After we left the berry farm in Swellendam, we moved to a vineyard in Stellenbosch. (I know, we were really roughing it in South Africa.)

Our drive along the Garden Route and through the Western Cape had been a constant stream of activity (there were beaches to explore and ostriches to ride!), and we were looking forward to a few leisurely days in Stellenbosch in the Cape Winelands. We splurged for three nights at a hotel located on a vineyard – in a room with a view overlooking the surrounding hills, no less.¹

In addition to the winelands, Stellenbosch is known for being the home of Stellenbosch University. On our first evening in Stellenbosch, we drove down by campus (circling it several times as we searched for a parking spot) and found ourselves at a lively place filled with students, serving craft beer and tapas and called Craft.²

After a relaxing morning at the hotel (the breakfast was amazing, and it was a treat to have free wifi in the room to arrange further travel logistics), we set out to see some wineries. Armed with a map and some recommendations from the front desk staff, we made our way to Tokara, a vineyard stunningly situated on the slopes of a hill overlooking the surrounding valley. It was lunchtime, so our first stop was the restaurant attached to the tasting room. Unbeknownst to us, the restaurant at Tokara is renowned as one of the best in South Africa and was completely booked.³

Undeterred, and as all we really wanted was a quick lunch, we decided to try our luck at Tokara’s Delicatessen, located a bit further up the road. The Delicatessen, however, was only a deli in the loosest sense of the word, as it could have easily – and likely already has – been the site for an Architectural Digest photo shoot. Unsurprisingly, we found it was nearly full as well. After disclosing that we had arrived without reservations, we were initially seated in two chairs at the end of someone else’s larger table indoors, but another table with a view quickly opened up and we were able to move. The menu matched the surroundings and was incredible. I had an open-faced sandwich piled with roasted vegetables, and Marc had a salad with grilled squid, each paired with one of Tokara’s wines. We couldn’t resist the desserts, and shared a slice of incredible flourless chocolate cake with an orange cream filling.

After lunch, we walked through the sculpture garden and olive groves to the tasting room, an impressive space with a beautiful view of the vineyards. We sampled a few wines, including a delicious sticky sweet apricot dessert wine, and then moved on to Vrede en Lust, which was recommended by Marc’s parents, who had spent some time in Cape Town two years ago. We chose a seat on the porch with a view of the vineyard and surrounding mountains, and enjoyed the tasting. We liked the chenin blanc so much that we purchased a bottle to take with us.

The following day, we joined a full day wine tasting tour run by Afrivista. (As I’m sure I don’t have to explain, wine tasting is more fun when you don’t have to worry about driving!) Our guide Andre was a compendium of knowledge on South African wine, and we learned so much about wine production in South Africa during the trip. Along with a passel of young German guys and a solitary Ethiopian microbiologist, Andre took us around to five wineries (four for tasting, and one for a lunch stop).

First, we visited Glenelly, which is a young (approximately ten years old) and extremely modern winery run by an 88-year-old French woman. I prefer white wine over red, but we tasted a syrah there that was so delicious we bought a bottle.

Next, we went to Kanonkop, where we sampled some pinotage. As Andre explained to us, pinotage is a distinctly South African grape that is grown on the ground rather than on trellises to protect it from the harsh sun.

After Kanonkop, we went to Thelema, a small winery with amazing views that is across the street from Tokara. There we sampled some delicious white wines, including a dry Riesling, a varietal that I greatly enjoy but is not commonly produced in South Africa, and their flagship mint cabernet sauvignon, a limited offering produced exclusively from the row of grapes growing nearest to the vineyard’s stand of large eucalyptus trees, which offers the wine a discernibly minty note – a concrete example of the oftentimes nebulous concept of terrior. We purchased a bottle of the Riesling and one of the sauvignon blanc before deciding that we had purchased more than enough wine to take us through our upcoming week-long stay in Cape Town.

Our next stop was at Le Pommier for lunch. We had placed our food orders before our tasting at Thelema, so the only choice we had to make when we sat down to eat was whether we wanted red or white wine with our meals.

Finally, we visited Solms Delta, where we sat at an outdoor table and shared a cheese plate. We had some unique wines there, including a sparkling red and a syrupy dessert wine.

We were so tired from the wine tasting, that we ended up getting take-away Thai for dinner that night and eating it in our hotel room before leaving for Cape Town the next morning.

Where We Stayed:
☆ Devon Valley Hotel. Five goats. Devon Valley was worth the splurge. Our room had a beautiful view, and the breakfast spread was pretty impressive.

Where We Ate:
☆ Craft. The food was billed as tapas, but the portions were pretty generous. Special shout-out to the smoked salmon flatbread. Marc enjoyed a sampler flight of South African craft beers, from which they had a large number on tap to select.

☆ Inniebosch. The highlight of the evening (at least in my opinion; I think Marc really enjoyed his steak) was the live music. It was just one guy playing a guitar, and when we came in he was playing some Tom Petty (and I love Tom Petty) followed by some Johnny Cash. I thought he might have an Americana theme, but then he moved on to other music – my favorite being his rendition of AWOLNATION’s “Sail.”

☆ Simply Asia. It might be low brow to conclude your day of wine tasting with pad thai from a chain restaurant, but it was exactly what we needed.

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¹ We went for three nights because the hotel was running a promotion: three nights for the price of two, plus a free bottle of wine!

² The restaurant only opened last year, and – somewhat bizarrely, at least in the context of its recent vintage – appears to lack any form of web presence.

³ We were later informed that, to get a table for Sunday brunch, one typically needed to make a booking several months in advance. In retrospect, armed with this knowledge, the perplexed looks we got from the staff when we tried to casually stroll in for lunch seem less strange.