lisa

We'll be in Cape Town for 6 days in early December and would like to spend one day visiting 2-3 wineries within a couple of hours' drive of the city. We'll have a car. We're not looking for huge tourist operations; we'd prefer smaller places, where we can not just taste the wine but also meet and talk to the folks who make it. We like dry whites and reds. If the setting is picturesque, so much the better. Suggestions?

leoville

Lisa,

I would suggest Franshhoek area. I have listed many wineries which we recently visited in our trip report which is in the postings list titled "Return from SA"...hope that helps....make reservations and have lunch at Le Petite Ferme.

lisa

I enjoyed your trip report very much. You listed so many wineries! If you had only one day and had to choose only 3 Franschoek-area wineries to visit, which would you recommend? Which wines did you enjoy the most?

leoville

Lisa,

Tough one! I personally enjoyed the wines at La Motte. I would start here. Then head towards town and up on the hill to the left is Dieu Donn(Champagnet) and Cape Chamonix(we enjoyed these wines also) which are literally across the street from each other and the views are superb. Then lunch at Le Petite Ferm(which has their own wines by the glass to match each course). After lunch right next to Le Petite is Haut Cabriere(Sp?) which we were not able to taste at because of a wedding but we had a white wine from here earlier on our trip and it was superb. If you still have time head to Boschendal on the way out which is at the Stellenbosch turn off. This is a beautiful estate but larger then the others. If you still have time after that continue towards Stellenbosch and stop at Delaire on top of the pass.

Have a great time!

Selwyn_Davidowitz

Lisa,

I think that you are sensible to only want to visit up to 3 wineries in a day. If you see more then your day will result in a full blooded wine day and that means that you will not see so many of the other attractions in the winelands.

Wine enjoyment is a very personal function with one mans meat being another man's poison. With that said this mail will contain my suggestions as to where you should visit. My criteria in selecting the relevant winefarms would be taking into account

1. Location of farms to one another

2. Quality of wine produced on farm.

3. Touristiness of venues

4. What else the winefarm offers.

With that said what I am going to suggest to you is based on years of winetasting (I was the Western Province winetaster of the year in 1989 and 1990) personal wine collecting (I have a cellar of 1000 great wines and I am NOT releasing the address ) and most important experience gained from touring with my visitors on winefarms.

Thus my choices would be:

1. Rust en Vrede winefarm.
http://www.rustenvrede.com/

a. One of the best red wine farms in SA.
(The only SA farm to have a wine selected in The Wine Spectator's 100 best winelist for 3 years running)

b. Stunning garden

c. Magnificent views

d. Wonderful Cape Dutch architecture.

e. Great cellar.

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2. Amani.
http://www.amani.co.za/

a. Specialist white wine farm

b. Very small and cosy

c. Magnificent views of Cape Town, False Bay and the winelands form the roof of the building

d. Nice art collection in tasting room

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3. Middelvlei
http://www.middelvlei.co.za/

a. Specialist in Pinotage which is a varietal that only grows in the Western Cape region and a MUST TASTE when visiting our wonderful winelands

b. Excellent red wines as well as couple of good whites.

c. Nice farm type atmosphere on farm.

d. Lovely scenery.

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4. Jordan

a. Great reds and whites to taste.

b. Fabulous scenery from gardens of farm.

c. Nice drive to farm.

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5. Muratie
http://directory.wine.co.za/Winery/Partner/Default.asp

a. Fascinating tasting room which still has all the old cobwebs from many years hanging from window sills and doors. Truly unique and rustic experience to visit.

b. Good reds and whites but also two fantastic ports to taste.

c. Wonderful manor house and garden that you can walk in.

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OK Lisa between those 5 winefarms you should definitely be able to choose 3 good farms. I must mention that it is highly unlikely that you will meet the makers of the wine on any farms. One generally needs a couple of contacts to pull this off. Furthermore all of the above farms are in the Stellenbosch region and are close to each other. Muratie is a little bit outside the general circle of these farms but no matter what it is relatively close and definitely worth the visit.

If you visit 3 of these farms you will also have the time and opportunity to explore Stellenbosch. If you do so have lunch at either The Wijnhuis in Andringa Street or make your way up to Tokara in the Helshoogte area.

http://www.tokararestaurant.co.za/functions.htm

A useful tip to find out about the Cape winefarms is to buy the "John Platters South African wine guide" http://www.platterwineguide.com (available in most bookstores) and also to use the following website as a map reference.

http://www.platterwineguide.com/stel...it=Show+winery

You will have to pre book a visit to Amani whereas all the other farms you simply can walk in for a tasting. If you are going to any of the restaurants that I have mentioned then I would suggest that you book a table long beforehand as they are pretty busy venues.

Hope the above all helps.

Selwyn Davidowitz
Very proudly part of the wonderful nation of South Africa

lisa

Oh Selwyn, thank you sooo much. This is exactly the kind of information I was looking for. We'll look at the websites and try to narrow it down.