Looking for an immersive taste of South Africa’s famous winelands? A new walking tour takes guests on foot through the world-famous vineyards of Constantia, delving deep into the Cape’s winemaking history while offering a sip and a swirl of this scenic valley’s leading cellars.
It was 2 February 1659 when Jan van Riebeeck, the Dutch colonial commander who had settled a refreshment station at the Cape seven years earlier, wrote in his diary: 'Heeden is Gode loff van de Caepse druyven d'eerste mael wijn geparst.'
And those 12 words of High Dutch – 'Today, praise be to God, wine was pressed for the first time from Cape grapes' – make South Africa one of the few countries on earth to know the precise date their wine industry began.
'Constantia is the oldest wine region in the southern hemisphere, with its wine – famously 'sweet, luscious and agreeable' – the toast of ballrooms and palaces across Europe in the 1700s,' explains Matthew Sterne, local tour guide and founder of the Constantia Wine Walk. 'Queen Victoria drank a glass each night, while Napoleon drank a bottle a day. And ever since then, this lush corner of vineyards and oak trees on the Cape Peninsula has attracted tourists and wine connoisseurs from around the world. It's this history that makes it such a fascinating region to discover.'
Situated just 20 minutes from the city centre, Constantia is also an excellent option for wine lovers who don’t have time to drive out to Stellenbosch or Franschhoek. The Constantia Wine Walk offers guests exclusive access to the vineyards and cellars of three iconic wine farms in the Constantia Valley; Groot Constantia, Klein Constantia and Buitenverwachting.
'As guests walk through the vineyards they get a firsthand experience of the soil, terroir and landscape of Constantia,' adds Sterne. 'They pop bubbly in the vineyards, taste 10 wines, have a tasting in a special private cellar and end with a harvest platter lunch at the final stop.'
Aside from admiring the landscape and getting to grips with the cool-climate terroir of the Constantia valley, key to the appeal of the Constantia Wine Walk is delving into the rich history of the Constantia winelands.
As you wander between the vines, admiring the peaks of the Table Mountain National Park towering above, Sterne shares the tales of Freemasons and Amazonian warriors, Great Gatsby-esque parties and tragic fires, 15-man morning orchestras and farm-owning freed slaves. The history of the Cape winelands is nothing if not colourful!
The tour covers seven kilometres, which usually takes four to five hours at a gentle walking pace, including stops for wine tasting, chatting and a harvest platter lunch at the end. Tours are offered on selected days each week, and cost R1950 per person.