Cape Town Life Style
Constantia Wine Farms: Tasting Without Leaving Cape Town
Most wine writing about Cape Town sends you out of it. Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, Paarl, an hour on the N1 and a designated driver. Constantia is the exception, because it is not a day trip at all. It sits inside the city’s own southern suburbs.
It is also where South African wine began. The valley has been planted since the sixteen hundreds, and the six estates here run from the country’s oldest farm to a terrace above Constantia Nek that stays open until nine on a Friday. This is the short version of the Winelands, for a half day rather than a whole one.
The historic ones
Three estates where the age of the place is part of what you are tasting. Two of them are older than almost anything else in the country.
Since 1685
Groot Constantia
This is where South African wine starts. Groot Constantia was established in 1685 and is the country’s oldest wine farm, which makes a tasting here as much a history stop as a drinking one.
The estate runs seven days a week from ten until five, with the last tasting ticket sold at four. Cellar tours take in the production cellar, the Cloete Cellar and the Manor House, and there are two restaurants on the property. Picnic baskets have to be ordered a day ahead and you cannot bring your own food onto the estate.
Vin de Constance
Klein Constantia
Klein Constantia is the one wine people arrive already knowing about. Vin de Constance is the estate’s sweet wine and the reason its name travelled further than the valley did.
The tasting room runs daily from ten until five, public holidays included, with tastings ending an hour before the doors do. The bistro is closed for renovations at the time of writing, so plan this one around the wine rather than lunch.
Picnic lawns
Buitenverwachting
The name means beyond expectation, and the estate has leaned into being the valley’s least formal stop.
There is a tasting room, a restaurant, a coffee bar and a studio space, and the picnic lawns are open for the summer season. Picnics are weather dependent and the estate does not allow self-catering, so the food comes from them.
For the view
Two estates on the slopes, where the terrace is doing as much work as the cellar. Both are worth timing for the light rather than the hour.
Above the nek
Beau Constantia
Beau Constantia sits at the top of Constantia Nek looking out over False Bay, which is the reason most people come and the reason to book rather than chance it.
Tastings run daily from eleven until six, with the last one starting ninety minutes before closing and a maximum of twelve guests per reservation. Walk-ins are taken first come, first served. Chefs Warehouse runs the restaurant, lunch every day and dinner Monday to Saturday, with a minimum age of ten for both services.
Latest to close
Constantia Glen
A small estate on the mountain slopes with a terrace built for the view, wicker chairs and a pergola over the vineyard.
It stays open latest of the six on Friday and Saturday, until nine, which makes it the one that works as an early dinner rather than an afternoon. Cheese and charcuterie platters run alongside the tastings.
For a whole day
One estate, because it is the only one of the six you could arrive at in the morning and still be on in the evening.
Stay longer
Steenberg Vineyards
Steenberg is the one you can give a whole day to rather than an hour.
Alongside the wine tasting there are two restaurants, Tryn and Bistro Sixteen82, plus a hotel and a spa on the same property. If the plan is one stop rather than a circuit of the valley, this is the stop that holds it.
Making a half day of it
Six estates in one valley means you can see two or three properly rather than rushing five. The historic three sit close together, and the two view estates are the ones to leave for the end of the afternoon.
Check tasting hours before you set out, because they differ across the six and several stop selling tastings an hour before they close. Beau Constantia asks you to book and caps tastings at twelve people. Groot Constantia needs a day’s notice for a picnic basket and does not allow you to bring your own.
Steenberg sits in that third group because you can spend a whole day there. You can also stay the night, and of these six it is the only one you can. The wider set of Cape estates with rooms of their own is covered separately.
Read our guide to wine estates you can stay on
And if a half day is not what you are after, Franschhoek is the long version of the same idea, an hour out and worth the whole day.
Read our guide to Franschhoek wine farms