Visit the wineries in South Africa

South Africa is the seventh country for wine production in the world and is predominantly appearing on the world market.

Among the things to see in Cape Town and the surrounding area , you cannot miss a day to spend in the Winelands, the beautiful valleys lined with vineyards and estates.

The centerpiece is the area around the town with the Dutch features of Stellenbosch and the nearby, and more “French”, Franschhoek .

Even for those who are not experts or wine lovers, this daily excursion from Cape Town (the distance is only 35 km) has its reason.

The estates are quite different from the wineries we are used to in Italy: they are luxury cottages or buildings, with refined and trendy details, often in positions that offer wonderful views.

In addition to the sale and traditional wine tastings, many of these offer restaurants and spas. In short, my advice is to “get lost” on the streets and stop at the sign or the estate that most inspires you: even the eye wants its part and, in these parts, it will not be dissatisfied.

Unless otherwise indicated, they can all be visited with paid tastings.

In this post I review the ones I saw. They are all quite different from one another, you go from the small mountain house among the flowers, to a large Dutch-style estate that takes you back centuries ago to a luxury villa with elegant pianist who cheers the tastings.

Tastings are cheap: 2 or 3 euros per glass . The only drawback is that, apart from a few cases, there is no custom of bringing appetizers to accompany. To prevent the blood alcohol level from rising too high, you can, however, in many of these establishments, order platters of cheese or dishes to accompany your drinks.