A 2* visitor to 5* wineries

After my latest hiking adventure (debacle), I decided to return to the comfort of cycling to wineries in the famous Stellenbosch area (about 20 miles from Franschoek which is considered part of the Stellenbosch region).  However, Stellenbosch is much larger  than Franschoek and the wineries far more spread out.  Hence, it was only possible to visit a few, which was not all together a bad thing considering the combination of alcohol and my cycling skills.   (BTW, Stellenbosch seems to be some sort of Mtn biking mecca- you see serious bikers all over the mountain roads- my B&B host indeed confirmed this).

One of the things that is interesting about Stellenbosch is how upscale the wineries are generally.  All that I visited were extremely modern, set on beautiful grounds with very elegant tasting areas-

At most wineries, you do not simply belly up to the bar, as in the US or other places, but actually must sit to be served as in an fine restaurant.  And they seem to always charge.  Anway, I do not know how impressed there were to see me pedaling up to and banging on the gate (there is always a gate with a guard too)- and then cycling past all the parked Mercedes and Audis (actually there were plenty of Kias and Toyotas there too to be truthful).  But I always felt like I was a sweaty 2 star person entering a very refined 5 star Chateau (not that it deterred me from nearly free wine).  However, as in all of the Cape area so far, the service was generally great and the servers very friendly. 

But Stellenbosch generally is a very pretty small city with lots of evidence of its Dutch past-