That was a nice day out.
A drive to Stellenbosch, and then out into the Jonkershoek Valley, where we stopped off at the Oude Nektar Gardens and had a wander in the peace and quiet, taking in the fresh air and the amazing trees, flowers, lawns and birds. Which included plenty (or more) Black Saw-Wings (Psalidoprocne pristoptera) overhead, and at least a couple of flycatchers nearer the ground:
That’s the Fiscal Flycatcher (Sigelus silens) on the left, and the African Dusky Flycatcher (Muscicapa adusta) on the right. The size is a bit off, because the Dusky Flycatcher is small, but the Fiscal Flycatcher is Far Away.
But they are always nice to see, anyway. Whatever size and wherever they were.
Then next door to Stark-Condé for some wine tasting and lunch.
Both were really good, but certainly not cheap:
When did R60 per wine for a tasting become a thing? Could we not organise some sort of locals rate, please?
That said, we did particularly enjoy their Cabernet Sauvignon and their – wait for it – Oude Nektar Red Blend. We tried the 2022 vintage of the latter, and you could definitely taste the potential. It really just needed a few more years.
And (of course), they’ll do that cellaring for you, but (of course) you’ll pay a pretty penny. The 2015 vintage comes in at a cool R1950 a bottle. I can imagine that it would be rather amazing, but that’s a lot for a bottle of wine, when you’re (mostly) just a happy quaffer.
And so we enjoyed some really good Eastern Cape fillet with the 2022 version of their CabSav, had a leisurely walk around the beautiful lake:
…and headed home happy.