Cape Dutch meets French Provençal and ethnic African in this haven of fine wine, food and art. Three hundred-year-old Grande Provence Heritage Wine Estate has been transformed into a chic winelands retreat.
Cape Dutch Meets Industrial Chic
Dutchman Alex van Heeren, an international entrepreneur, fell in love with the 17th-century French Huguenot wine farm Grande Provence while sitting on the stoep sipping one of the cellar’s award-winning wines.
Grande Provence was added to The Huka Retreats portfolio (which also includes Dolphin Island in Fiji and Huka Lodge in New Zealand) and in 2004 Kiwi interior designer Virginia Fisher was commissioned to transform rambling old Cape buildings into a dynamic centre for lovers of wine, food and art.
Fisher began with the buildings’ colour scheme: traditional Cape white-and-green became gun-metal grey with sparkling white trim and embellishments. The modern Tasting Room is all glass, aluminium and steel, with finishes in shades of silver, grey, charcoal and black, offset by white.
The horseshoe-shaped, hammered-steel tasting counter is matched with ‘barstools’ made of steel posts and burnished tractor seats. Extra warmth comes from the well-used raised fireplace, not to mention tasting room attendants and serving staff, many of them locals who have been on the farm for years and will fill you in on its colourful past.
Grande Provence Winery
The compact, double-volume winery and 22-hectare vineyard are are under the experienced eye of consultant Philip Costandius, producing a small, simple but showy range led by a Shiraz and a wooded Chenin Blanc (fleshed out, unusually, with Viognier).
Similarly uncommon is a blend of Chenin Blanc and White Muscadel, promising much appeal with its light-in-alcohol style and continuing the farm’s long tradition with its famous off-dry Angels Tears label.
One of the first Cape cellars to introduce the ancient use of clay amphorae to ferment wine in recent vintages, Grande Provence produced Chenin Blancs and Chardonnays which saw winemaker Thys Smit nominated for the 2019 Diners Club Young Winemaker of the Year award.
There are also modern expressions of classic varieties including, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, as well as two bottled-fermented Cap Classique sparkling wines. Thus there will be a wine for each course on the fine-dining The Restaurant at Grande Provence.
African Zen
Situated just off The Tasting Room, this intimate, sophisticated venue is well suited to the contemporary international cuisine served in it. The Restaurant and The Tasting Room open out onto the Angels Tears Garden, a cobbled courtyard shaded by cream umbrellas and an ancient oak tree.
The Deli offers indoor and al fresco breakfasts and light lunches, and its selection of farm-fresh produce, charcuterie, cheeses, breads and preserves also goes towards the seasonal picnics (an indoor setting available in inclement weather).
Even in such sophisticated surroundings, well-behaved children are welcome to roam at will among the sculptures and installation artworks in the Zen-like gardens and dabble in the fountain.
Under parental supervision, they may even wander around The Gallery and, like the adults, cast an appreciative eye over the choice contemporary collection by some of South Africa’s leading talents on display and for sale.
In the adjoining renovated Jonkershuis, Cape Dutch meets French Provençal in a delightfully eclectic set of rooms that can host wedding receptions, seminars and group gatherings, with accommodation provided by La Provençale Villa in the Vineyards.
Another of Grande Provence’s tastefully renovated original Cape Dutch buildings has become The Owner’s Cottage, named by American fashion publication Harper’s Bazaar in January 2009 as one of the ‘10 Most Fabulous Villas in the World’.
There are five luxurious bedrooms, an open-air elevated spa pool with vineyard views, and a conservatory for breakfasts and dinners (prepared on site by The Restaurant chef, who also provides alfresco meals in the pool-side loggia).
This mountain-ringed valley’s celebrated French character comes from the Huguenots, refugee French Protestants who settled here during the...