After exploring Cape Town and the surrounding area we arrived in Stellenbosch ready to learn more about South African wines and of course taste them as well. Stellenbosch is about a 40 minute drive outside of Cape Town. Even approaching from the Cape Peninsula you see vineyard after vineyard as you are driving into the town.

Stellenbosch is the second oldest town in South Africa, after Cape Town. It is also a university town with lots of students in the city. In some ways it feels almost like a small southern city, with the architecture of the buildings and the tree lined streets. Our plan for the next few days was to walk around the city and visit some of the wineries in the country side. We went to dinner the first night and tried to put together a plan for the next two days. We pulled out the map of the wine routes we had been given at check in at the hotel and tried to figure out a plan but it was tough. There were so many routes. And this map was only of Stellenbosch, it didn’t even include neighboring Paarl or Franschhoek which also made up part of the wine region. We decided on one road for the next day, that had at least ten wineries within 15 minutes of our hotel and had two interesting wineries we had read about – Tokara and Delaire Graff. Perhaps we would also hit another on the way back.

We woke up the next morning and the weather was a bit overcast and there was light rain. Normally you would think, well this is perfect for wine tasting, but here it was not just about the tasting it was also about the views. With hope that it would clear up, we set off, and after less than five minutes of driving from our guest house, we had already passed the first winery. It was wine country all around. A few more turns and after a few scenic wineries passed, we arrived at our first destination. We rang in six months of being married first with a wine tasting at Tokara winery. The vines were gorgeous and looked to be meticulously groomed in perfect lines over the hills down into valley. The surroundings appeared noticeably greener compared to the wineries in Montepulciano in Italy, which felt much drier. Unfortunately, the cloudy skies didn’t allow for much of a view. The scenery was still interesting and the buildings even more so with modern architecture and interesting fountains (and a helipad outside the tasting room). After a quick self tour around the vineyards, we took a spot inside for our tasting. Our table looked out over the vineyards and we tasted a sample of four wines each while snacking on olives that came from the groves just outside. We weren’t quite sure how the tastings would work compared to Italy, but most of the googling we did indicated that most had some sort of small fee (~5-10$) and did not require reservation if only doing a tasting. This was the case at Tokara where it was around $5 for a small pour of 4 wines served with the olives and water and plenty of tables available. We tasted many of the common varietals of the region, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Syrah, Pinotage, and Bordeaux-style red blends. A nice start for sure.

From there we went across the street (yes, literally directly across the road) to the Delaire Graff estate for a decadent wine tasting and lunch. The grounds here were pristine and the whole estate had a luxurious feel to it, complete with the art decor. The incredible estate had 2 or 3 hotels that were apparently quite expensive with a few onsite restaurants in addition to the tasting room (that felt somewhat like a small library). On the way back, we finished the day at Lanzarac for one last wine tasting. The interesting part of Lanzerac is that they produced the country’s first Pinotage (a unique grape created by farmers in SA made from the Pinot Noir and Cinsault/Hermitage grapes). The grape apparently started out as a bit of a joke in the wine community but has turned out some very good wines in recent years as the vintners got more experienced with the grape. We of course tasted the Pinotage and a few others, including their excellent Syrah. In evening we had a delicious dinner which included kudu carpaccio (an antelope we would soon be seeing lots of on our upcoming safari), rack of lamb, filet, and a bottle of one of the Lanzerac Syrah wine we had tasted earlier in the day.

On the second day – after a forecast of all day rain – we had perfectly clear skies and headed off on our next slightly different wine route with our first stop at Warwick estate. We sat in the patio under the shade of the umbrella and tried their wines while over looking the lake and people laying out on the lawn having picnics and sharing bottles of wine. From there we went to Kanonkop which produces only red wines and enjoyed all of their different varietals, and finished the day at L‘Avenir where we tried our first Methode cap classique (South African version of Champagne) and their other wines while overlooking the lake and having a late afternoon charcuterie and cheese plate while watching the sun get lower in the sky. We also had some not so typical experiences here – watching 1) a champagne bottle opened with a sword (which you apparently can request if you buy a bottle) and 2) a bachelor party consisting of a group of South African, American and Canadian guys all taking off their shirts and jumping into the marshy lake. I think the winery was as confused as we were. And thus ended our wine tastings. The scenery in Stellenbosch is stunning with the hilly vineyards and the mountains in the background. Our only wish was that we also had time to visit Franschhoek (another 35 min drive) as the views are apparently even more majestic, but there’s only so much we could do in 3 days, so we kept it local to Stellenbosch.

Our last day in Stellenbosch we spent wandering more around the town. We had walked around a bit in the prior days in the evening as shops were closing, but this gave us a bit more time and we had to get to the airport in early afternoon. We stopped in a few shops and saw the historic center of the town, and then departed for the 40 minute drive to go back to the airport in Cape Town. We hopped on a plane and headed for Joburg. It was safari time.