Six wineries and a wedding
South Africa was not somewhere I had been actively planning to visit, but a wedding at Groot Constantia provided a very good reason to go. What began as a trip built around the celebrations quickly became ten days of excellent food, remarkable hospitality and rather more winery visits than Sanja and I had originally intended.
It was my first time in South Africa. I had long been a fan of wines from Hemel-en-Aarde and would have loved to include the region, but there was not enough time to visit it properly. Instead, we concentrated on Constantia and Stellenbosch.
Our first visit was Klein Constantia. Vin de Constance is one of South Africa’s most iconic wines and reason enough to visit, although there proved to be plenty more to the estate than its famous sweet wine. We were taken around the vineyards in an open safari-style vehicle, climbing the slopes above Constantia with wonderful views back towards Cape Town. The vineyard tour was excellent, complete with resident pigs and a few wines tasted along the way, before we returned for a more extensive tasting with the very knowledgeable Alan Wickstrom.
Vin de Constance was naturally a highlight, but I was particularly surprised by some of the Sauvignon Blancs. I don't usually gravitate towards the variety, but these had a salty, savoury quality alongside the fruit that made them far more interesting than I had expected.
Our friends who were getting married joined us for lunch at The Bistro, having never visited the estate despite choosing nearby Groot Constantia for their wedding. The groom had previously been given a bottle of Vin de Constance from his birth year so it was a very full circle moment to be able to gift our friends their very own wedding bottle with a personalised wax seal.
The soon-to-be newlyweds were meant to leave us after lunch to meet some of their other guests. Those guests, however, had chosen Beau Constantia as their meeting place - it was their favourite South African estate - so our original tasting for two rather suddenly became a tasting for seven.
Fortunately, Megan van der Merwe appeared entirely unfazed. I had only confirmed the visit, and the considerably smaller group, a few hours earlier, but she found space for everyone and gave us a fantastic tasting overlooking some of the steepest and most spectacular vineyards of the trip. Warm, welcoming and incredibly knowledgeable, she has that rare gift of slipping wonderfully technical insights into conversation so naturally that you somehow leave having learnt something without ever feeling like you were being taught.
The wines were excellent. Pas de Nom was an unexpected highlight, while the Stella Syrah had the savoury, peppery character I enjoy in the variety. Given our rapidly expanding group, Megan could not have been more accommodating. Solid wines from a solid gal.
A few days later, we headed into Stellenbosch. Our first appointment was at DeMorgenzon, where winemaker Anthony Sanvido greeted us with Cap Classique at ten in the morning. With glasses in hand and views stretching across the estate, it was difficult to object to the timing. Anthony took us through the wines and showed us around the winery. The Cabernet Sauvignon was the standout for me, and he sold us the first magnum of the newly released 2023 vintage before signing it. Not every tasting ends with the first bottle of a new wine, and it was a particularly lovely bottle to take home.
Jordan was next. The estate has worked with The Oxford Wine Company for some time and I had already tried many of its wines, so I contacted Gary and Kathy Jordan directly before the trip. They arranged an excellent visit, beginning with food and wine at The Cellar Door before a vineyard tour in another open vehicle. As we had skipped breakfast, our supposedly light lunch became more of a very welcome brunch. I chose fish, accompanied by the estate’s Assyrtiko, which was one of the more unexpected wines of the trip. South African Assyrtiko was not something I had anticipated seeking out, but its freshness and salinity worked extremely well with the food.
The real revelation, however, was the Timepiece range. Both the Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc were excellent and quite different from the Jordan wines I already knew. The vineyard tour gave the wines further context, with stops among the vines and enormous views across Stellenbosch. I would happily return, not least to try the estate’s fine-dining restaurant next time.
Our final major Stellenbosch visit was Tokara, an extraordinarily polished estate on the Helshoogte Pass. We began with lunch, where I tried springbok tartare despite not generally liking beef tartare and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The food was excellent, and Tokara’s more extensive tasting-menu experience provides a very good reason to return.
After lunch, Karl Lambour and Morné Els gave us a particularly extensive look around, driving us up into the vineyards before showing us parts of the private family land. The setting was remarkable, with vineyards stretching down the slopes towards Stellenbosch and mountains rising on almost every side. The estate is filled with art and sculpture, and a Japanese garden was being created within the grounds. It felt less like a conventional winery and more like an enormous private collection that also happened to produce wine and olive oil.
We finished with a tasting that included another surprisingly salty Sauvignon Blanc, although my favourite was the Director’s Reserve Red 2021. We bought an older vintage to take home, along with some of Tokara’s excellent olive oil.
The trip finally returned to where it had begun: the wedding at Groot Constantia. We arrived early, already dressed for the ceremony, and realised that we had roughly thirty minutes to spare. There was really only one sensible thing to do. We squeezed in a quick tasting.
Sitting outside with tasting sheets and glasses of wine while wearing our wedding outfits felt slightly ridiculous, but entirely appropriate. Half an hour later, we put the glasses down and walked no more than three minutes across the estate for the ceremony. The wedding itself was beautiful, held beneath the trees and surrounded by the vineyards as far as the eye could see.
What stayed with me most from the wine visits was the hospitality. Everywhere we went, people gave us far more time than we had expected, opened additional bottles, arranged vineyard tours and made us feel genuinely welcome. The quality of the food was consistently high, the estates were spectacular and the value - particularly compared with similar experiences in Europe - was extraordinary.
We had travelled to South Africa for a wedding and somehow managed to fit six wineries around it. For a first visit, it was an excellent introduction. With Hemel-en-Aarde still untouched, I certainly hope that it's not the last.