Well Known Cape Wine Estates
Many of the more popular Cape Wine Estates positively bustle with the crowds of summertime, and some patience may be required if you are visiting during the holiday season. Most wine estates are open to the public during normal trading hours. Some of the smaller ones are accessible by appointment only.
Spier is a large complex that has a manor house, rose garden, restaurant, cheetah park and an open-air amphitheatre that is home to a prestigious annual cultural festival, and they also make wine.
Fairview is known for its good wines, a variety of excellent cheeses and their resident goats who live in a tower.
Backsberg has an interesting self-guided cellar tour with interpretive video displays.
Simonsig lets you picnic on the grounds and has a small playground for the kids.
Boschendal is an old Huguenot estate dating back to 1685, with a homestead that was built in 1812. It was bought by Cecil John Rhodes in 1887, and the estate has been restored over the years by its subsequent owners. Buffet lunches, an upmarket café and the named ‘le pique nique’ are all available.
Babylonstoren is one of the oldest farms in the Western Cape, known for its majestic garden and quality fruit and wine production.
For the None Wine Lover
Not a fan of wine? Well, don’t despair. There is still much to do while your partner sniffs their snifter. The Cape Wine Estates usually boast a beautiful, antique Cape Dutch Homestead and lovely gardens through which you can wander. Most Cape Wine Estates also offer a restaurant, a gift shop and a classy atmosphere for the non-drinking contingent.
Some even have wine making displays and museums for the academics. Most modern wine tasters don’t spit, they swallow; at the end of the day, the teetotaller in the group can be the designated driver back to your hotel.
As for the kids, it might be a little frustrating to watch Mommy and Daddy chatting about rosé and bouquet with the knowledgeable sales staff. While some Cape Wine Estates offer playgrounds and facilities to amuse the little ones, others have no facilities to occupy the rugrats.
If you are travelling with kids and can’t leave them alone, my advice would be to leaven the wine tasting with some alternative activities available in the area, like strawberry picking and candle making. There are also farm stalls, little restaurants, craft shops and coffee shops all over the region that could break the trip.
The Cape winelands have gentle hills and sea views in Constantia and Durbanville and great mountain peaks dominating Stellenbosch and Paarl....
At Boschendal the pace is leisurely, whether you’re sipping the latest vintage, taking tea, picnicking beneath the pines or dining under t...
A tour of Durbanville Hills an impressive hill-top winery is a must, offering insight into the hi-tech world of winemaking, with magnificent...
The scope of activities at Spier may overwhelm. But a closer look reveals remarkable places and experiences for a great family getaway. And...
Cape Dutch meets French Provençal and ethnic African in this haven of fine wine, food and art. Three hundred-year-old Grande Provence Herit...
This boutique family wine farm celebrates the bounty of nature like no other. Come and have fun with family and friends at Nitida which has...
Originally a wheat farm granted to Jan Meerland in 1702, Meerendal gained prominence as a wine farm in the course of the 20th century, under...
Rustenberg, one of the Cape’s most venerable farms continues to make world-famous wines, while sensitive restoration of its historic homes...
A reflection of both its owner and its winemakers, former and current, Tokara, the exciting new cellar has a sophistication of style and an ...
Zorgvliet is an idyllic wine farm in a valley between two mountain peaks that invites a prolonged stay with delights for body and soul, fro...
More than three centuries ago, wine was being made at Steenberg and weary travellers were offered humble board and lodging....
Hazendal Wine Estate in Stellenbosch could only have been described as eclectic in its early days of development by Ukranian-born Russian é...
The home of three generations of Sperlings, Delheim situated deep in a Simonsberg kloof is the birthplace of good, old-fashioned Cape winela...
It’s all about perfection and the personal touch at this classy Cape ‘New World’ wine farm where winemaking husband-and-wife duo Gary ...
French chateau by design, Roman villa in style, Cape country in character - Waterford Estate offers a world-class experience where service s...
Scenic and immaculate, Kleine Zalze offers award-winning wine, acclaimed cuisine, luxurious accommodation and a round of golf on a professi...
It is their task not only to realise Vergelegen’s potential as one of the Cape’s finest wine farms, but to place its rich cultural herit...
Toast ‘L’Chaim!’ at Fairview, a bustling Mediterranean-style winery, where the farm cheeses are almost as famous as the wines (and the...
Acclaimed South African mezzo-soprano Hanneli Rupert-Koegelenberg and husband Hein Koegelenberg cannot resist sharing their love of wine, mu...
Groundbreaking eco-friendly practices underpin farming here on these Simonsberg slopes, Backsberg is a convivial place for families to shar...