Today, we met with our Cape Town guide Jacques - though everyone calls him ‘Jakes’ - and we headed to Cape Town’s wine country. Today’s destination is the Fairview Estate in Paarl. Wine is big business in South Africa, providing many jobs and helping to bolster the economy.

Not just known for their vineyards, Fairview is also well-known for their cheeses, goat cheese being a popular and tasty choice! They also have a great restaurant on-site that uses locally grown produce to create some amazing dishes. First, we met with Chris Bryant, who manages public relations for Fairview. Chris was great: he stayed with us all day, gave us a thorough tour of the dairy, and shared some of his knowledge about the vineyard.

We toured the dairy/cheese factory and met some very friendly goats. One of them even licked the lens of our camera! Once we learned how cheese is made and aged, Sarah spoke with Bruce, otherwise known as the resident Cheesemaster. (What a great job title!)

Once we were full from tasting 10 different types of cheeses, we were given a tour of the vineyard. We saw rows and rows of vines, some with grapes that had not been plucked in the last harvest and had turned to raisins in the sunshine. Lucky for us, these raisins provided a handy and unexpected snack.

During our tour, I learned a new word: viticulturalist. Wine-making starts with the viticulturalist. They study the growth of the vines - from the quality of the soil, to the individual water level each vine needs. Another vital part of the job is understanding how much fruit every single vine can yield before too much strain is put on it, which could risk spoiling the fruit. I didn’t know how much science went into farming. Obviously, this is something that people have been doing for thousands of years, but has changed with new technologies. Now I’m interested in seeing what goes into growing all sorts of fruits and vegetables!

Bon Appetit!

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