The Cape Winelands and Stellenbosch

Three And A Half Centuries Of Winemaking In Granite Valleys Under High Mountains, With Cape Dutch Gabled Manor Houses On Estates That Have Been Working Since The Seventeenth Century, Oak Lined Stellenbosch With The Country'S Best Known University, French Huguenot Franschhoek And Its Restaurants, And Tasting At A Fraction Of What Comparable Wine Costs In Europe · Stellenbosch, Western Cape

Fifty kilometres east of Cape Town the land folds into granite valleys under mountains that get snow in winter, and the Dutch planted vines here in the 1670s. Three and a half centuries later the Cape Winelands are a landscape of whitewashed Cape Dutch manor houses with curved gables, oak avenues, and estates that have been making wine continuously since before the United States existed. Stellenbosch is the centre - a university town of oaks, water furrows and gabled streets - with Franschhoek in a closed valley to the east, founded by French Huguenots and now the country's restaurant capital, and Paarl on the granite domes to the north. What makes it remarkable for a visitor is not just the setting but the arithmetic: tasting and eating at this standard costs a fraction of what it would in Burgundy or Napa. The one practical rule is that South Africa's drink-driving limits are low and enforced, so somebody has to not drink or you take a tour.

In the mountain valleys 50 km east of Cape Town, around Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl, Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa

Estates keep their own daylight hours for tasting and most close one day a week, usually Sunday or Monday, with the smaller ones by appointment only - check individually rather than assuming you can arrive. TASTING FEES AND WHETHER THEY ARE WAIVED ON A PURCHASE VARY by estate and change; a fee is normal and is not a rebuff. Harvest runs roughly February to April and is the busiest and most interesting time on a working farm, though some estates restrict visits then. Restaurants in Franschhoek and Stellenbosch book out weeks ahead for the well-known ones. The towns themselves are walkable at any hour. DRINK-DRIVING LIMITS ARE LOW AND ENFORCED, so plan a designated driver, a hired driver or a tour from the start. Cape Town is fifty kilometres west and there is a slow scenic train and plenty of day tours.

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