Wine Farms Worth Visiting

Groot Constantia was granted in 1685 and is the oldest wine estate in the country, but the reason it opens this guide is simpler than that: it is inside Cape Town. You can be in the Constantia Valley twenty minutes after leaving the City Bowl, taste a range that runs from Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay to Bordeaux-style reds and the historic Grand Constance, walk the werf and the old cellar, and be home for dinner without having given up the day. Open seven days a week, with the last tasting ticket at four.

Nothing else in this guide looks like this. Cape Point Vineyards sits above Noordhoek beach on Silvermine Road, the only wine estate on the Cape Peninsula, and its vineyards are cooled by the Atlantic rather than sheltered by a mountain range. That shows in the glass: Sauvignon Blanc is what the estate is known for, with the Reserve and Isliedh above it. Tastings run from eleven, to five on weekdays and four at weekends, and late afternoon is the busiest hour for the obvious reason.

Babylonstoren is a working Cape Dutch farm dating to 1692 with an eight-acre garden at the centre of it, more than three hundred plant varieties in formal beds, and kitchens that take from it directly. That is the order in which most people experience the place, garden first and lunch second and wine third, and it is the right order. The wines come off Simonsberg vineyards and include the Babel Chenin Blanc and the Nebukadnesar blend. Cellar tours run at ten, one and four.

Vergelegen was established in 1700 and covers more than three thousand hectares below the Helderberg. What earns it a place here is not its age, because Groot Constantia is older, but its scale and its architecture: the heritage homestead, the octagonal garden, camphor trees planted three centuries ago, and walking trails that go a long way past the werf. The wines are Bordeaux-style and led by the GVB red and white. Two restaurants, Camphors and Stables, make it easy to stay the afternoon.

Fairview is the least formal estate in this guide and that is deliberate. There is a goat tower with goats in it, South Africa's first commercial goat's milk cheesery, wine and cheese pairings rather than wine on its own, and the Goatshed restaurant and deli alongside. Children have something to look at for the whole visit, which is not true anywhere else on this list. The wine is serious enough underneath: the Goats do Roam range is the famous one, with premium Shiraz, Viognier and single-vineyard wines behind it.

Meerlust has been in the same family for eight generations, and there is no restaurant, no shop theatre and nothing to do here but taste. That is precisely why it is on the list. Rubicon is the wine that gave the Cape its Bordeaux-blend reference point, the range is entirely estate-grown, and False Bay is close enough to matter to it. The werf is a national monument. Where every other entry here gives you a reason to stay the afternoon, this one gives you a reason to concentrate for an hour.

Rust en Vrede has made red wine and only red wine since 1977, and the Estate Syrah has been named in the Wine Spectator Top 100. But the reason it sits here rather than in a list of cellars is the restaurant, one of the best in Stellenbosch, on a Cape Dutch werf that dates to 1694. The Winemaker's Lunch is the cheaper way in. Book ahead, and treat the tasting as the thing you do before the table rather than instead of it.

Waterford sits up the Blaauwklippen Valley and the courtyard with its fountain is the picture most people keep, but what earns it a place is that nothing here is a counter you stand at. The wine and chocolate pairing is the best known of several structured experiences, and the vineyard safari takes you up into the hills on the estate itself. The Jem is the flagship blend, with the Cabernet Sauvignon and the Chardonnay behind it. Late afternoon is when the courtyard is at its best.

Tokara sits at the top of Helshoogte, and on a clear morning the Simonsberg, False Bay and Table Mountain are all visible from the same terrace. There are other estates on this road and one of them has a version of the same view, but Tokara pairs it with contemporary architecture, a sculpture collection and an olive oil worth taking home. The wines are led by Sauvignon Blanc and the Director's Reserve blends. Come in the morning, because the view closes in later.

Darling is an hour north of Cape Town and nobody arrives there by accident, which is exactly why it closes this guide. The cellar was established in 1997, roughly ninety-five per cent of the vineyards are dryland bush vines, and the wines are cool-climate in a way the Winelands are not. The tasting room is relaxed, does light meals, has a play area and takes dogs on leads. Go in August or September when the Darling wildflowers are out. Closed on Sundays.