We got to sleep in today. Lee and I slept till 7:45, then had to rush because the night before we had arranged to have breakfast at 8:30. At 9:30 our guide for the day, Goose showed up and we left for our tour through the wine lands. After driving along the coast through Gordon's Bay and Strand, we turned inland to the Devon Valley and to the town of Stellenbosch.

  
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Founded is 1679, Stellenbosch is the oldest town in South Africa next to Cape Town. The town has many historic buildings dating back to the early 1700's. The Stellenbosch University is internationally known and accomodates around 25 000 students every year. Stellenbosch is also home to one of the most prestigious old wine regions in the world.

    
    
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Our first stop was a tour of the House of J.C. LeRoux, South Africa's first cellar dedicated entirely to making sparkling wine. They make vintage Méthode Cap Classiques in the French style. In other words, they make Champagne but cannot use that term. The term Champagne is only used to describe sparkling wines from the Champagne region in France so their term is Méthode Cap Classiques. We finished our tour with a tasting of several of their sparkling wines.

      
    
      
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From there we stopped in at Spier's Winery. While we didn't do a tasting at Spier's, we did have lunch at Moyo, a restaurant with Bedouin tents and gazebos placed throughout a garden to create a setting similar to a nomadic African village.

    
    
    
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Our final stop of the day was at Van Ryn's Distillery and Brandy Cellar. The centuries old Cellar, situated at Vlottenburg in the heart of the Stellenbosch wine lands, gave us a bit of insight into the craft of brandy-making. During the guided tour, we had the opportunity to see how brandy is made. As well, we got to see a cooper craft an oak barrel in which the brandy is placed for years of maturation. The tastings were of 12, 15 and 20 year old brandies.

    
      
      
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Arriving back at Berg en Zee in the late afternoon we were all a bit travel weary from the day's touring so it was back down to The Tavern for a quick bite. Off to bed at 10:00.