Join me for wine and cheese - socially distanced of course

This product was gifted to me for review purposes, content and photos as usual are my own.

Once we were allowed to have people round to sit in the garden, my friend came round every Friday evening for wine and a natter. And then to our great delight the chip shop opened up and that became our new 'norm'

Yep, a bottle of wine each and a bag of chips, eaten from the bag off our laps in the garden.

We dine in style.

When Prestige Hampers approached me and asked me to review a wine and cheese hamper, having first checked I was able to review alcohol, meats and cheeses, I couldn't refuse. Cheese and biscuits has been my go to snack to offer family and friends when they've been round for a garden visit.

Any day time opportunity that is rain free sees me outside as much as possible. My Friday night friend works during the week and anyone else visiting or me visiting them involves driving so I decided to spoil myself and take advantage of the dry weather and tuck into the hamper on my own. I did add a packet of Gluten Free biscuits for me to eat with the cheese as I'm wheat free, but that did not spoil the hamper for me.

I ended up with (un)expected guests.

The chutney was substituted for a pickle which was very nice and there were two Farm House Cheddars rather than 1 as a substitute for the Double Gloucester Chives and Spring Onion, which if I'm honest I prefer anyway. At the point of ordering there is a note on substitutions. 

The Merlot is lovely but is a half bottle, which does allow for 2 glasses to be poured if you do decide to share the hamper, rather than dine alone.

I'll be taking the blue stilton and the biscuits to a friend, next time I visit as I know she will love them.

The parcel arrived and I knew straight away what it was even though I didn't open it till the following day and just popped it in the fridge to keep it fresh.

The contents are presented in a wire basket and it was well packaged. I'm now using the basket to store half opened packets of cheese biscuits in the cupboard.

This is a gift I will probably end up ordering for a friend for Christmas as I'll be back in Dubai and I can arrange delivery direct to their house.

Wine Tours in the Western Cape

 

There are plenty of pre booked tours, bus, cycle or self drive. Every vineyard has a restaurant or a cafe and offers wine tasting, tours, pre booked picnics, but how do you chose where to go, which wines to sample? Who to book with?

There seems to be an assumption on arrival at a vineyard that:

a. You know where you are going

b. You know what you’re doing

Some places offer a tour with tasting, others offer just a tasting session.

A typical tasting session is around R35 and R50 if it is accompanied with either cheese or chocolate. Usually sampling 6 wines.

There is definitely no pressure on you, although the tours and tastings are led by a member of staff and therefore do draw to a natural end, the staff are very informative and there is no pressure to purchase any wines before you leave.

I’m not knowledgeable about wines, but I tend to know what I like and what I don’t like and it’s not only a fun way to spend an afternoon or even a whole day, it’s a good way to know what to look out for in your local supermarket.

Fascinating facts about growing wine.

·         1 barrel of wine equals 1800 glasses

·         It takes a ton of grapes to make 720 bottles of wine

·         1 vine produces enough grapes to make between 24 and 36 glasses of wine

·         1 bottle of wine contains 1.5kg of grapes

·         Each vine contains 35-60 clusters of grapes

·         1 hectare of land (approx ¾ of a football pitch) can contain between 3000 and 6000 vines

If you live in the UK and want to experience South African wine at reasonable prices including customs and delivery charges. I can strongly recommend the vineyard, Franschhoek Cellars, we visited today.

 

 

 

 

 

www.sawinesonline.co.uk

 

This is NOT a sponsored post