Six of the best wine experiences in South Africa

Wine tasting at Steenberg Farm, Constantia

There’s plenty of distraction for guests of the Cape’s first registered farm. There’s an 18-hole golf course, two acclaimed restaurants, a swimming pool, and a garden spa accompanying the estate’s boutique hotel, which combines villas with bedrooms in Steenberg’s 17th-century manor house. Even so, tastings here are particularly popular; focused on sauvignon blancs, merlots, and sparkling cap classique, these usually take place in or beside Bistro Sixteen82’s double-volume barn, surrounded by vineyard and mountain vistas. 

The Franschhoek Wine Tram, Franschhoek 

On the beloved Wine Tram’s Hop-on Hop-off Experience, you can disembark for cellar tours, tastings, lunch, or a scenic stroll through the next vineyard before recommencing your journey. Using double-decker trams and open-top buses, there are five different lines – we recommend the red, blue, or pink – serving a curated selection of up to six estates in different Franschhoek Valley corners. You’ll depart from either the Franschhoek or Groot Drakenstein terminal, where you can grab a New Orleans-style beignet pastry before you start sipping.

Tasting Room & Winemaker's Lunch at Rust & Vrede, Stellenbosch

Photogenically perched on the Helderberg peak’s lower slopes, with views of Table Mountain, Rust en Vrede is chiefly focused on cabernet sauvignon, syrah, and merlot grapes. Eighteenth-century Cape Dutch buildings boasting National Monument status dot its vineyards, including an old winery that’s become a restaurant. After sessions in the tasting room and perhaps an informal cellar tour (available on request), sit down to a winemaker’s lunch – simple set menus involving either steak or salmon alongside a glass of nectar. 

Rupert & Rothchild Wine Pairing Lunch, Franschhoek

Fredericksburg, another ancient French Huguenot farm set spectacularly below the 1,399m Simonsberg, is now home to Rupert & Rothschild Vignerons. Instead of a standard tasting experience, opt for a wine-pairing lunch in which the brand’s three South African offerings – the Baroness Nadine Chardonnay, Classique, and Baron Edmond – are carefully united with elevated dishes. Those might be lamb cutlets accompanied by coconut chutney, broccoli, and a rich jus, or a Valrhona chocolate mousse alongside blackberry sorbet.

Tasting Room at Lanzerac, Jonkershoek

Complimentary for guests of its 53 classy rooms, tastings at this heritage farm involve a fascinating history lesson. Back in 1961, Lanzerac was the first South African vineyard to use pinotage on a label, three decades after Professor Abraham Izak Perold had successfully crossed pinot noir and hermitage to create the country’s own grape variety; a leading pinotage is, of course, part of the experience. In the gorgeous Jonkershoek valley, Lanzerac also supplies three diverse dining options, a spa, a good gym, three pools, and complimentary shuttles to Stellenbosch.

Suggested itinerary

This eight-day tour combines the best of Cape Town’s sights, a safari, and sips in some of South Africa’s best winelands. We’ve added to this a private car and driver, and picked out cool hotels like Kruger Shalati: The Train on the Bridge (a former passenger train elevated above a wildlife-rich river) in Kruger National Park. We’ve also included must-see experiences, so you can go up Table Mountain in a cable car, see the penguins on Boulders Beach, and enjoy all of the wine experiences in our top six above. Cheers!

Travel style

Arrive at the airport in Cape Town and you’ll have a meet and greet with our representative, who will welcome you to South Africa. Transport and tours in Cape Town will be with an English-speaking driver to show you around. Tours and entrance fees are included for over 10 experiences and National Parks, and, while on safari in Kruger National Park, game drives are included in your stay.