So I don’t know if you are aware of this, but South Africa has one of the best wine regions in the world. Not only is the wine amazing, but South Africa wine country is without a doubt the prettiest wine country I’ve ever seen. I’ve been to wine country in France, Italy, and Canada, but not California, but have heard that it is in fact prettier. The wine country region, Franschhoek and Stellenbosch, is located about an hour and a half from the city of Cape Town and four hours from the Garden Route.
Nestled between gorgeous towering mountains, the dry mountainous climate provides great conditions for the 300 wineries and famous red wine known as Pinotage. A lot of the wineries have French names and French influences since more than 300 years ago, the French fled to this area to escape prosecution. I spent just a day and a half here, but could have definitely spent a couple more days. A lot of people will take a day trip from Cape Town and just spend the day. The area also has really great restaurants and even cooler, a wine tram that will take you from winery to winery. We had a designated driver so we didn’t use the wine tram. On the way to Wine Country, we did get a look at how empty the dams were, which indicated we were close to the city of drought, Cape Town.
So the drive into the heart of Franschhoek is very windy-- you feel like you are making U-Turns the whole way down. We drove from the Garden Route, which took 4 hours, so were pretty hungry by the time we got to wine country. Most of the wineries serve food, but it was at an odd time between lunch and dinner. We stopped at the first winery we saw, Le Lure, which also ended up being the most expensive tasting in Franschhoek. They offered a wine tasting paired with “canopies,” which is basically a fancy name for appetizers. Since we wanted to go to a winery before they all closed and this one had food, we decided to roll with it and it was a nice experience. All of the wine was really good.
After that, we checked into our Airbnb, which was located in a vineyard. The guesthouse was cute, but cold! Again, they had the “hot plate heaters” on the walls that did not generate heat. The owners gave us their personal space heater to use but it was still cold at night. The tiny hot plate heater seemed to be the norm in this area, though, I guess South African people just tough it out when it gets cold. The area was really pretty, though, and close to the main street and wineries. T
he main street in Franschhoek has a couple blocks of shops and restaurants. The art in the shops is overpriced so I wouldn’t buy anything there. Johannesburg has a lot better prices and you can see locals make things right in front of you. There were a lot of fancy restaurants, but we were in the mood for Greek food so we went to a Greek place and watched a Rugby match. Also, Franschhoek has a cute sign on the mountain that reminded me of the Hollywood sign.
The next day was wine tasting alllll day. The first one we went to was the best, Babylonstoren. It has gorgeous gardens, restaurants, a bakery, farm animals and a greenhouse. The breakfast times were already booked at the main restaurant, but we had a chicken pot pie at the greenhouse which was the best I ever had. We were the only ones there and it was really pretty and relaxing. They have a fruit and vegetable garden and the meat is locally sourced so all of the food is local and delicious. This was easily the most impressive winery I’ve visited. At the tasting room, you are seated at a table in the middle of the vineyard with half-full glasses of wine per tasting.
The second stop was the most fun—Fairview Wine and Cheese. As soon as your park, you see the goats used in making the cheese at the winery. They have a little shop inside where they sell the cheeses and other wine pairings. Your wine tasting is paired with different cheeses. The person who worked there was celebrating 20 years at the winery and even emailed me a recipe for a famous cake she likes to make.
Stop number 3 had the best views—Vrede En Lust. We were the only ones there so we had the whole patio to ourselves for the tasting. They probably had the best wine.
Stop number 4 was Allee Bleu. Again, we had the whole patio to ourselves where we were served wine for our tasting.
So at that point it was getting late. We hurried to another winery, Haute Cabriere, and got there 15 minutes before closing. Luckily they were very accommodating and brought us our wine tasting while we sat outside and enjoyed the view.
I honestly can’t see any wine country being better than this one. Between the gorgeous setting in the mountains, being the only ones at most of the wineries, getting to sit down and served your wine tasting, and the friendliness of the workers, this would be hard to beat. I’m planning on going to Napa Valley in California this year and wine country in Chile before my Antarctica trip so we will see. This was such a fun part of the trip.
The last of this six-part South Africa series will be on Cape Town! You can also check out my itinerary, Kruger National Park, the Garden Route and the Panorama Route.
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