Spice Route

We went to Spice Route at the Ommiberg Festival. We did a chocolate and wine pairing outside.

Spice Route is very commercial but we all had a great time here. They have a really nice outdoor area, they have a pizzeria, a restaurant, a brewery and more.

If you go to Paarl for the Ommiberg Festival then I highly recommend this place. I do think it will be better if they have a live band though. Would truly add to the experience.

In my notes, I wrote down that I liked the Sauvignon Blanc 2012 and Viognier 2012.

After our tasting we sat on the lawn and enjoyed some pizza. The pizza is really good here. I highly recommend it.

On another occassion I went with two others to the restaurant at Spice Route for lunch and it was a really good experience that we had. We chose the winter two course special. I loved how they brought Gluhwein and a complimentary starter when we sat down, the starter was lovely and the gluhwein was the best I have tried!! The menu is really good so it made it hard to choose, but we all decided to go with the two course. We all thoroughly enjoyed our lunch. That day was really cold and it hailed that day, so it was a shame that the restaurant was not so warm, it would be awesome if they had a fireplace. The temperature would be the only thing I could fault. I recommend eating at this restaurant!! Check out the food we ate:

Windmeul - Ommiberg Festival

I am a big fan of the Ommiberg Festival. It is a lot of fun, pretty chilled and relaxed and is not a mad house festival where there are too many people and everyone gets really drunk and falls all over the place.

This is my second time attending this festival and each time we went to Windmeul as our first stop. They definitely have the best set up/package for this festival and the best vibe!! They have a live band, wine tastings from the tanks and wine tastings at the tasting room, plenty of different food options and a nice outdoor area to enjoy the whole experience.

While at Windmeul we tried some of their wine.  I liked the Windmeul Reserve Chenin Blanc 2011 at R42 a bottle, the Windmeul Shiraz 2010 at R41 a bottle, and the Windmeul Kelder Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 at R41 a bottle.

I recommend visiting this estate, especially for Ommiberg!!!

L'Avenir

Today we went to L'Avenir for a picnic. I had a wine tasting while waiting for our friends to arrive. You can try 6 wines for R20.

The service here is friendly and the place is nice. I didn't get a very informative tasting here, but it was fine. They were quite busy especially with all the people coming in for picnics, so that would have had an affect on the service.

I tried the SB 2012 (R45 a bottle), Rose de Pinotage 2012 (R45 a bottle), MCC Brut Rose 2010 (R100 a bottle), Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 (R85 a bottle), Grand Vin Chenin Blanc 2011 (R120 a bottle) and the Grand Vin Pinotage 2009 (R250 a bottle).

I have to say the MCC is fantastic and at the moment they have a fantastic special: Buy 4 for R400 and get two free. It is for a limited time, so I highly recommend you order some while they are on special.

Other than the MCC nothing else really stood out. Having said that, the Grand Vin Pinotage 2009 was soft, fruity, smooth and very nice. But I am not ready to spend R250 a bottle on it.

The picnic was ok. There were two breadrolls of a good size with a very nice filling, fruit juice, a bottle of MCC per couple, muesli bars, candy, salted peanuts and raisins. It would have been nice to see some cheese and crackers in there and perhaps something sweet like a cupcake. Majority of the food was packeted stuff. Bit of a shame.

The grounds are lovely, there is plenty of lawn for chldren to run around and there is plenty of shade for those having picnics on the lawn.

The lodge on the estate looks really nice!! They have a lovely swimming pool and the place looks so relaxing!! My friend and I are very keen to look in to staying there for a night for a treat.

Overall, it is a nice place. Very relaxed and the wine is ok.