Touring with the Fuskies

We spent one of our days in South Africa touring the wine country outside of Cape Town. We went on a tour in a van with a guide/driver, Mervyn Davidson. We had a fantastic time. Two other couples were on the tour, one that we knew from the ship and one we met on the wine tour -- a doctor and a public health educator, both of whom work at a new hospital in Botswana, the country north of South Africa where our Julia worked as an intern for the United Nations last summer. They had many interesting stories about opening a new hospital. The doctor, Edmond, was from Zimbabwe and the woman, Julie, was from California.

Now, those of you who know me won’t believe this, but the couple from the ship that we spent the whole day with are Washington Husky fans -- not just fans, mind you, but they are both UofW employees. Not in the Athletic Department, thank God, but both work in administration and they are about our age.

I know some of you may have fainted or are catching your breath at the thought of me socializing with avid Huskies. Perhaps a few of you are saying, “Well, Bob was just being kind to the less fortunate.” I do have a few friends who are Husky fans, but with those people I have always held out hope that they might be converted to right thinking. There is no hope of that with Eric and Georgia; but they are still wonderful people. There, I’ve said it. I can’t believe it, but I’ve said it. I guess I’m just going soft in my old age.

We’ve even suggested that they come and stay overnight at our house this fall when the Huskies travel to Autzen for their annual drubbing. I said we would supply the crying towels. And I said I probably wouldn’t wear my “Huck the Fuskies” shirt. They haven’t responded yet, but I would enjoy having them visit -- if we win.

Anyway, to return to the tour, we traveled about an hour outside of Cape Town to the chief wine-growing region, based in the towns of Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl. About half the drive was on a freeway and half over wide, 2-lane country roads. The countryside is idyllic, with rocky hills looming in the background over acres of vineyards. The area is fantastically beautiful. The harvest had just been completed.

We visited four vineyards in a wide geographic area and had tastings at each -- I think we counted about 26 samples in all, those of us who could still count. At one, where they do sparkling wine, we got a full 2-hour tour given by the vineyard owner, where Luana was one of the featured stars, as described below.

Tasting rooms tend to be more elaborate affairs than in Oregon, more on the Napa Valley scale. Many have restaurants. We ate at one which had absolutely delicious food, including African game, beef and Cape salmon, which is a delicious white fish that I chose for my meal. Franschhoek, at the center of the vineyard area, is considered the gourmet capital of the country, with one of the restaurants rated among the top 35 in the world.

The tour of the sparkling wine facility -- the winery is Haute Cabriere but the brand name is Pierre Jourdan -- included a lot on the history of sparkling wine and concluded with the owner calling onstage a person from the audience -- Luana -- to perform an old French ceremony, sabrage, where a saber is used to open a bottle of sparkling wine by slicing off the top of the bottle. She did it most successfully on the first try. The owner then “knighted” Luana, who performed a beautiful curtsy as part of the ceremony. Fortunately, he gave her a souvenir -- the bottle top she sliced off -- and didn’t give her the saber, or I really would have had to watch my tongue for the rest of the voyage. (Note from Luana: Malik, I’m bringing you a toy, kitty!!)

Luana and I each bought two bottles of wine -- the limit the ship allows us to bring on board in each port. That’s too bad, because we would have liked to purchase many more. There were many wonderful wines, and a number of them were at very good prices, both whites and reds. The Sauvignon Blanc seems especially good at several different wineries.

But the best part of the day was the good fellowship, even withhhhhhh (spit it out, Bob) Husky fans. There, I’ve said it again. It’s getting easier.