Stellenbosch

What Stellenbosch teaches: old world meets new

The Cape's soils are among the oldest on earth, its estates date to the 1600s, and yet its wines sit stylistically between Bordeaux restraint and New World fruit. Stellenbosch teaches that the old world/new world divide is a spectrum, not a wall, and that some of the best value in fine wine lives in the middle.

The wines

Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux-style blends lead; Pinotage, South Africa's own grape, divides opinion and rewards the curious. Chenin Blanc, the Cape's white workhorse, outperforms its price almost everywhere.

Where to go

Kanonkop is the benchmark; its Pinotage and Paul Sauer blend are South African royalty. Meerlust, with its 1693 manor house, is the history. Delaire Graff, perched on the Helshoogte Pass, is the glamour: vineyards, diamonds, and a view across the valley that ends the argument about whether wine country can be too beautiful.

Eat

Stellenbosch town's oak-lined streets hold serious restaurants, but the estates themselves do it best. A long lunch at Delaire Graff or Rust en Vrede turns a tasting into a day.

Getting there

Forty-five minutes from Cape Town. Combine with the Cape Peninsula and you have the most scenically loaded wine trip on the planet.