The scope of activities at Spier may overwhelm. But a closer look reveals remarkable places and experiences for a great family getaway. And wine lovers won’t be disappointed either.
Mecca of Wine
An early start is highly recommended for a visit to this Mecca of entertainment that includes wine tastings, picnics, a choice of restaurants, horse riding and close encounters with birds of prey. Your first stop is most likely to be at the Welcome Winetasting Centre, right next to the parking area, if only to pick up a map of Spier to help you find your way around.
But linger for a while to taste some of the farm’s everyday wines and, during harvest, samples of whichever grape varieties have been picked in the cool dawn hours in the vineyards across the Eerste River.
If you’re a serious wine lover, though, continue straight to the spacious and airy Wine Tasting & Sales centre in one of the farm’s few remaining original Cape Dutch buildings, where you’ll find Spier Wines’ extremely knowledgeable tasting room assistants. Tastings are offered in all kinds of permutations that showcase Spier’s various ranges of increasingly acclaimed wines.
The pinnacle is occupied by the two Frans K Smit blends, a red and white honouring the winemaker who helped entrepreneur Dick Enthoven establish historic Spier as one of the country’s pre-eminent producers of wines of excellence at all points of the scale after purchasing the property in the early 1990s.
Now MD, Smit recently entrusted the cellar keys to his protégé Johan Jordaan, assisted by a trio of winemakers, handling the extensive portfolio of wines from home vineyards as well as fruit from blocks identified by Spier’s procurement and viticultural team. Testament to their success was being presented with the Editor’s Award for Winery of the Year in the 2022 Platters by Diners Club wine guide.
Choose a tasting of wines from one of the many ranges, including an organic selection and the new Noble Song limited-release bottlings with no sulphur (commonly added to wines for its preservative properties).
Labels for each range tell a story: the premium 21 Gables refer to what historians say are the most Cape Dutch gables to be found on any farm in the Cape; the Classic Block collection offers premium blends named for the specific components in the blend. There are tastings paired with test foods, flavours and aromas.
International visitors from European Union countries are able to log in an order and have the wine of their choice delivered to their homes within 48 hours.
Celebrating a Diverse Heritage
Although wine making is still a major activity at Spier - as it has been for nearly three centuries - today there’s a lot more going on. Three core values expressed in the restoration and development of the property have been sustainability, social development and celebration of South Africa’s diverse cultural heritage.
The Enthovens were among the early local wine farm developers raising awareness of ethical farming by involving workers and local communities in eco-friendly projects, from recycling efforts to vermicomposting to growing seasonal produce, supplying Spier’s vineyards, restaurants and farm shop and deli, eventually realised in the Growing for Good initiative.
Restoration of Spier’s Cape Dutch manor house (where the farm’s original deed of sale, dated 1692, is preserved) saw it become a space, not only for display of historic Cape artefacts, but also for exhibiting contemporary South African artworks.
The Spier Artisan Studio shows local artisans at work with beadwork and ceramics as part of a three-year artisan apprenticeship training course, with their creations for sale.
Spier’s support of conservation efforts through education and raising public awareness saw the farm host the Cheetah Outreach programme, started here in 1997 and working in tandem with the CITES-registered De Wildt breeding centre and research efforts in Namibia and Botswana.
It’s since been re-located to Somerset West, but a similar project, Eagle Encounters, remains, involving an open-air bird-of-prey centre, where close encounters with rehabilitated indigenous eagles, falcons, hawks and owls enable visitors to appreciate the majesty of these magnificent creatures.
A Family Welcome
Whatever you may fancy for lunch, you’ll find it at Spier. Pre-order a picnic basket or put one together from the Spier Farm Café, then pick the perfect spot on lawns, beneath trees and amid massive granite boulders surrounding a tranquil dam or by the riverside. Fish and flocks of geese and ducks will be waiting for your titbits.
Restored centuries-old Cape Dutch thatch-roofed, whitewashed farm buildings offer indoor and alfresco meals courtesy of both the Spier Farm Café and the Vadas Smokehouse & Bakery restaurant. Award-winning chef PJ Vardas compiles seasonal menus focusing on fresh, ethically sourced meat, fish and dairy from local suppliers and farm-fresh home-grown produce.
Specialty products showcase niche South African producers, from indigenous fynbos vinegar and water buffalo mozzarella (from SA’s only herd in Wellington). His bakery delivers organically-grown wholegrain and GMO-free stone-ground wheat products.
There’s a fine-dining (but still family-friendly) restaurant at the Spier Hotel, offering four-star accommodation in a village-style layout with rooms clustered around individual courtyards, each with its own swimming pool.
Guests are encouraged to navigate the grounds and the farm as a whole on bicycles provided. Nearby are modern conference, meeting and function venues.
The southern part of the Stellenbosch winelands is dominated by the Stellenbosch and Helderberg mountains and, further south, by the magnif...