This morning we drove over to the Constantia area of Cape Town. This is home to the Groot Wine Farm, renown not only as the oldest wine producer in South Africa but also the 2015 winner of the "Best in the World" from the Chardonnay-du-Monde competition for its 2013 Chardonnay. With a pedigree like that, how could we go wrong?

We met our Cape Town friend's, Johan and Christie, at the estate and took a self-guided tour of the manor house which was built over 300 years ago by the estate's founder Simon van der Stel. I wish I could post pictures of the beautiful rooms that were filled with period furniture but they did not allow photographs, even without flash. Darn!

Next we walked the grounds a bit and took in the inspiring scenery. Nestled along the backside of Table Mountain we could look in one direction and view the vineyards running up of the flank of the mountain or turn and look toward False Bay and see the ocean in the distance. The views were stunning.

We were now eager to sample some wine so Christie led us into the wine tasting room and was kind enough to pay for the tasting. She opted to have one of the tastings paired with specially made chocolates which we all shared. I never before had heard of pairing chocolate with white wines. As it turns out, the chocolates that we tasted with the white wines were white chocolate and melded very nicely with the Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. Go figure. Now, I am sure all of you wine aficionados are on top of the concept of white chocolate with white wines, but it was a new experience for us and it was wonderful. Mary Margaret, who really does not enjoy white wine, fell in love with the pairings and ooooh'd and aaaah'd with each sip and nibble she took.

Our host was very generous with our pourings and even added a wine that was not on our list. It was the original type of wine that the estate was founded on back in the late 1600's: Muscat. It was sweet and smooth as satin. Once again Mary Margaret was moaning and groaning with delight. She was really enjoying the various wines we tasted and having a great time. I must admit, I too emitted a few sounds of delight with each glass I sampled.

We had not come prepared to purchase wines but to just note their respective qualities and learn a bit about South African wines. Plus, our intent was to be with our friends and enjoy spending the day with them. While we certainly did that, we also left armed with bottles of the different vintages we enjoyed the most. We rationalized our purchases as being special wines to be served with special people who come and visit us on Leu Cat. Yah, that's the ticket!

Next, we followed Johan and Christie down the road a bit and stopped at The Brasserie. This was a wonderful restaurant where we had a delicious Sunday dinner. Christie and Johan had the Karoo lamb chops while Mary Margaret and I had their roast dinner. I opted for the beef roast while Mary Margaret opted for the pork roast. We agreed to share so we could sample each other's roast. Johan paired our meals with a wonder Shiraz and the time just seemed to float by.

Too soon it was getting late and was time to say goodbye and return to Leu Cat. We agreed to get together again soon and next time to spend the night at Johan and Christie's house and enjoy a Braai there. A Braai is a South African BBQ where the emphasis is on having a great time together enjoying the company, wonderful drinks, fine food and various meats grilled to perfection. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it!