they were part of the History Colorado Centre exhibit.

Using the discount coupon from the day before, I paid $12 to visit the History Colorado Center. I probably wouldn’t have gone if it wasn’t for the temporary baseball exhibit, but I’m glad I did and took the time to visit all four of its floors during a visit that lasted more than two hours. I learned a lot about the state through a variety of often interactive exhibits. Even without the baseball exhibit, which featured what’s supposed to be the best memorabilia collection from greats of the game outside of Cooperstown, I would have enjoyed it.

State Capitol Building

I took exterior photos around the Denver Art Museum, Denver Public Library, City and County Building and State Capitol before taking a 3 p.m. guided tour of the capitol’s beautiful interior. I learned a lot more about the state, the city and the building, and also got a great look at the city from an outside viewing area.

Daniels and Fisher Tower

More photo opportunities took place at the Colorado Convention Centre, which features a statue of a giant blue bear looking in a window, and the Daniels and Fisher Tower, which was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River when it opened in 1910 and has been a symbol of the city ever since. Skyline Park sits at the base of the tower, and its summer beer garden provided a welcome respite for a couple of pints.

I walked up to Larimer Square, a historic section of Larimer Street between 14th and 15th streets. It’s quaint and full of expensive restaurants, but wasn’t my scene, so I returned to 16th Street, which is pedestrianized except for the free buses that run up and down it. I got a streetfront patio table at Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery to do some prime people-watching and had a very good plate of jambalaya washed down by a $6.50 flight of six different beers.

I’d never been to Coyote Ugly, a bar franchise where the female servers wear skimpy outfits and dance on the bar while encouraging patrons to join them and get rowdy, but a two-for-one beer coupon I’d discovered earlier in the day was enough to make me take the plunge.

Knowing I had to get an early start the next day, I returned to my hotel and had one last pint at its Flagstone’s bar before going to my room to prepare for an adventure that would take me through six more states, a handful of national parks and more over the next two weeks.

Denver may have the best craft beer culture of any city I’ve been to, and I had more than two dozen different ones during my two-day visit. I feel as though I’ve seen all I need to of the city, but I definitely recommend it as a summertime destination for a short getaway — particularly if you’re into baseball and beer.