South Africa

[VTECMatt]

I have been a couple of times and heading back in January, part of it is business (wine). This time I’m bringing my wife and adult kids 18/19yo.

I have done Cape Town, Franschhoek, Stellenbosch, Hermanus and a lot of the western cape. I’ll be spending a few days tasting and sorting that out and familiar with everything in these areas, also I have my a two day safari and sorted covering the first 5 days.

I have 5 days free to explore somewhere new, any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

Matt

[DJC76]

How far are you prepared to go and what sort of thing are you looking for?

[VTECMatt]

Sensible driving distance Ie up to 5 hours from Franschhoek to get there, we enjoy hiking and generally being outdoors but nothing outrageous this is the chill bit of the trip, so once there want to stay within 1 hour drives of places to visit. Thanks

[Screenwash]

It’s a leisurely day’s drive along the coast to Camps Bay and on to Hout Bay, en route to see the penguins at the Cape.

I was going to recommend Clarens in the Free State, but that’s a 13-hour drive away..!

[DJC76]

Hiking wise maybe the Wolfberg Arch. If you’ve not done it before hiking Table mountain is always nice, the route up through Kirstenbosch, Skeleton Gorge is very pretty.

Pushing the boundaries of your driving limit I’m a fan of the Plettenberg area. Hiking Robberg island is always pleasant and you’re close to Tsitsikamma which has some good walking trails. For the teenagers there’s kayaking on Stormsrivier. If your kids are insane Bloukrans bungee is on the route there. You can snorkel in the kelp forests down there, likely to encounter (very) small sharks and quite often seals.

I’m not sure of the status of the hiking trails around Franschhoek itself, the whole place got hit really hard with wildfires back in January, we could see them at night from our accomodation in town. Going to be interesting to see how it affects the harvest quality as the valley filled with smoke overnight generally clearing later in the day with the shifting wind.

[VTECMatt]

Thank you will look into your suggestions.

[redrabbit29]

VTECMatt said:

I have been a couple of times and heading back in January, part of it is business (wine). This time I m bringing my wife and adult kids 18/19yo.

I have done Cape Town, Franschhoek, Stellenbosch, Hermanus and a lot of the western cape. I ll be spending a few days tasting and sorting that out and familiar with everything in these areas, also I have my a two day safari and sorted covering the first 5 days.

I have 5 days free to explore somewhere new, any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

Matt

Off topic here but what job do you do, is it like buying for a chain or something?

Would be great to have a bit more detail as it sounds a really interesting job

[VTECMatt]

Nothing that exciting, I look after a hotel that has been family owned for 50 years, the lady who owns it unfortunately has dementia so look after it for the family.

I have a love of wine, not that I drink a lot, would say my palette is quite good.

South Africa is an amazing country not without its problems but where doesn’t these days, such an eclectic mix of growers and blends so I have a lot of fun. The vineyards quite often have restaurants and the views and food are nearly always incredible.

Once every couple of years as a thank you I go abroad to find some wine that we then sell at the hotel, we tend to buy a couple of pallets at a time, typically small growers or grape varieties that you wouldn’t typically choose, for example Mouverdre. I then sell the wine at the hotel usually our entry level at a subsidised cost so typically the guests get a better quality wine for a cheaper price. We take a hit profit wise but our regular guests support us so well it only seems right to give something back.

I have set up who and what I’m potential buying from my last visit in 2025, the grapes will have been harvested last year so will be good to taste when I’m out there and purchase. The next one has a lovely story to it and I can’t wait to try it. I’m no big wine buyer but sometimes you meet some really great people who share the values we all have at our hotel.

I’d love to work in wine full time but hate the snobbery of it all, done blind tastings when I was doing training and some of the st you hear drives me up the wall, always makes me smile when I get them right and they do not!