This was a big surprise discovery. I did not expect any Gewürztraminer in South Africa, let alone such a fabulous one. The best Gewürztraminers I tasted so far were during a holiday in the Elsass region. But this one not only has a beautiful name and story to it, it also tastes beautifully: spicy, full-bodied and fruty, but not too sweet. A real masterpiece from Nederburg if you ask me. Here is their own description of the story and a link to some more details:

The Beautiful Lady takes its name from a description of Ilse Graue, the wife of Johann Graue, a German immigrant who bought Nederburg in 1937. He is credited with introducing new wine-growing and winemaking changes at Nederburg. She brought a gracious sense of hospitality to Nederburg, planting a rose garden that still occupies pride of place in the garden. It was former winemaker Günter Brözel who called her “the beautiful lady”. She made him welcome when he joined Nederburg as winemaker in 1953.

http://www.wine.co.za/wine/wine.aspx?WINEID=34100

This was one of our discoveries during our wine tasting tour in Franschoek. Not only did they do a lovely cellar tour and explained their wine making fantastically, they are also one of the very few vineyards that produce Pinot Noir wines. Usually South Africa is too hot for this grape and doesn’t have clay soil which is key for a great Pinot Noir. On their piece of land in the Franschoek valley they disvovered great clay soil though.

They also have a big focus on champagne wines and their Belle Rose turned out to be one of my favourites from all the wines we tasted in South Africa. In addition they also do a very nice Chardonney Pinot Noir and an Unwooded Pinot Noir, which are both served cold and taste fabulous on a hot summer day. Check out their website here. Most of their wines are also available in Germany, for double the price of course ;).

 http://www.cabriere.co.za/

Maybe not surprising to some of you, we of course have to add biltong to our favourite food list. It is a fantastic hikers snack, but let’s be honest: we eat it almost every day here.

Biltong is the dried, cured meat version of South Africa. It is similar to beef jerky in that they are both spiced, dried meats. The typical ingredients, taste and production processes differ though, the main difference being that biltong is dried and subsequently sliced whereas jerky is sliced prior to drying. In my opinion that makes the biltong much more juicy and not so dead dry as the beef jerky. The best way to eat biltong is therefore also to buy a whole piece and only cut off the slices you like to eat. Do not buy sliced biltong, it will dry out much quicker and might develop mould quicker as well.

I found this interesting recipe online, how to make biltong at home. We will give it a try when we are back!

http://www.biltongbox.com/biltong.html