Winelands of Cape Town

Summing up today in one word is an impossible task. Lets begin with some statistics; 17 wines were samples, 8 different cheeses and many kilometers were traveled. Everyone started out with breakfast in the hotel and from here we went straight out.
Our first stop was to a type of soup kitchen ran in the shacks of Cape Town. I do not know how many of you reading this have ever seen the film District 9, but the fictitious nature of the movie actually depicts the local slums quite well. Shacks made from corrugated steel and insulated with newspaper is the setting of where we stopped. We met a kindhearted woman named Rosie who makes food for the community, and due to the lack of means, many of the kids would - in all probability - die without the meals she provides. By taking this safari through Micato Safaris, the Rolf's money was donated to the purchase of food to aid in making the meals. The experience was truly humbling and gave us a good idea of the state of the economy in this part of the world. Pictured below is Randy and Sandy Rolf with Rosie in her kitchen, based in a shack within the community.

After our dose of reality, we headed onto the nearby winelands. We started off at a winery Delaire Graff Estate. We had a sample of 7 wines from a delicious Sauvignon Blanc which retained a taste of fresh fruits to a red Botmaskop. After sampling all of the wines and a slight mishap involving 3 spilled glasses of red wine onto Bill Bartels we ate lunch at the same place. With food that we were more accustomed to everyone had a large portion before heading to the next winery.
At the second winery we arrived and found a 3 story goat house in the front of the building, complete with 2 (or more) billy goats. We proceeded inside and with a backdrop of the bottling process and oak barrels we sampled 9 more wines individually paired with a specific cheese to bring out more flavors in the wine. The winery, Fairview Estates, was a beautiful farm of animals of cows and goats for cheeses and vineyards for the grapes in their wines. The stunning views were picturesque as we walked back to the van to drive back to the hotel.