Self guided wine tour
Stellenbosch and Franschoek
South Africa.

We took an easy breakfast and headed out to Stellenbosch and Franschoek. We had a bit of a late start as we were finally getting over the jet lag and our short turn around in Doha, and had a 12 hour sleep. The trip to South Africa via the Middle East really knocked us out since it was about 6-7 hours of flying out of the way instead of the usual connection in Europe. Our visits took us to some of the lessor known vineyards that had escaped us on our last visit.

We first visited Jordan winery at the end of Stellenbosch Kloop. It’s tucked up against the hill and was well off the beaten path. This winery is not related to the Californian Jordan winery of the same name. It was a quiet and peaceful place for a tasting overlooking a small reservoir. You can tell looking back at the photographs, there isn't a soul here.

There were some outstanding whites, in particular their Inspector Peringuey Chenin Blanc. We collected a bottle of this for our future travels to Namibia.















We continued a short way down the road to Neethlingshof. The restaurant buildings are traditional Cape Dutch circa the year 1814. To accommodate demand, the tasting center was brand new. There were again some excellent whites of both the Sauvingon Blanc and the Chenin Blanc that received a five star rating from MrsWT73. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find these wines in Canada or the Pacific Northwest of the USA but the whites are highly recommended. It would be pretty special to have this view as your driveway.











The estate room was brand new and very contemporary.









We drove up to Franschoek to our old favorite Haute Caribiere. The setting of this particular winery is set into caves tucked into the side of the mountains in Franschoek. This was our favorite winery visit on our last trip, but it seems as though the quality of the wines are slipping just a bit. The Unwooded Chardonnay and the Pinot Noir were fabulous as always but the rest of the line up was only very good, not excellent like most of the rest of the wines on offer at other wineries. All in all, it’s among the most beautiful settings for wineries in South Africa in my humble opinion and a quiet and beautiful way to close out the tastings for the day as the sun slipped down over the mountains.











There is a tasting menu on offer here and you can of course select what wines are interest to you. MrsWT73 always has her heart set on Cap Classique sparkling, so we started with the two good sparkling wines they have on offer, before moving onto the whites and reds in a nice setting outside on the patio.





Along with a lovely tasting, there were terrific valley views. This is one of the reasons why this is among one of my favorite corners in the world. The sheer beauty of the setting is spectacular.







The visit to Franschoek rounded off a nice second and last day of wine tastings in South Africa.