WINEMAKING EXPERIENCE FOR LUAN.

Luan's mother woke him up as she wanted to tell him where they were going, and said that he must get ready. They had to leave soon, and have to drive to a farm today it is about an hour's drive.

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Luan realised that this holiday was coming to an end, it was so great but he would not mind being back home at his forest. His parents told him that they had now done a lot of things that they thought he would like, but today they were going to visit some wine farms. 

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"That will be so nice, then we do something you can also enjoy mother!"

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They knew it might not be that interesting to him, but they so wanted to go and see what these farms looked like and taste the wine. They were not people who drank, but they did love a little bit of wine now and then with their dinner. 

"Oh mother that would be interesting to me as well, and you have done so much for me, I will enjoy this with you just as much as you enjoyed going with me." 

"We are driving to the Paarl, it is just about an hour’s drive from here, and they tell me it is a very beautiful town."

 As they went into Paarl they realized that it felt like stepping back in time as it is a very old town and this is where the first people who came to South Africa started. Of course Cape town was the first town in South Africa but they moved inland, as more people came and Paarl was one of the places with the most beautiful old buildings.

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On their way there they stopped at the “Taal Monument” (Language monument) as this is when they changed to Afrikaans from the Netherlands language. Western Cape Tourist Attractions.

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The Afrikaanse Taal Monument Known simply as the Taal monument or Afrikaans language monument, the most famous Afrikaans icon, die Afrikaanse Taalmonument, sits on Paarl rock, erected in 1975 to commemorate the semi centenary of Afrikaans as an official language, separate from Dutch, overlooking the farmlands of Stellenbosch and Paarl.

 They then drove to the wine farm. It was such a beautiful sight to see, all the grape vines, and people working. They were picking grapes and putting them in big baskets or containers. 

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The next step was to crush all the grapes,  there is a machine that take the stalks out and lightly crushes the grapes.

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The grapes then go onto another machine that crushes the grapes and all the juice is pressed out. They are kept until they ferment and when this is removed some farmers add yeast before adding them to containers or barrels until it is ready. Some stay there for years and others only for a few months. 

Luan was surprised to see how much juice came from the grapes and he loved the barrels where they were stored on top of each other for the time it took for the wine to mature.

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Then they went to see how the wine was bottled, this he loved as it seemed very fast to him.

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After seeing how the wine was made the parents went and tasted some of the wine that was on sale.  

They could taste it first and then decide if there was any they wanted to buy.

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Luan's parents bought a few bottles and said maybe they can have a bit of wine with dinner now and then, as it really tasted very nice.

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They gave him some grapes to eat that was just picked and washed.  Luan said it was the best grapes he ever tasted.

Luan thanked them for bringing him to the winery.  His parent's wanted to have lunch with a little wine, but the owner suggested that they had a child-friendly kitchen where children were allowed to make their own pizza's. 

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"Would you like to do that Luan?" His parents asked.

"Oh that sounds awesome, I do  love eating pizzas and there are other children with their parents who will also go and make pizzas in the kitchen."

Luan enjoyed this day a lot more than he ever thought he would.

When they were all finished, they went back to the beach house in Cape Town.