I am passionate about Culinary Tourism and to some extent that goes hands in hands with Wine Tourism. As the world is reopening, traveling is definitely not on my mind as of yet. Nonetheless, my first destination when it will be completely safe to travel again will be South Africa & more specifically Cape Town and its wineries.
An experience that I absolutely recommend for any wine lovers !
Let me take you back in time…| Wine Tasting in Cape Town
To say that I fell in love with South Africa is an understatement. I celebrated my 30th birthday in Johannesburg & still to date have the fondest memories of this trip. As my friend & I were planning this trip, we decided that it was a must that we spent at least 48 hours in Cape Town.
I mean…what’s not love about this city? The breathtaking views, the amazing landscape with of course Table Mountain: one of the 7 wonders of the world; Cape Town has it all.
Since it’s no secret that I am wine lover, with a preference for white wine to specific; it was hard not to get excited about the prospect of a wine tour. That being decided and our time being very limited, we didn’t randomly choose any wine estate in South Africa, we chose the oldest: Groot Constantia.
Located 20 minutes away from the city, Groot Constantia dates back to 1685. Can you believe it? They have been producing wine for over 300 years! Our visit was both educational and entertaining especially since we went there with the City Sightseeing bus (purple route) which I definitely recommend as a must-do activity for tourists.
The wine tour bus takes you past two other wine estates which are Beau Constantia and Eagle’s Nest with the possibility of also hoping off at these destinations.
What should you expect? | Wine Tasting in Cape Town
Although the tour itself does not take very long, I do recommend that you plan on spending at least one complete morning or afternoon there. All smiles, we headed into the wine tasting room, noticing the white brick walls and paintings in the hallway. Rather quickly, we savored the 5 different wines we were entitled to.
Red for her & White for me.
The following were poured into our different glasses: Shiraz 2013; Constantia Rood 2013; Pinotage 2013; Cape Ruby 2013 & Merlot 2013 (the red ones) & Blanc de Noir 2015; Sauvignon Blanc 2014 & Chardonnay 2014 (the white ones).
I stopped at my 3rd glass of white. My personal favorite surprisingly was the Cape Ruby 2013, a red wine – hence the surprise. The Cape Ruby 2013 is a dessert wine; a dark ruby colored port that shows complex aromas of raisins, plums, blackcurrant, raspberries and chocolate. It has a rich yet sweet flavor any lover of sweet wines (red or white) will enjoy.
All set, we rushed back to the bus stop with our bottles of Pinotage for our special ones at home.
Although we did not want to miss the bus (or our flight for that matter), the stunning scenery made us slow our pace and eventually stop. We smiled and thought to ourselves “What an amazing adventure this trip has been”.
We were grateful, extremely grateful!
[Useful Information]
Groot Constantia – The Website
– Daily tastings of five different quality wines: R100 per person | estimated at $6 or 3400 CFA Francs
– Chocolate and wine pairing: R150 per person | estimated at $9 or 5000 CFA Francs
My recommendation: You should make time to explore Groot Constantia and why not spend the day or at least one complete morning and end your visit with a delicious lunch at one of the restaurant.
I would love to hear from you ! Is it something that you would like to experience one day ?
