A Whale of a Pairing

Some days just don't go as planned. We had a whale watching trip, plus two wineries (one with a paired lunch) to visit, but learned due to rough seas, whale watching was postponed to a later time in the morning (which conflicted with our scheduled wine-pairing lunch at the 4th best winery in the world). So the majority of us made the executive decision to forgo the whales and indulge in the pairings. 

Ian modified our plans and we made a couple of stops en route, one was a winery called Benguela cove - a very austere winery/art gallery on a beautiful setting, but to me, the place felt kind of cold. We tasted five different wines.  I took very little sips, and swear I got a buzz. ( can't blame that on an empty stomach!)

https://www.benguelacove.co.za/

Next stop was the little coastal town of Hermanus. Ian found a chemist for me that was still open (guess they mostly close at noon). The bus stopped so we could run in to get me a couple pair of readers. We left John on the bus with the group and would walk over to meet with them after. Mission accomplished! With my new specs in hand, I had to practically run to catch up with Ian and his long-legged stride. We went to the spot where he instructed Colin to wait, and there was no one there. So he sat me down on a bench overlooking the ocean while searching for the bus. Here was my view:

I could have sat there much longer, but Ian found the bus and I retrieved John to walk around the little shops for the few minutes we had left before our much-anticipated wine-pairing lunch. 

Colin drove us through some beautiful scenery, rolling hills of vineyards topped with bright blue skies. He took that bus down a narrow lane of the winery which had a lovely setting. Lots of art work in the garden - Dale Chihuly-like blown glass decorations around the grounds, green expanses, flowers and tables outside. Very pleasing to my color-loving eyes. 

The menu was interesting-even had a scratch and sniff part to get a whiff of wine... but still hard to figure out. These were very healthy gut friendly mystery foods that supposedly do not leave us bloated ... I'm skeptical, cause at this age, everything bloats me.💣

I'm pretty sure it was about a five-course lunch, it took about five hours and was really delicious,  John totally stepped out of his comfort zone and had a tofu dish (knock me over with a feather!) I had a bone marrow appetizer...it was good once I got past the thought of eating bone marrow.

(John's main course)

We staggered back to the bus (was already getting dark) and rode back to the Nellie in food-induced comas. No need for dinner, just bed.

https://www.creationwines.com/