South African Wine Country — Katie Lee Jacobs

If you’re going to Cape Town, you can’t leave without spending some time in Wine Country. We almost made this mistake, and I’m so glad we didn’t. There are mountains from every angle, the people are absolutely wonderful, the wine is fantastic, and the hotels/properties are to die for.

DAY ONE

We left Cape Town in the early morning and headed (via uber) to Babylonstoren, our hotel for one night. A few weeks before our trip to Africa, our flight got moved up and we had an extra day to fill. Babylonstoren had come HIGHLY recommended from a friend of mine, so we decided to book it, and I’m so so glad we did. Honestly, I wish we would have stayed here the entire time! Babylonstoren is such a special wine farm. With a handful of rooms, the service is absolutely top notch. There’s so many activities for you to do on the farm – and we took advantage of it all.

After checking in, we walked through the beautiful gardens, biked the property, & went canoeing on the lake. We were in the mood for a little snack before dinner, so we went into the little shops they have on the property and grabbed some meat, cheese, breads, jams, etc. and had happy hour outside our cottage. While we were watching the sunset someone stopped by and offered us some hors d'oeuvres (I’m telling you, they’re always one step ahead!). We then went to the restaurant on the property, babel, for dinner. It’s the ultimate farm to table experience and we picked our courses by color of food. My kind of place! I still dream about the basket of plums they left in our room!

*Biking through the vineyards at Babylonstoren*

*Just the Fruit portion of the Breakfast Spread at Babylonstoren*

*Feeding in the Chickens and gathering eggs at Sunrise*

DAY TWO

The next morning we woke up early and went on a guided hike of the property. We learned about all of the different fruits, vegetables, and flowers they grow at Babylonstoren. After our hike, we had breakfast at babel (I still dream about this breakfast spread!), and then went on a vineyard tour, followed by a wine tasting. We were NOT ready to leave Babylonstoren, but already had a full day planned so we had to pack up our bags and leave. I wish we would have stayed here for the entire three days as they offer a lot of really fun activities that we couldn’t take advantage of.

But alas, we headed to lunch at Delaire Graff Estate. We didn’t love it, but I’m thinking it was an off day because I can’t tell you how many people recommended this to us! After Delaire, we checked into La Residence for a two night stay. The property here is absolutely stunning – they upgraded us to a killer room with the most beautiful view ever. We watched the sunset from our patio, and went into Franschhoek for dinner. Very cute little town with a lot of restaurants.

DAY THREE

Although we had high hopes of wine touring all day, we woke up rather exhausted and opted for breakfast at the hotel, followed by a bike ride into town. Once back at La Residence, we decided to relax at the pool for the afternoon. The property here is rather small, and as most people are at wineries during the day, we had the entire pool to ourselves. We did end up going to Mullineux & Leeu for a wine tasting before sundown which was very nice. We went into Franschhoek for dinner this night as well. We ate at Protégé (which is within the same family as La Colombe). Great meal!

*The view from our room at La Residence*

*Multiple beautiful Peacocks roam the La Residence Property*

Pro-Tips:

While we didn’t go to as many wineries a we had planned on, the following came highly recommended: Mont Rochelle, Delaire Graff, Grand Provence, Ernie Els, Mullineux & Leeu, Rubert & Rothschild, Rickety Bridge, & Tokara

Even if you don’t stay at Babylonstoren, I would recommend going for an afternoon wine tasting and garden tour, followed by dinner at Babel.

We found uber to be pretty reliable out there as well, so we had ubers drive us around, or our hotel shuttle. That said, there’s also a Franschoek wine tram which is hop on/hop off at different vineyards. Heard this is really fun!