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, b
ut 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.



Saturday, 3 March 2012

Conradie Family Vineyards

After the Harvest of Joy wine festival, we decided to go to Conradie winery for a wine tasting. We had seen on a wine map that Conradie winery was open till 4pm so the timing was perfect. Just before we left the festival we were lucky to meet the winemaker. We told him we were on our way to his winery and he explained that they close at 3pm. He was kind enough to call his staff and ask them to wait for us to visit his winery.


Conradie winery is open 9am - 3pm on a Saturday and 11am-2pm on a Sunday. We left the festival about 3pm and didn't get to the winery till about 3.45pm so it was really nice of them to wait for us.

I was so glad we got to do a tasting there. The staff were really friendly, and the wine was really nice!!


We were served by Angela and Colin. They were really firendly, and both very happy people. Here is a photo of the tasting room and of Angela and Colin.

As for the wine, my favourite was the Cabernet Suavignon 2010 (R75 a bottle). That was really nice!! It had a slight cigar/tobacco and spicy hint to it (in my opinion). They have won so many awards for this wine also!! I liked the Pinotage/Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 (R40) which was lighter than the Cab Sauv, easy drinking and had lovely flavour.


I also liked the Sweet Rosaline Perlé Rosé (R33). I bought a bottle of this, and I bought two bottles of the 2009 Chardonnay which was on special for R38 a bottle. The 2010 Chardonnay sells for R50 a bottle.

I really enjoyed our tasting here and I would definitely recommend others visit this winery also. It really was a pleasant, relaxing and enjoyable wine tasting.

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