Delicious Gourmet Tour through the Cape of South Africa

As a Southern African Inbound Tour Operator we get a lot of requests from a wide variety of different clients – from online shoppers, to travel agents to return clients. Recently a Joberg based “operator” wanting to do a gourmet trip in the Cape approached us. Seeing as we have such an extensive network of foodie destinations & related things to do and experience– we gladly accepted the request and put together a tailor made package. Today we’d like to share it with our followers and other interested readers – to give you a little taste of the Cape.

Day 1
Group will be met on arrival at Cape Town International Airport and transferred to their hotel situated in the famed Victoria & Alfred Waterfront.

Tonight the group will enjoy a welcome dinner at the hotel’s restaurant, famed for its traditional Potjies and Cape Malay dishes.

Day 2
Group will depart after breakfast for Table Mountain. Enjoy a cable car ride to the top (weather permitting). Spend some time on top with the tour guide before returning to the lower station, from where the group will go to Signal Hill for more spectacular views and photo opportunities.

Enjoy a walking tour through the colorful Bo Kaap, stopping at the Spice Market, before going onto a local house to participate in a local interactive cooking experience.

After this unforgettable lunch, the group will have some time in the city center, stopping off at the Greenmarket Square open-air market and a walk through the Company Gardens. Arrive back at the hotel in the late afternoon, with the evening at leisure.

Day 3
Enjoy breakfast before the group departs with their tour guide for a Cape Peninsula Tour. Drive through Camps Bay and Llandudno towards Hout Bay, where the group will depart on a cruise to Seal Island. Continue on Chapmans Peak Drive to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve.

Lunch will be a memorable local seafood affair in Kalk Bay, followed by a visit to Simons Town and the Boulders Beach Penguin Colony.

The group will return to their hotel in the late afternoon, with the evening at leisure.

Day 4
This morning the group will have a little leisure time in the morning to visit the V&A Waterfront or just relaxing. The group’s tour guide will meet them at their hotel at mid-day to depart to the Constantia wine route.

A Gourmet Lunch will be enjoyed at one of South Africa’s best award winning restaurants, followed by a wine tasting at a select wine estate.

Finish off this beautiful day with a walking tour through the magnificent Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. Return to the hotel in the early evening, with the evening at leisure.

Day 5
Group will depart after breakfast for the West Coast. Enjoy a wine and olive tasting with the owners of the farm en-route.

Arrive at the traditional outdoor beach restaurant at mid-day. This restaurant is set right on the beach – barefoot pleasure! There are several courses, all traditional dishes – from fresh mussels, fish, to potjiekos. This culinary experience will take a few delectable hours.

Return to Cape Town via Blaauwberg, stopping at the beach for that iconic photo opportunity. Arrive at the hotel in the early evening.

Day 6
The group will be met at their hotel after breakfast and check out, and depart on their journey into the heart of the Cape Winelands. First stop will be at a top sparkling wine producer. Enjoy a tasting with a difference.

Visit one of the oldest wine estates in the area for a wine tasting and light lunch, before checking in at the hotel situated in the Stellenbosch town center.

The hotel is ideally situated to explore this quaint village. There are many restaurants, shops, bars and clubs within easy walking distance.

Day 7
This morning the group will be met at their hotel by their tour guide and depart on a walking tour of the old part of town.

The group will then enjoy a rusk with indigenous teas, there will also be a visit to a small family-run butcher to taste some of their famed biltong and droewors. Lunch will be a trilogy of fragrant Cape dishes, complemented by a glass of excellent Stellenbosch region wine.

The last stop on the walking tour will give the group an opportunity to purchase some nostalgic local sweets in a brown paper bag at the oldest shop in town.

The group will then depart on their afternoon meander through the Stellenbosch wine route, visiting two or three beautiful estates. Return in the late afternoon, with the evening at leisure.
Day 8
Enjoy a leisurely breakfast before the group will depart with their tour guide on their wine and dine tour through Franschhoek. First stop will be at a beautiful local wine estate where the group will enjoy a wine tasting paired with homemade charcuterie at the comfortable Farm Grocer bar counter.

The group will enjoy a walking tour through the heart of Franschhoek and a visit to the French monument before going onto their next wine tasting and cellar tour at another award winning wine estate. Lunch will be enjoyed at a traditional restaurant on La Motte Wine Estate. The group will enjoy a fine dining experience with a complementing wine selection. Each guest will also receive a hard cover recipe book with beautiful photography, Cape Winelands cuisine recipes and their history.

After lunch the group will enjoy a walk around the gardens before departing for the next tasting at a wine estate that also produce fine wines and unusual cheeses. Enjoy a cheese and wine tasting before departing back to Stellenbosch.

If time permits, enjoy one last wine tasting and a visit to a extraordinary art gallery before returning to the hotel. The group will have time to relax and freshen up before they will be met and transferred to the local township for an unforgettable show and farewell dinner.

The live performance showcases local talent in a setting that shares with their guests the vibrancy of township street life, featuring township food and a craft market in an arena overlooking the surrounding mountains.

Day 9
Enjoy one last delicious South African breakfast before check out and transfer to the Cape Town International Airport for the group’s homebound flight.

**End of Services**

As mentioned, we did this as part of a bigger group safari – we can of course assist with the rest of Southern Africa – adding on visits to KwaZulu Natal (excellent Indian and Zulu cuisine), Mpumalanga (Kruger Park, Sabi Sands, etc. Safaris), Gauteng (Egoli – place of Gold), Botswana, Namibia, etc. Contact us to work out a bespoke program to fit your specific taste buds.

Wine Tours in South Africa & The Vindaba

South Africa will be presenting the country’s first specialist wine tourism exhibition, Vindaba, in Cape Town at the Cape Town International Convention Center from 25 to 27 September 2012.  The local wine and tourism industry are uniting to showcase the best in South African wine-related tourism, with the backing of national and provincial government.   Vindaba, which marks a new spirit of collaboration among tourism bodies, is intended as a launching pad to position South Africa on the world map of wine tourism.

With over 50 international hosted buyers and media, a range of networking events and seminars, free flow access to Cape Wine (South Africa’s premier wine trade show), a unique public open day and jam packed itinerary-based tours for buyers after the event, Vindaba is set to become South African wine tourism’s premier international show. 
Up to 150 of South Africa’s best wine tourism offerings will be on show at Vindaba.  Covering all well known as well as lesser-known wine routes the show covers “beyond the bottle” offerings from the Orange River to the Klein Karoo and beyond.  From accommodation to adventure and gourmet to relaxation, not to mention some of the world’s most beautiful wine tasting settings, Vindaba showcases all the very best of South Africa’s world-class wine tourism offering.   A unique spatial concept has been designed to enhance the visitors’ experience.  Exhibitors geographically related to one or other wine route will be clustered together in rough “villages” of stands, enabling the dynamic diversity of the South African wine travel offering to be better understood and enjoyed.

Since the end of apartheid, South Africa has steadily been welcomed back onto the world stage as a major new-world wine producer.  Across the Western Cape, there are 18 wine routes, and 2 brandy routes, and they are among the most scenic in the world, featuring many historic wine estates that date back centuries.

South Africa’s winelands stretch from the Cape Overberg in the south-western Cape, through the little Karoo and the West Coast into the adjacent province of the Northern Cape.  There are also wine farms in the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and even Gauteng.  The Cape Winelands are the most well-known, and include the Route 62 wine route, the world’s longest wine route.

There are so many exciting and different adventures to enjoy in the Cape Winelands.  At the Robertson Wine Valley Hands-on-Harvest Festival you can go grape stomping, or ride a horse to the highest point overlooking the whole Robertson valley, or go down to the Breede River for a gentle river cruise and a delicious country lunch. 
You could make your own verjuice and vinegar, or enjoy a spitbraai (barbeque) in a Bedouin tent.  The Bot Riviera Spring Festival is another event not to be missed for country conviviality at it’s best. Wineries and restaurants paint the town, and entertainment varies from horse riding, fly-fishing, wine and olive oil tastings to blending and tasting wine, sumptuous meals, live music, pottery and art exhibitions. 
At Mont Destin in Stellenbosch you and your loved one can soak away all your stress in an outdoor Pinotage wine bath.  With the whole vineyard to yourselves, relax in the warm, anti-oxidant packed liquor, sip estate wine and revel in the beauty of nature.  It’s bacchanalian bliss, au naturel, of the highest order.  The Solms-Delta End of Harvest Festival in Franschhoek is another fantastic event, where you can feast on Boerekos (traditional Cape Afrikaans food).  The Cape vernacular music draws together farm workers, wine producers, and music lovers for this cultural heritage celebration.

Pinotage is South Africa’s local grape, a cross-pollination of 2 grape cultivars, pinot noir and cinsaut, formerly called ‘hermitage’.  Developed in 1925 by South African viticulturist, the late Professor Abraham Izak Perold, pinotage was one of many experimental cross blends that were trialed at that time.  In fact, the only 4 pinotage vines in existence almost ended up on the bonfire. 

Fortunately for pinotage fans, the vines and their seedlings were rescued as they were about to be destroyed.  These were later propagated (in 1941) at Welgevallen experimental nursery in Stellenbosch by Professor CJ Theron, who also produced the very first pinotage wine.  Regrettably, Professor Perold died that same year without having a chance to taste the wine.  Regarded as the trump card of the local wine industry, pinotage is gaining international acceptance as a standalone varietal.  Robust, versatile and capable of producing top quality red wines, growers in New Zealand, California, Australia, Brazil and Cyprus are planting the inky-red grape.  Today pinotage is 1 of the 4 most widely planted red grape cultivars in South Africa.  Robust and easy growing with good yields, pinotage is most planted in the regions of the Swartland / Darling, Stellenbosch, Paarl and Wellington, followed by Breedekloof, Worcester, Olifants River, and Robertson.

KwaZulu-Natal wine is the new kid on the block in South Africa’s 350-year-old viticultural history.  Barely older than a decade (the first real trial vineyards were planted in 2001), KwaZulu-Natal vineyards, though embryonic, have survived naysayers, Mother Nature, and charlatan winemakers, to produce wines with gravitas and Old World finesse.  KwaZulu-Natal wines give another dimension to South Africa’s wine offering, and Western Cape winemakers are following the region’s progress intently.

Road Travel Africa tailor make your wine tour around what you want to experience.  You tell us what types of wine estates and or farms you’d like to visit and the types of wine you like.  If you have no fixed idea or solid plan, we will arrange a tour that will be fun and insightful.  We can offer our clients so much more because of our connections within the wine industry and our extensive experience within the industry.  We can arrange meetings with the winemakers and estate owners, as well as walks through the vineyards and cellars.  At Road Travel we keep up to date with all the latest happenings and events, and know all the hidden gems that most people haven’t heard of yet.  Contact a Road Travel Africa consultant to put together the ideal South African Wine Tour for you.