Solms-Delta: 7,000 Years of Music, Wine, and Justice

How to Complete

4 steps to experience this fully

1. 📜 1

   Tap Indonesia on the Music Map

   history Free

   The world's only museum dedicated to the musical heritage of a wine region. Walk to the interactive world map on the museum wall. Tap Indonesia. Listen. Tap India. Madagascar. Mozambique. These are the countries the Dutch East India Company raided for enslaved people to build the Cape wine industry. 60,000 people between 1658 and 1795. They brought their music because they couldn't bring anything else. Khoekhoe and San rhythms, Indonesian gamelan, Indian ragas, European folk songs, African percussion—all of it fused into what you hear when you listen to Cape music today. Tap each country. Listen to what people carried in their heads when they were torn from home. Music van de Caab is at Solms-Delta estate. Free admission. Open 7 days: Sun-Mon 9:00-17:00, Tue-Sat 9:00-18:00. Created by musician Alex van Heerden and Adriaan Brand of Springbok Nude Girls, who spent years documenting rural Cape musicians to trace the origins. If the map is broken, ask staff to play recordings for you.

   🍷 Log Memory
2. ⛰️ 2

   Walk the 7,000-Year Archaeological Site

   adventure Free

   This land has been inhabited for 7,000 years. Excavations revealed habitation layers: Khoisan pre-colonial, Dutch and French colonial, modern post-apartheid. You're standing on 7,000 years of human history—Stone Age hunter-gatherers to Cape Malay slaves to Huguenot refugees to farm workers who now own equity in the land. Mark Solms is a neuroscientist who gave workers equity in the land their ancestors worked as slaves. The Delta Trust model is now studied worldwide as a blueprint for land restitution. Ask museum or tasting room staff: "Where is the archaeological site?" Walk there. Look at the ground. Seven thousand years of layered history under your feet. If the site isn't accessible due to weather or excavation, ask about the 7,000-year history and the Delta Trust. They're proud of it.

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3. 🍷 3

   Taste the Koloni Range Made by Workers Who Own the Land

   wine Free

   The Koloni wine range is named after the colonial era. Deliberate. When you taste it, you're tasting wine made by people who OWN the land. Mark Solms restructured the farm in 2001 to give workers equity. This isn't charity—this is ownership. The annual Oesfees (late March) celebrates February 2, 1659—the exact date Jan van Riebeeck wrote "Today, praise be to God, wine has been made for the first time with Cape grapes." It's a celebration of freedom and heritage by the people who make the wine. Enter the tasting room. Taste Koloni. Ask: "Can you tell me about the worker equity model here?" Watch them light up. This is their story. Solms-Delta tasting room open Tue-Sat 9:00-18:00, Sun-Mon 9:00-17:00 (closed Dec 25 & Jan 1). Tasting FREE for individuals. +27 21 874 3937. If closed, buy Koloni at any Franschhoek wine shop and read the back label—the story is printed there.

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4. ⛰️ 4

   Check if the Oesfees Is Happening

   Optional

   adventure $

   The Oesfees (Harvest Festival) happens late March annually. Since 2008, it brings together farm workers, landowners, and guests for traditional Boland rural music (vastrap—Cape folk dance), Cape Malay food, and the fusion of musical traditions documented by Music van de Caab. It celebrates the birthday of South African wine: February 2, 1659. Tickets R150-250. Before your trip, check solmsdelta.co or call +27 21 874 3937 to see if dates align with your visit. If yes, book immediately—it sells out. If you miss it, ask the tasting room staff about it. They'll tell you what it's like and why it matters.

   🍷 Log Memory