Fine wine country
Mike Yardley develops a taste for a lush corner of South Africa
Awakening to the grandeur of Table Mountain in Cape Town, I had a date with wine country. Whisked westwards to the celebrated playground of Cape Winelands, the undulating valleys wreathed in vineyards soon shuffled into view.
Before arriving in Franschhoek, my driver/guide Nassar drove me to the main entrance of Groot Drakenstein Prison, which was the last place in which Nelson Mandela was incarcerated. He spent 14 months here before he famously ventured through these gates on his walk to freedom in 1990. At the prison gates stands a beautiful life-size bronze statue of him with his fist defiantly raised.
Franschhoek (French Corner) takes its name from its first European settlers, French Huguenots who fled to the Cape to escape Catholic persecution in France in the late 1600s. With their experience in French vineyards, the early Huguenots were instrumental in nurturing a winemaking culture in South Africa.
Franschhoek is a salivating wine centre, where its long valley is ringed by sky-scratching mountain ranges, with peaks as pointy as witches’ hats, and fed by a single road that slinks through town.
Franschhoek is so lush a local remarked to me that “it’s like living in a lettuce”. The genuine sense of being ensconced in a valley here, with snow on the surrounding mountains in winter, has always made it feel worlds apart from anywhere else in the country.
Besides its scenic advantages, it boasts the highest concentration of fine-dining restaurants in Africa, with its main street evolving into a pulsating culinary mecca. Wine time?
Framed by the dramatic Drakenstein Mountains with lavender fields and meadows, Alle´ e Bleue is one of the oldest wine farms in the Cape. This picturesque estate is well known for its fresh and fruity white wines and well-matured, spicy reds. You can taste their award-winning wines on the tree-shaded terrace overlooking the vineyards, or by an open fire in the tasting room.
Another star specimen is L’Ormarins. Dating from 1811, the archetypal Cape Dutch manor house is festooned with flowers and framed by majestic peaks, but instead of remaining in the past, this winery has embraced the future and pumped serious money into a major revamp. L’Ormarins is the main estate and part of the Rupert empire, but there are five labels produced by their various farms dotted around the Western Cape.
We then called into Delaire Graaf, a starspangled wine estate that’s nestled between majestic mountains affording sweeping vistas across the vineyards of Stellenbosch.
Delaire Graff Estate touts itself as South Africa’s most desirable art, hospitality and wine destination. Striking Cape Dutch architecture meets African artefacts and styling, with original artworks from Laurence Graff’s personal collection on display throughout, representing some of South Africa’s finest contemporary artists.
There’s Graaf diamonds for sale from the on-site jeweller, naturally. Sparkling, swanky and undeniably chi-chi, you wouldn’t have to try hard to blow your budget here.
The Wine Lounge is masterly designed: a stunning copper roof and full-length glass walls, traditional dry packed stone and oaktrussed ceilings make way for an expansive traditional teak floor. Elegant whites include Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc while Delaire Graaf’s Cabernet Franc rose´ is particularly pleasing.
From there we scooted to the blockbuster town of Stellenbosch, founded in 1679 by Governor Simon van der Stel, who built Groot Constantia and planted hundreds of oak trees throughout the Cape.
The lovingly restored and oak-lined streetscapes make Stellenbosch the most historic of the Winelands towns, with the largest number of Cape Dutch houses in the region, along with majestic examples of Georgian, Victorian, and Regency architecture.
Dorp St is like a national monument, flanked by meticulously restored homes from every period of the town’s history.
I stopped to admire Schreuderhuis, a pioneer cottage and considered the oldest restored town house in South Africa, dating back to 1709. Redolent of tobacco, dried fish, and spices, follow your nose to the 19th-century-style trading post on Dorp St, Oom Samie Se Winkel.
In addition to the usual tourist kitsch, Oom Samie Se Winkel sells some genuine South African produce, including witblitz and mampoer, both Afrikaner versions of moonshine. The store has a great restaurant, too.