Stellenbosch Vineyard Tour by Bike: Asara and Neethlingshof

At about 11am today, I got an SMS (the local lingo for text message) from Kathrin, my German neighbor. I had to laugh at the fact that she messaged me since we can each be standing in our kitchens and talk through the windows to each other. She asked if I was up for a bike ride to a local vineyard. Absolutely! (It turns out she was still in bed and was only planning to get up if I was going, which explains the SMS rather than a knock on the door.)

Stefan, another German in Kathrin’s program, is off exploring Namibia this week, so we had his bike. After visiting a couple of bike shops that were closed on a Sunday, a petrol station attendant was able to help us lower the seat on Kathrin’s bike so that I could actually sit in the saddle while riding for the duration of the day. Kathrin braved the height of Stefan’s bike since she has very long legs and can manage such things. Then, armed with bottles of water, sunscreen, sunglasses, and bags large enough to hold any future purchases, we were off.

Asara is about 5 kilometers outside of Stellenbosch, so not a bad ride, but it’s been a while since I biked in a place that was either sunny or had hills. By the time we reached Asara, we were ready to sit. Luckily, the cellar was air conditioned. We sat down at a large table and made our selections – try any five wines for 30 rands (~$3). As we waited, I practiced my new German phrases (I can now say, “Let’s go out!” and “Have fun tomorrow!”), we listened to two small boys at the adjacent table sing “Twinkle Twinkle” with South African accents, and admired the view of the lake, flowers and mountains.

Between the two of us, we tried 10 of the 12 wines offered for tasting (excluding dessert wines). I was not at all a fan of the Cabernet Sauvignon Blanc, but did like the Sauvignon Blanc and the Chardonnay Reserve. I wanted to like the reds, but on such a hot day (approx 40C/104F), the chilled whites tasted best. We considered making a purchase or two, but decided that it was too expensive (even at $4.50 - $9 for a nice wine) – but what did we expect from a 5-star resort? We wandered around for a bit longer, tasted some truffles (the champagne flavor is nice, the cabernet sauvignon is not), and enjoyed ice cream cones in the shade as we admired the view from paradise.

After consulting the map, we learned that the vineyard next door was also open on Sundays until 4pm. That was 2 km away, home was 5 km, and the sun was at its hottest. On to Neethlingshof we biked.

Then Kathrin got a flat tire.

On to Neethlingshof we walked.

The map was a bit inaccurate in placing the location of the vineyard right on the road as we walked at least .75 km up the oak-lined drive before the cellar came into sight, but we did eventually reach our reward: 6 wines for $3/€2.

We put on our sweetest faces and told the server of our dilemma (a flat tire 7 km from home) and asked if he knew how we might fix it. Indeed he did and as we enjoyed our wines, the house artist patched up the bike. As it turns out, our server had met an American girl on Friday night and wondered if we knew her. Sure enough, when she left the party where she met him, it was to come dancing with us! From then on, we got extra special treatment and he even brought our wine selections out to the patio for us, rather than making us come in to the cellar for the next choice.

Neethlingshof is a strange vineyard in my mind because while I really liked the Gewurtztraminer at Simonsig and generally like Sauv Blanc and Chardonnay (wooded), these ones weren’t my favorites. However, the Lord Neethling Pinotage was fantastic. [Pinotage is the most famous red wine in the Stellenbosch region.] Of course, it was the most expensive on the list and I didn’t have enough of a desire to bike it back home again. At closing time, we paid for our tasting, ascertained an offer of a free tasting in the future, and promised to deliver the server’s number to our friend.

The bikes were fixed and we were set to go. 1.5 km later, Asara appeared at up the road. If I haven’t mentioned it, and I’m sure I have, the African sun is hot, and the atmosphere is thin. Kathrin is quite tan having spent the past 5 months here, but I have only reached “not pale” and occasionally “bright red”. Asara is open until 6pm on Sundays, has several dining options, and is air conditioned. We turned back into the vineyard we had left only two hours earlier and made our way down to the tapas restaurant. We had great seats in the shade on the deck overlooking the water that gave us the sensation that we were on a dock.

Kathrin ordered a Sauv Blanc/Chardonnay mix, her favorite from the earlier tasting, and pizza. I ordered the Sauv Blanc and stuffed calamari, and we got orders of ostrich and fish to start. The food was good, the wine was great, and the view was breathtaking. I decided that this would be a great location for my parent’s first meal in the country and Kathrin thought the same for her friends who are coming in from Germany next weekend.

At 6pm, we finished our meals, jumped on the bikes for the final leg of the journey, and returned to our flats, thrilled with a Sunday well-spent.