A long time friend Marius and I decided that we were going to book in at a Stellenbosch guest house for a whole week.

A 1920’s sense of style...
We checked in at the Villa Grande, a 1920’s designed guest house that is situated in the middle of Stellenbosch. The ambience was great, especially as they have a lounge area where you can sit down and cosy up in front of a beautiful fireplace. I know our timing of year was not exactly ideal, since it was in the middle of the winter and most of the wine farms don’t really cater during this time, but we thought it was about time we had a wine tasting adventure.

First we wanted to explore the town. We strolled through the oak-lined Dorp Street until we got to the infamous “Oom Samie se Winkel”. The shop looks and feels like it might be 200 years old. They have sweets, biltong and other delicious traditional South African treats. The book collection was quite impressive as were the antiques. What I liked most of all was the aroma of the shop. It’s almost difficult to describe, it just smells antique, but not old and gross, but just a musty smell, but in a good way. The hospitable lady working behind the counter has been working at the shop for a couple of decades.

We continued towards the town’s centre to some of the museums and art galleries. Marius wasn’t all that crazy about the idea of museums at first, but I think he enjoyed the experience just as much as me, especially the Village Museum. It consists of four houses, each designed and restored to the style of different time periods in South Africa. When you pay attention to the detail and weight of the furniture for instance, you realise that few things get made with such dedication and time as they used to. And to think that everything was most moved by ossewa’s.

Some wine please...
After our cultural awakening it was time to experience the good things in life, so we headed out towards Franschhoek. The drive from Stellenbosch to Franschhoek is stunning, and in my opinion one of South Africa’s most beautiful spots. Because the Western Cape is a winter rainfall district, everything is lush and green. The vineyards are laid out like a quilted blanket over the majestic mountains.

We visited Boschendal, L’Ormanrins, Eikehof, La Motte, Chamonix and Môreson just to name a few. It’s amazing how tipsy one can get, especially when you don’t spit the wine as the tradition of wine tasting requires.

By lunch time we were starving. Before we left on our wine tasting adventure, Marius was told of a little restaurant hidden-away on the Môreson wine estate called Bread&Wine. Their speciality obviously is bread, which is freshly baked on a daily basis. The delectable bread was served with a dip combining anchovies, garlic and olive oil. I’m not sure if it was because I was starving or simply because the food at Bread&Wine is of the highest quality, but it was one part of our journey I will not forget.

Going home...
After enjoying a little more wine tasting, Marius and I were ready to go back to our guesthouse. We spent the rest of the evening in front of the fire, discussing our favourite wines for the day, ticking the favourites off in John Platter’s wine guides, and relaxing.

The rest of our week was spent pretty much at the same pace: a few wine estates, lunch at one of many of the Cape Winelands restaurants, followed by some wine tasting, and even brandy tasting at some stage. After spending the day tasting and wine shopping, we continued on our journey back to the Villa Grande to discuss the day’s favourites. We couldn’t have planned a better trip. Everywhere we went; from the guesthouse to the wine cellars we were surrounded by friendly, welcoming people. I can say that this was definitely one of our better trips and I would suggest to anyone, international and local, that they should experience the Cape Winelands while staying at the Villa Grand guesthouse in Stellenbosch.