South Africa
Live from Wine Memories
Main wine regions
- Wine region Stellenbosch
- Wine region Franschhoek
- Wine region Swartland
- Wine region Constantia
- Wine region Walker Bay
- Wine region Durbanville
3 more wine regions
Places to visit
All 51 places Winery · Stellenbosch Africa's First Wine Route: The 4 Estates That Started It All Winery · Cape Town Baudelaire's Poem Hunt: Reading Les Fleurs du Mal in the Vineyard Winery · Stellenbosch Beyerskloof: The King of Pinotage's Own Estate School · Cape Town Bo-Kaap: The Enslaved People Who Built the Wine and Created the Cuisine Winery · Franschhoek Boekenhoutskloof Winery · Franschhoek Boschendal: Oldest Huguenot Estate Still Making Wine Winery · Cape Town Buitenverwachting: Beyond Expectation Winery · Calitzdorp Calitzdorp: Port Capital of Africa Winery · Franschhoek Cap Classique Sabrage at Haute Cabriere
Wine trails
52 stops · 7-9 days Cape Wine Odyssey From the garden where African wine was born on February 2, 1659, to the glass-walled cellar where horses still till between vine rows — this trail walks you through 370 years of South African wine at the exact places where it happened. Stand at the bitter almond hedge Van Riebeeck planted to keep the Khoisan out (still alive after 366 years). Taste the sweet wine Napoleon demanded on his deathbed from Constantia. Find the garden where a random passer-by saved Pinotage — South Africa's signature grape — from being composted. Nine days. Fifty-two stops. Three centuries of scandal, revolution, and redemption — told by the land itself. 13 stops · 1 week Day 3: Birth of Pinotage Stellenbosch and Somerset West — where a corrupt governor stole 3,000 hectares, a professor saved a grape from the compost heap, and Kanonkop's cannon still echoes across the Golden Triangle. 8 stops · 1 week Day 7: Where Heaven Meets Earth From the gravity-fed cellars of Waterkloof to whale-watching in Hermanus and cool-climate Pinot in Elgin — the grand finale where the Atlantic meets the vine. 7 stops · 3 days Day 1: Where African Wine Began Cape Town's hidden wine origins — from Van Riebeeck's 370-year-old hedge at Kirstenbosch to the spice routes of Bo-Kaap and the exact garden where African wine was born. 6 stops · 2 days Day 2: The Emperor's Obsession Constantia's legendary sweet wines that Napoleon demanded from exile on St. Helena — Africa's oldest wine estate and the dessert wine that seduced kings, emperors, and Jane Austen. 6 stops · 3 days Day 4: The French Corner Franschhoek — founded by 200 Huguenot refugees in 1688, now South Africa's culinary capital. Cap Classique that beat Champagne, tram rides between vineyards, and the valley that still speaks French. 5 stops · 1 week Day 5: Rebels & Old Vines Paarl's brandy heritage meets the Swartland revolution — where Eben Sadie and the renegade winemakers proved old bush vines could produce 97-point wines that embarrass estates ten times their price. 5 stops · 4 days Days 8-9: The Brandy Road Route 62 into the Klein Karoo — South Africa's port wine capital Calitzdorp, moonshine mampoer, and Muscadel under desert stars. An optional two-day frontier adventure. 4 stops · 2 days Cape Winelands Circle Africa's most beautiful wine region. Dutch Cape architecture, mountain backdrops, and wines that rival the world's best. From historic estates to modern pioneers.
1 more trail
Things to do
Stellenbosch · 15
All about Stellenbosch
- Adam Tas's Diary Trail: South Africa's First WhistleblowerTour
- Africa's First Wine Route: The 4 Estates That Started It AllTour
- Beyerskloof: The King of Pinotage's Own EstateTasting
- De Morgenzon: Baroque Music in the VineyardsTasting
- Helicopter Wine Safari: Cape Winelands from AboveAdventure
- Kanonkop: From Burnt Rubber to 100-Point Wine and 4x World's BestTasting
- Meerlust: 8 Generations and the RubiconTasting
- Middelvlei Sunday Braai: Rugby, Boerewors, and the Real CapeDining
- New Voices: South Africa's Black WinemakersTasting
- Seven Sisters: The Farm Workers' Daughters Who Own the WineTasting
- Stellenbosch Night Ghost WalkAdventure
- Stellenbosch University: 5 Minutes That Saved South Africa's Signature GrapeTour
- Van Loggerenberg: #2 Wine in the World, Made in a Rented GarageTasting
- Vergelegen: The 320-Year-Old Camphor Trees That Outlived CorruptionTour
- Waterkloof: Horse-Drawn Biodynamics & Gravity-Fed WineTasting
Cape Town · 9
All about Cape Town
- Bo-Kaap: The Enslaved People Who Built the Wine and Created the CuisineEducation
- Cape Town: Where Contemporary Art Meets Wine CultureTour
- Castle of Good Hope: Where the Wine Ships DockedTour
- Company's Garden: Where African Wine Was Born on February 2, 1659Tour
- Constantia: Oldest Wine RegionTour
- Duncan Savage's Urban Winery: World-Class Wine from an Industrial UnitTasting
- Kirstenbosch: The Boundary Hedge That Still Divides Two WorldsTour
- Robben Island from Bloubergstrand: Freedom's ViewAdventure
- Table Mountain Sunrise: Hiking Through 540 Million Years of TerroirAdventure
Franschhoek · 7
All about Franschhoek
- Babylonstoren: Garden of Eden in the CapeTour
- Boschendal: Oldest Huguenot Estate Still Making WineTour
- Cap Classique Sabrage at Haute CabriereTasting
- Franschhoek Wine Tram: Five Routes Through the French CornerTour
- Franschhoek: Culinary Capital of the CapeTour
- Solms-Delta: 7,000 Years of Music, Wine, and JusticeTour
- The French Corner: 1688 Huguenot Heritage WalkTour
Constantia · 6
All about Constantia
- Baudelaire's Poem Hunt: Reading Les Fleurs du Mal in the VineyardAdventure
- Buitenverwachting: Beyond ExpectationTasting
- Constantia Wine & Food: Dining Where History HappenedDining
- Groot Constantia: 3,467 Bottles for the King of FranceTasting
- Mrs. Cloete's Ghost at Groot ConstantiaAdventure
- Napoleon's Last Wine: Groot & Klein ConstantiaTour