Where else can you try boerebraai tapas? The Devon Valley Detour is a wine-pairing adventure

19 February 2017 - 02:00 By Tanya Farber
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Wine tasting will teach you to tell your Chardonnay from your Chenin Blanc.
Wine tasting will teach you to tell your Chardonnay from your Chenin Blanc.
Image: iStock

Stellenbosch's Devon Valley Detour will see you washing the likes of nougat, ice cream and boerewors down with all manner of reds, whites and rosés, writes Tanya Farber

I am not sure when pairing became a thing.

It was either during 2016, or in the Victorian era - although some gastronomic palaeontologists have explored the remains of cavemen to find they loved pairing venison with an aromatic glass of merlot.

Either way: the good news is you don't have to be a wine connoisseur to let your taste buds off the leash for a hedonistic bout of detouring.

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The Devon Valley Detour, in the heart of Stellenbosch wine country but off the well-worn track, is a five-stop day out that will see you washing the likes of nougat, ice-cream and boerewors down with all manner of reds, whites and rosés.

Then again, our morning started off with hops rather than grapes .

By 9am, we were at Stellenbrau Brewery for a tour and beer-tasting experience.

Now I've always thought beer at this time of the day is only for lobster-red British tourists who take their omelettes straight up all over the globe with a draft in hand.

As it turns out, one can have a perfectly sophisticated beer-tasting moment indulging in craft beer - which even included one that has zero percent carbs for the banters - after an informative tour of how the different beers are brewed.

Next stop: Middelvlei.

It is not often one eats on a wine farm without needing the French dictionary hidden up one's sleeve, but at Middelvlei, all you really need is a taste for boerekos and a strong stomach for moerkoffie.

Here, the wine tasting was paired with boerebraai tapas (think biltong, cheese and tiny wors) and it was somewhat of a relief being offered a toasted cheese and tomato toebroodjie straight off the fire instead of a liver paté drizzled in sundried mandarins and oven-roasted French tree nuts (I made that up so don't try it at home).

As if we weren't already stuffed to capacity with all things delicious, next up came Clos Malverne Wine Farm.

I have to say that as a sweet-toothed monster, this was a major highlight for me. It is a prototype of heaven when five flavours of ice cream that include the likes of lavender and masala are paired up with delicious wines.

Satiated, you ask? Absolutely.

But now it was time for nougat and bubbles at The House of JC Le Roux.

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As at all other stops, a connoisseur carefully talked us through the details of what had been paired with what and why. There was much talk about how the (fill in the missing adjective) of each nougat complemented the (fill in the missing adjective) of each type of sparkling wine.

My head was spinning by the end - I no longer knew my Méthode Cap Classique from my pistachio-infused rose-flavoured. Sorry what were we talking about? I forget.

Anyway, as if all this wasn't enough, the final stop was the pairing of SylvanVale wines with canapés at the Devon Valley Hotel, followed by a hearty supper.

Luckily, we had also been booked in for the night.

So, all that remained was a chance to lie around like boa constrictors digesting the equivalent of a 150kg man we'd swallowed along the way.

And to tell our taste buds that from now on, the heady days of indulgence were over and it was back to the boundaries of crumbed chicken and a small salad with a glass of water at the homestead.

sub_head_start PLAN YOUR TRIP sub_head_end

The Devon Valley Detour is an initiative of the Devon Valley Hotel, a packaged trip of tasting experiences at five different boutique vineyards.

The cost is R230 for all five tastings and R380 if you include lunch - you choose from a selection of venues.

Transport is not included but can be arranged. Tuk-tuks to ride in can also be arranged privately or through the hotel.

• Farber was a guest of the Devon Valley Hotel

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