DID I SURVIVE AN ENTIRE WINE ESTATE TOUR ON A SEGWAY OR DID I ALMOST LOSE MY TEETH?

Spier Wine estate tour is one of the most iconic wine estate tours I have ever been to. Typing this is giving me nostalgia and I just want to go back. So sit back, grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and let me tell you a story of how I went for the best experience.

As a wine writer, part of my job is going to wineries. I am from Kenya and so, South Africa is the nearest winemaking region to me. I had enjoyed Spier wines in restaurants in my city but it was another thing to go to the wine farm, see the vines and see the biodynamic methods that they use. I learned so much.

So we arrived at Spier wines and the air was heavy and misty. A small breeze threatened to spoil our day but the beauty of Cape Town and even Stellenbosch weather is that you can experience all seasons in a day. One minute it is cold and the next, the suns rays are piercing through the clouds, warming your skin and making you put your jackets away.

I had never been on a segway before. I thought that it was this complicated device but it is not. It is a two-wheeled device with a motor and sensor. If you want it to move forward, you just press your toes or otherwise increase pressure on your toes. If you want it to move back, you increase pressure on your heel. How your leg distributed the pressure will determine the forward and back direction. You can make turns by slowly gliding the handlebars. It was simple. So Maurice, The Spier segway guide, showed us how easy it was and we even did many trials and when everyone was confident in their skills, we were just cruising through the picturesque farms.

There was a guide who has a speaker and he kept explaining what we were seeing. Accompanying us on the trip were about 4 staff members and they all ensured that we rode the Segway on a single file line. We were to keep a distance from the person in front of us and we were never to come to a 2-metre range of each other when riding. This is to reduce accidents because the device has very heavy wheels and when they hit another wheel, an accident can happen. I almost fell when I was attempting to pack the Segway and learned to be extra careful. At first, I was very mechanical but after I just let go and realised everything was in the mind, I got used to it. We even went on high ground and on rubble and everything was okay. However, taking sharp turns was a struggle initially.

So we stopped near the kitchen pens where they housed thousands of free range chicken. These chicken were very friendly and they did not run away. In fact, when they saw us, they came running towards us. It was nice holding the chicken. The chicken eat bugs and plants in the pastures all day and their waste is used to fertilize the pastures. The farmers carry out different rotation methods the chicken runs are moved every season. The crop cover feeds the livestock and the soil below is very fertile for the vines to grow. This is such a biodynamic way of farming.

We also passed by their non-profit projects where they swap tress for books. The local disadvantaged communities get books for every tree they plant and so they have thousands of tress that they plant and are tending to. This is such a nice way to give back as well as care for the environment.

The view of the sun peeking through the mountains was like nothing I have seen. We went uphill and we had a majestic panoramic view of mountain range and clouds although the breeze was hitting us hard but, it was all worth it. The vines were in their pruning stage but they made the farm so beautiful because they were planted in very straight lines.

Spier wines have great wines although on this day we did not get to go to their winery because of time. However, I have tasted their creative block wine. If you d get a chance, r see it on the shelf, it is worth it.