South Africa - September 2014

[The Moose]

Head down to Cape Point and drive back to Camps Bay along the coastal road via Chapmans Peak at sunset. Absolutely stunning

Just a tad jealous...can't wait to get back to SA

[Bullett]

Bread and Wine on the Moreson Vineyard is good for Lunch. Love the wine there as well.
We also ate at the Haute Cabrière which was lovely.

[The Moose]

If you can, hire a convertible. As you drive through the vineyards, the smell is fantastic.

Best way is on a motorbike however...

[TigerS6]

We did SA this year.
did a week in Kruger, then flew to CT, stayed at the V&A waterfront for 4 nights....
Day 1 - Landed, and went straight up table mountain for the sunset views.
Day 2 - hop-on-hop-off Tour bus.
Day 3 - Gansbaai Shark diving
Day 4 - Robben Island (am), then taxi down to Cape Point/Cape of Good Hope/Boulders Beach.
Day 5 - Leave v. early. (Flew to mozambique)

To be honest, I was very happy with all we achieved... sure it wasn't relaxing, but we certainly managed to pack in some good activities...
Although Day 4 the weather was shocking, so a bit miserable, but all adds to the atmosphere - especially on Robben Island. We booked the first boat of the day, which is at something like 7.30am, it's a 'new' boat time where you travel over to the island with the staff (they weren't happy as they don't really have proper time to set up when you start walking around). The benefit was that there was no-one else there, so was still pretty quiet.
That of course meant we were back by 10.30ish and had a good chunk of the day left to head down to the Boulders beach etc.

Edited by TigerS6 on Tuesday 29th July 16:14

[brissleboy]

Thanks so much for all the replies, I really do appreciate it, getting pretty excited now!

So, we've decided to do the 12.30 wine tram (Red Line) which stops at the following vineyards:

Mont Rochelle
La Couronne
Moreson
Leopard's Leap
Rickety Bridge
Grande Provence

It is our intention to skip the first two and get to Moreson for 13.00, have lunch then continue on... of the 3 remaining vineyards, which one should we choose? We don't want to spend all day doing this, just 3 hours or so, that will then give us time to have a wander around Franschhoek before our dinner reservation at 20.00.

[smack]

Puggit said:

This is what speed traps look like in SA:

I drove from J'burg to Kruger at the start of the year and yes they are sneaky buggers. Just as bad as Australia. They was always under bridges or big trees so they had shade from the sun.

[brissleboy]

TEKNOPUG said:

Different culture though. Locals aren't going to pay more and coming from England, the exchange rate works massively in your favour. Also, a lot of these farms are small, boutique places.

If you take somewhere commercial, like Arabella, you can pick up a bottle from a supermarket here for maybe £8-£10. In SA, it would cost maybe £3. If you consider something like Rustenberg "Peter Barlow" or Rickety Bridge "Paulina Reserve", these are top, top 5 star wines and will cost, say 200zar - £10-12. By the time they get here, with shipping cost and duty, they'll be nearer £30. Supermarkets etc won't stock them because of the price and the limited quantity. So you'll only find them in up-market restaurants and once they have added there profit, you are looking at £60-80-100 bottles of wine.

There are exceptions, such as Ernie Els wines, where Yanks will happily pay £100 for a bottle because "..it's Ernie's wine!" but he has very purposely marketed it at foreign tourists. Wine is also a funny business in that once you have released a wine and priced it, you can't really then hike the price up just because it's popular and people will pay more. So most of the farms are pricing for the local market. Had you gone a couple of years ago, when it was only 10-£, it would look expensive.

So yes, 50zar seems cheap but then if you take away the exchange rate benefit and consider the differences in wages and living costs (my friend bought a brand new Kia Sportage in SA, £60k!) it would be the equivalent of 200zar for tasting, if you were a local.

Exchange Rate is your friend - it's the equivalent of going to the South of France as a millionaire. For example, a day at Newlands to watch SA v Australia in the cricket, in the members stand - £7. At Lord's that would be a £100. 2 large G&T's and 3 beers - change from a tenner.


With regards to Franschhoek, the main street has a lot of good restaurants and art galleries but it's quite touristy and expensive. None of the farms you can really walk to comfortably.

This is really useful, thank you. How do you get wine back home, will they ship?

[TEKNOPUG]

brissleboy said:

Thanks so much for all the replies, I really do appreciate it, getting pretty excited now!

So, we've decided to do the 12.30 wine tram (Red Line) which stops at the following vineyards:

Mont Rochelle
La Couronne
Moreson
Leopard's Leap
Rickety Bridge
Grande Provence

It is our intention to skip the first two and get to Moreson for 13.00, have lunch then continue on... of the 3 remaining vineyards, which one should we choose? We don't want to spend all day doing this, just 3 hours or so, that will then give us time to have a wander around Franschhoek before our dinner reservation at 20.00.

Rickety Bridge

[Puggit]

brissleboy said:

This is really useful, thank you. How do you get wine back home, will they ship?

I have asked in a SA winery and the cost was prohibitive. Cheaper to find it in the UK than shipping for yourself - about £100 for a case of 6, the wine was about £3 per bottle!

[TEKNOPUG]

Puggit said:

brissleboy said:

This is really useful, thank you. How do you get wine back home, will they ship?

I have asked in a SA winery and the cost was prohibitive. Cheaper to find it in the UK than shipping for yourself - about £100 for a case of 6, the wine was about £3 per bottle!

Yes, very much depends upon how much you want to ship. I lot of the wines are distributed via Germany, so you can get them over here for maybe twice the price. Can easily fit 3/4 bottles in a suitcase though (obviously you would need to declare then when you land.............)

[brissleboy]

TEKNOPUG said:

Puggit said:

brissleboy said:

This is really useful, thank you. How do you get wine back home, will they ship?

I have asked in a SA winery and the cost was prohibitive. Cheaper to find it in the UK than shipping for yourself - about £100 for a case of 6, the wine was about £3 per bottle!

Yes, very much depends upon how much you want to ship. I lot of the wines are distributed via Germany, so you can get them over here for maybe twice the price. Can easily fit 3/4 bottles in a suitcase though (obviously you would need to declare then when you land.............)

Of course, being the upstanding citizen that I am

[TEKNOPUG]

brissleboy said:

TEKNOPUG said:

Puggit said:

brissleboy said:

This is really useful, thank you. How do you get wine back home, will they ship?

I have asked in a SA winery and the cost was prohibitive. Cheaper to find it in the UK than shipping for yourself - about £100 for a case of 6, the wine was about £3 per bottle!

Yes, very much depends upon how much you want to ship. I lot of the wines are distributed via Germany, so you can get them over here for maybe twice the price. Can easily fit 3/4 bottles in a suitcase though (obviously you would need to declare then when you land.............)

Of course, being the upstanding citizen that I am

I tend to transport wine home via my blood-stream and liver....

Worth getting a copy of Platter's so you can mark all the ones that you drank and liked, for reference when you return. You may as well bring back some of the better stuff though, given that they will only set you back £10-12 each. For Rickety Bridge consider "The Bridge" and "Paulina Reserve". These are their flag-ship wines. Huge reds. Will benefit from leaving for a couple of years and will only get better. Will sit for 7-10 happily. At Moreson's I'd suggest their Pinotage.

If you go to Constantia, you must go to Eagle's Nest and try their Shiraz, it's sublime.

So pick those up and I'll sort out the cash upon your return

[TTOBES]

If you're driving via Hout Bay, stop here for food if you fancy it:

http://www.chapmanspeakhotel.co.za/index-e.htm

Did so in March 2012. Sat outside. Watched a couple of car guards have a quick fight and carried on eating. Most pleasant!

[smack]

TEKNOPUG said:

That depends, based on the quality of the wine or the scenery. Will you be drinking? Is someone going to be driving or will you both be drinking?

On the way, I suggest you stop at Rustenberg (stunning farm in the Cape Dutch style), which is on the Franschhoek side of Stellenbosch. Rainbow's End is also on the road out of 'bosch to 'chhoek.

In Franschhoek itself, the places I like are; Maison, Moreson (good for lunch), La Bri, Rickety Bridge and Cape Chamonix (super cheap wine). That's mainly based on the quality of wine. You could also go to Anthonij Ruper/L'Omarins, which has a classic car museum. You might want to invest in a copy of Platter's Saffa Wine bible, either here or at the airport.

I am thinking of flying over to Cape Town from JB in the next day or so for 2-3 nights, and was thinking of a few days eating/drinking/relaxing in the wine region (done Kruger before, so thinking of something different this trip)
Is there somewhere you guys recommend to stay in the area?
Don't want to sit in CT, although I would drive around and see the likes of Table Mountain, I prefer to spend my time in the countryside before returning to JB.

[TEKNOPUG]

smack said:

I am thinking of flying over to Cape Town from JB in the next day or so for 2-3 nights, and was thinking of a few days eating/drinking/relaxing in the wine region (done Kruger before, so thinking of something different this trip)
Is there somewhere you guys recommend to stay in the area?
Don't want to sit in CT, although I would drive around and see the likes of Table Mountain, I prefer to spend my time in the countryside before returning to JB.

Probably a bit late but http://www.lachat.co.za/

[smack]

Not late - I flew in 2 hours ago!

[TEKNOPUG]

smack said:

Not late - I flew in 2 hours ago!

How did you get on? I've just booking my flights now for a couple of weeks at the end of February

[smack]

TEKNOPUG said:

How did you get on? I've just booking my flights now for a couple of weeks at the end of February

I ended up going over for 4 days, staying in Hout Bay (nice sleepy village feel), and Franschhoek. I only had a 4 hours a day to drive/lunch/sight see during the day since I was working. Weather was great, and defiantly more laid back and safer than JB.

I tried to go to Table Mountain but the access/car park/main road was a traffic jam for no apparent reason (the access road was clear!), apart for the mass of idiots directing traffic in high vis vests, so I gave up with that. The coastline itself was beautiful.

Franschhoek was nice. Stayed in 2 B&B's outside town, got treated well and was relaxing. Had lunch at Rickety Bridge one day, which was the best of my meals at Franschhoek, which was a lovely piece of fillet steak, with loads of nice wine to go with it. Only problem is I wish I had more time to see more, and I almost pushed my flights back to join 2 women on a day of wine tasting after meeting them at breakfast the morning I was leaving!