Son of a gun, I’m 50. Yep, somehow I’ve made it to half a century on this planet and I’m still alive and kicking.

(half a century? wow, that makes me feel old!)

This is my third birthday I’ve celebrated with Kim in South Africa…and every year it gets more and more amazing. She really does make sure my birthday is special and I am just the luckiest guy in the world.

The night before we went out and celebrated the last day of my 40s at Hassar Grill, taking advantage of their “date night special”, which was amazing. Definitely one of the best steaks I’ve had in my life and that bottle of their red blend was to die for.

The Birthday Adventure

This year, to celebrate this milestone, we decided to go all fancy and have a wine pairing followed by lunch at Glen Carlou. And all I can say is that it was an incredible experience.

We started off with a licorice (lakrid) and wine pairing. I’ve experienced one of these before, but now that I’m a bit more educated about wine, I definitely was able to appreciate it much more this time around.

The paring consisted of:

1. Sauvignon Blanc and a passion fruit licorice

2. Petite Classique (an amazing malbec and merlot red blend) with a salted dark chocolate licorice

3. Grand Classique (their Bordeaux red blend) with a salted caramel licorice

4. Brut Blanc de Blancs (cap classique) with a white chocolate/black licorice

One and two were my favorites…and I think the Petite Classique was my favorite wine of the day.

Since we were celebrating, naturally we added a second tasting. Our amazing host Benji helped us select the wines and did an incredible job of guiding us through the experience.

Between the two of us, we tasted:

• All the chardonnay varietals, including the Quartz Stone Chardonnay

• Pinot noir rose

• Pinot noir

• Syrah

• Gravel Quarry Cabernet Sauvignon

• Petite Sirah

I’m not a big chardonnay fan, but I do have to say the petite chardonnay was really nice and my favorite of the varieties. Light, crisp, with a hint of lemon and melon. Kim, stunningly, preferred the unwooded chardonnay, which is atypical, as she’s much more of a wooded chardonnay fan.

Benji also educated us on Shiraz, Syrah, and Petite Syrah. Shiraz/Syrah are different grapes (which came from Syria, hence the name), and the Petite Syrah got its name because the grapes are smaller. There’s also a difference between the way they are grown.

After a pause, it was on to lunch

Five Star Food

First off, the fact that lunch was R320 (~$18) per person for three courses is insane. The quality and amount of food they have for each course was nearly a meal in itself.

Starters

• Blue cheese souflee with fig compote (Kim)

• Calamari and Romanesco (me)

Mains

• Duck leg confit with roasted vegetables (Kim)

• Sole in mushroom sauce with rustic fries (me)

Dessert

• Lemon merengue with lemon curd and lemon sorbet (Kim)

• Poached guava with hazelnut crumble and guava sorbet (me)

Really. Just amazing.

We paired our meals with the suggested wines and it truly enhanced the experience.

Naturally, we brought home some wine (South African doggy bags), including the petite chardonnay which we’ll truly enjoy now that summer is coming. But just before we finished, the staff at Glen Carlou had one last surprise.

They brought out a bottle of their naturally sweet Chenin Blanc as a gift for my birthday. To say I was floored would be an understatement.

Thank you to the staff at Glen Carlou for making what was an amazing day even better.