Welcome to the Western Cape Wineries - a kiwi's opinion blog

I originally set up this blog to help foreigners have an enjoyable experience when visiting the western cape wineries in South Africa.

I realised that it is very difficult for a tourist to choose where to go and which wineries to visit, when you have 600+ wine producers to choose from.

When I first moved to SA December 2010, my palate struggled to adjust to SA wine, but after living here for a while and after visiting over 100+ wine estates, I have found many wines which I really like and can highly recommend.

Admittingly, when you come from another country it is hard not to compare the wine in SA to what you are used to back home. However, once you realise they are not the same (they have their own characteristics due to the different soil, climate etc) and appreciate their wines for being SA wines, it will improve your opinion and experience of the wines immediately.

If you are staying in SA for a while, don't dispair, your palate will change, and you will soon find yourself liking SA wine over your home countries wine!!

I hope my blog will help wine lovers have an enjoyable wine experience while in SA.

Please note: I am not a wine connoisseur. The comments I write about the wine is mostly for my own benefit of having them on record.

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Vredenheim

Today we went to Vredenheim because we had a picnic voucher which we had purchased on groupon.

This winery is very nice, there are many different types of animals on the farm, which you can see as you drive up to the restaurant and tasting room.

As we walked in to the Hudson's Restaurant we could see that the main room was being set up for a wedding, it looked stunning!! Definitely check out this place for a wedding option. We asked how much it costs to have a wedding here, and we were told that if you decide to have your wedding outside and the reception inside, its approximately R10,000 for both. I thought this was a very reasonable price, especially considering the venue, and the fact you can use both the outdoor and indoor area.

Anyway, to the wine and food. As we had to pre-order for the picnic, it was ready to go when we got there. We ordered a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, were given our picnic basket and off we went to sit on the lawn in amongst the garden.


The gardens are lovely and it's very quiet there. On a nice sunny day I highly recommend booking a picnic in advance and coming here for a relaxing lunch.

The restaurant was quite busy when we went for our picnic. It is child friendly, there is plenty of grass for them to run around on and I think they had a childrens playground area also.

After our picnic, we went and tried a few wines in the tasting room. We were a bit rushed for time so we didn't try many. We tried the Vredenvonkel Vin Sec sparkling wine (R43) and the Pinotage (R40). Both were very nice.

The service was good at this winery, the setting was very nice, the atmosphere was relaxed and the wine is very reasonably priced.

I can't remember how much they charge for a tasting here, I think it was R20 to try 5 wines.

Sadly I didn't have my camera on me, so I don't have any of my own photos of this winery.The photos I have used are from the Hudon's website. Be sure to check out their website for more photos: http://www.visithudsons.co.za/weddings-functions/gallery

I would recommend one visits this farm.
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1 comment:

  1. Vredenheim7 March 2012 at 04:25

    Hi Chrissy,

    We're so glad that you enjoyed your visit to our estate! We enjoyed reading your review and are so pleased that you had a great time with us. We hope to see you back at Vredenheim soon!

    Best wishes,
    The Vredenheim Team

    www.vredenheim.co.za
    www.facebook.com/vredenheim

    ReplyDelete

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