Goodsh*t: Drink, Drink and be Merry

South Africa is widely known for their winelands and I am widely known for drinking wine, so it was love at first sight! We did not actually tour a vineyard, but we did drink a lot of Durbanville Hills Sauvignon Blanc and Pongracz sparkling wine and spent a lot of time in little towns such as Franschoek, Stellenbosch, Paarl which are located deep in the heart. We visited the Hillcrest Berry Orchards in Stellenbosch for brunch and fresh mulberry juice and I was glad to find that in addition to the wineries, there are also other sober options (Ok, fine, they had a little Cherry Liquor which I brought home with me, as my friend Meagan suggested, it will go nicely atop a little champagne!). South Africa is also know for her own grape Frankenstein called a Pinotage which is a cross between Pinot Noir and a Cinsault for all you wine lovers out there. It's certainly NOT for the easy-going wine drinker, the Pinotage definitely marches to the beat of it's own drum!

I also found something that I love just as much as my wine and that's the native Peppadew! Cherry-sized, pickled & spicy the Peppadew goes very well on salads, pizza, martinis or just by it's lonesome and stuffed with cheese or my favorite, feta. If you come by my place during the holidays, expect to see these!

PS
Another notable winery that was suggested to us, but we just did not have the time to visit: Tokara. The locals say it's kind of commercial, but I say HEY! where else can I get wonderful wine AND olives?! Oh and also Porcupine Ridge.

PPS
In South Africa, you cannot refer to South African "champagne" as champagne, it is called sparkling wine. There is a law: it was not made in France's Champagne region, so it must be sparkling wine!