Meandering around the Cape Winelands

If there’s no-one about when you drive into Annandale, just do what the sign says and ring the old slave bell – you’ll probably be met by a barefoot and smiling Hempies du Toit, or one of the family, surrounded by a jumble of dogs. A former Springbok rugby player (how many winemakers can explain the off-side rule so that anyone can understand it?), Hempies spent 25 years as winemaker at Alto, but now he is doing it for himself at Annandale, which is his own farm and also happens to be the oldest in the valley. Among his best players are a cabernet sauvignon and an outstanding shiraz, created with all his own grapes in a ‘low-tech and primitive cellar. But that’s the way I like doing things, all hands-on’.

Personal and delightfully informal tastings (with swallows nesting in the beams overhead) happen in the ancient cellar – the farm’s title deeds go back to 1688 – which, like the wine, is being left to age gracefully. I reckon the cobwebs hanging from the yellowwood ceiling in the barrel room are all original too! And for the rugby fans: if you ask, Hempies will sign your bottles. It’s hard to imagine a greater contrast at Dornier, which some may remember as Stellenrust, home to the original La Masseria Restaurant.

Now owned by Swiss artist Christoph Dornier (yes, of the aircraft family), the estate has been remodelled along clean, stark lines, with an undulating silver roof designed by Dornier himself ‘to enhance the landscape’. The modern cellar and tasting area has a distinctly hi-tech, industrial feel, all raw brick, concrete and steel, with huge windows letting in natural light and the spectacular view of the Stellenberg Mountains. You don’t need a cellar tour – more large windows allow you to look in on the enormous steel tanks. As a very special request, ask to see the barrel room, built beneath the large square dam.

The Dornier estateencompasses three farms, and all Dornier’s wines are blends, created thanks to their access to vineyards on different slopes.  And now for something completely different, again. A few kilometres  further is Waterford, a fairly new winery created by well-known winemaker Kevin Arnold and the Ord family (who put the ‘ord’ in Waterford). The citrus orchard followed by a bank of lavender should give you a clue: Waterford is a little Italy, a winery built of dry stone walls around a square with the trademark fountain in the middle.

Terracotta pots, pale green shutters, a game of boules in progress, good wine and cushions on the wall around the fountain invite you to kick off your shoes and embrace la dolce vita. The U-shaped winery flows around the square – the cellar tour takes you from the bottling and labelling machinery in one wing, past the tanks to the barrel room dimly lit by chandeliers in the other. And if it’s chilly, settle into one of the deep couches and enjoy tastings in front of the roaring fire.

R44 to Spier – 10min

From Waterford and Dornier, turn left onto the R44 heading back to Somerset West. After about 4.5km, turn right into Annandale Road. At the T-junction turn right on R310 Stellenbosch. Spier is on the right after 1.5km. Spier is firmly entrenched on the tour bus circuit, but it’s an important stop simply because it’s grown far beyond a historic wine estate into a destination that can keep you entertained for an entire weekend. (And it’s big enough for you to find your own quiet space under the trees on the banks of the Eerste River, away from the madding crowds.)

Before the wine gets overlooked in all the activities on offer, head for the Wine Centre, an original Dutch gabled barn dating to 1750, where over 220 local and 10 international wine estates are showcased. Spier holds tastings of various local wines, not just their own – seven wines are selected for tastings on the hour, of which two will be Spier or one of its labels (Longridge, Bay View, Capelands, Savanah, Sejana and Naledi). The Spier Private Collection is the premium range, made from grapes hand selected from single, mature low-yield vineyards, with limited quantities released each year.

Not surprisingly they shine with stars in the Platter guide. Then, lunch: choose from a create-your-own (but not ‘bring your own’!) picnic around the dam or at the river, a riverside pub and grill, or the Jonkershuis offering a traditional Cape Malay buffet. But you’ll probably be seduced by Moyo (which means soul in Swahili), a fabulous barbecue experience which sprawls through the gardens, up onto platforms in the trees and into gorgeous Bedouin-style tents with decadently comfortable loungers on the lawn.