Welcome to the Western Cape Wineries - a kiwi's opinion blog

I originally set up this blog to help foreigners have an enjoyable experience when visiting the western cape wineries in South Africa.

I realised that it is very difficult for a tourist to choose where to go and which wineries to visit, when you have 600+ wine producers to choose from.

When I first moved to SA December 2010, my palate struggled to adjust to SA wine, b
ut after living here for a while and after visiting over 100+ wine estates, I have found many wines which I really like and can highly recommend.

Admittingly, when you come from another country it is hard not to compare the wine in SA to what you are used to back home. However, once you realise they are not the same (they have their own characteristics due to the different soil, climate etc) and appreciate their wines for being SA wines, it will improve your opinion and experience of the wines immediately.

If you are staying in SA for a while, don't dispair, your palate will change, and you will soon find yourself liking SA wine over your home countries wine!!

I hope my blog will help wine lovers have an enjoyable wine experience while in SA.

Please note: I am not a wine connoisseur. The comments I write about the wine is mostly for my own benefit of having them on record.



Thursday 31 March 2011

Overhex - Worcester

We went to this winery on our way back to Worcester after having visited several wineries in Robertson. Our friend knew one of the staff and called ahead to let him know we were coming. Within a minute of arriving, we were offered a wine glass and taken out the back for a tour of the cellar.


It was really interesting going through the cellar, learning about the different stages of wine making, and also getting to try the wine from several of the barrels, which were at different stages in the wine making process. I have to say, I liked the taste of the grape juice, it was sweet, and had a very zesty but refreshing taste to it.


Once the yeast was added though, it was a completely different drink, and not the nicest :-p 


Thankfully when we tried a wine from another barrel which was in its final few weeks of processing before being bottled we could taste the resemblance of wine again :-)


After the cellar tour we went in to the tasting room to try the wines. I enjoyed quite a few of the wines. Some of these included the balance natural sweet rose which is sweet and easy to drink, the balance pinotage/shiraz which was nice, simple and smooth, the Vin Sec (dry) which is a sparkling wine, not very dry and is easy to drink. After the tasting we bought quite a few bottles to take home.

The price of the wine is very reasonable. You've got to love Worcester wine prices!!!The wines range in price from as little as R25 for the Balance wines and don't go any higher than R60 for the soulo wines.

There is a huge range of wines to taste at this winery, the staff are very friendly and informative. If you plan to do a tasting in Worcester then I would recommend trying the wines at Overhex.

1 comment:

  1. I opened the Balance 2010 Semi-Sweet Muscat D'Alexandrie yesterday and I loved it. It's not as sweet as a dessert wine, but has a nice sweetness to it that makes for a very easy drinking white wine. I drank it without food at first, and then had it with a crayfish risotto (we added this wine to the risotto also). With or without food, this is a really nice, easy drinking, slightly sweet wine. I will definitely buy more of this in the future.

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