Which vineyards to see in SA?
 

I am getting ready to go, and obviously visiting some vineyards are pretty high on my list of to-do's. But which ones? There are so many good ones. I am looking for a combination of good wines (duh) and a memorable experience. So far my research has brought me to these:

+ Vergelegen (stellenbosch)
+ Neetlingshof (stellenbosch)
+ Boschendal (franschhoek)
+ Cabriere (franschhoek)
+ Buitenverwachting (constantia)
+ Groot Constantia (constantia)
+ Fairview (Paarl)
+ Hamilton-Russell (Hermanus)

Obviously this is a long list, and may not get to see them all. But I may be missing gems, and I would be good to hear people's input on these to help me make my picks.

I would suggest the Durbanville Wine Route which is fairly close to Cape Town and extremely beautiful:

Bloemendal
Durbanville Hills
Nitida
http://www.durbanvillewine.co.za/

Amazing Sauvignon Blanc esp Bloemendal!

Absolutely fabulous vineyards besides those mentioned are Neil Ellis, which has a fantastic tasting room at the base of a mountain as well as a magnificent waterfall and ponds as well as prize winning wines.

My favorite was Waterford. Here you can have a "chocolate pairing" with wines which is unique. The winery itself with its Egyptian geese has an Italian style architecture built around a central courtyard. Save this one for the grand finale!

Both of the above wineries have amazing and complex wines.

I echo Vergelengen, Boschendal and highly recommend Rustnberg as well for its Jersey cattle and fine tasting room and prize winning Brampton wine named after the Jersey bull.

I would recommend a wine guide to take you to these wineries and have used Glen Christie from Vineyard Ventures twice. She can organize the entire day and drive you everywhere in her very nice vehicle.

Trisha1...thanks so much for the info about Vineyard Ventures & Glen Christie. Just checked out their website and I have long been searching for just such a company in Cape Town and no matter how many google searches I did I never found one that looks so appealing. This forum is fantastic!

I'd suggest that you go to one huge and well-known winery, one small family venture, one that's modern in architecture, one that's Cape Dutch, etc. When you pick up the wine route maps at tourist offices, ask there for guidance on the particulars of each winery.

Of the ones you've mentioned, I can say that Vergelegen is a beautiful place -- the camphor trees there were planted by Van der Stel himself, I think, so they're really old! To me, it was a lovely place, but the wine tasting experience was just so-so. At Alto, on the other hand, there was no fancy tasting room, but the vintner talked to us at great length about his wines of the past and present, and offered us tastes of what he thought was his best and what we would like, rather than some standard list of wines.

Oh, we also really liked Fairview, in the same general area as Hermanus. They make a nectar of the gods called Life From Stone. To say that it's a Sauvignon blanc is a little like saying that a Shakespeare play is a lot of words -- true, but doesn't really capture the essence.

Have just returned from a fabulous trip that included Cape Town, and I wanted to sing the praises of Glen Christie of Vineyard Ventures. She took our family of 4 on a fabulous day tour of the Stellenbosch area, and we had a great time in spite of less-than-ideal weather. If you are in need of a Winelands guide, I highly recommend Glen!!

Delaire for the view.

And I've just realised that LTN is back home now!

I mean LTZ, the OP. Perhaps I was thinking of "nil"!

I've always liked Zevenwacht. Had many picknicks there in a beautiful setting. http://www.zevenwacht.co.za

We loved Vergelegen for the site, the beautiful library, the original manor house. Above all for the picnic amidst the camphor trees. We did it twice, and enjoyed it just as much the second time. Agree that the wine tasting wasn't great, althought we enjoyed what we drank with the picnics.

Also, Morgenstern is right at the gate - not such an elegant site, but good wine, great olive oil, and an air conditioned tasting room, which was nice when we were there in the heat.

Also highly recommned D'Vine restaurant, a few hundred metres before Vergelegen. Fabulous food, again a very pretty site.