Wine Farms

The Cape Winelands start closer to Cape Town than most visitors expect. Constantia, the country’s oldest wine-growing area, lies inside the city’s own southern suburbs, its cool slopes tilting towards False Bay. Half an hour east, Stellenbosch fills a bowl of granite mountains. It is the busiest and best-known of the regions, with oak-lined streets, historic cellars and far more estates than a single weekend can hold.

Over the passes, Franschhoek occupies a narrow valley settled by French Huguenots in the late seventeenth century, and still trades on that inheritance: sparkling wine, long lunches and one road lined with estates. North of it, Paarl is warmer and broader, shaded by great granite domes and better known for Shiraz and Chenin Blanc. Closer to the sea, the Helderberg catches the breeze off False Bay, while Darling and the Cape Peninsula sit out on the Atlantic edge, cool enough to make Sauvignon Blanc with real salt and tension.