Wine farms for kids

The full range is open to taste here, Rubicon included, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. A seated tasting by reservation adds an older vintage of Rubicon, and the estate is closed on Sundays. The Myburgh family has owned the farm since the mid-eighteenth century, and Hannes Myburgh runs it today.

The wine and chocolate tasting pairs the estate's wines with chocolates made for it, and bookings are recommended. There's also a Wine Drive Safari and a walk along the Porcupine Trail. Cabernet Sauvignon is the core grape, with The Jem as the flagship blend, and the Ord family has owned Waterford since its founding.

Italian varieties such as Sangiovese and Nebbiolo are the focus, poured at a tasting centre and restaurant on the upper slopes of the Helderberg near Sir Lowry's Pass. Alberto Bottega, born in Milan, founded Idiom with his wife Valerie as a family legacy, and the estate also keeps Vinotria, a library of Italian wines.

Chardonnay, including The Single Tree, and reds such as Syrah come from vineyards high on the Helderberg slopes, next to the Helderberg Nature Reserve. Tastings are held in a stone building in Swiss chalet style, with views over the bays and Table Mountain.

Alongside the wine tastings on the crest of the Helshoogte Pass, you can try the estate's potstill brandy or take a tutored olive oil tasting. The Director's Reserve pair covers a Cabernet-led red blend and a white blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. There's a restaurant at the winery, and a separate deli with a shop, café and children's play area.

Tastings run in the Tasting Room and Deli, with options that include a wine and chocolate truffle pairing, and a complimentary cellar tour goes out daily. Lanzerac describes itself as the birthplace of the first commercially bottled Pinotage, and its Cape Dutch Manor House and werf are a Provincial Heritage Site. The estate in the Jonkershoek Valley is also a hotel with a spa and several places to eat.

Guided tastings run from Monday to Saturday on the Bottelary Road, or you can settle in with a few bottles and a cheese platter. Pinotage appears in several of the ranges, and one Chenin Blanc comes from bush vines planted by the great-grandfather of Danie Steytler Jnr, who now runs the farm with Carin as the fourth generation of the family.

Red wines are the focus on the northern slopes of the Helderberg, where most of the vineyards are Cabernet Sauvignon and the range runs from Alto Rouge to Shiraz and the Estate Blend. While the estate is renovated, tastings and the restaurant are at Klein Alto, a short way down the road, and both can be booked online. There are hiking and mountain biking trails too. Hennie Malan named the farm Alto, from the Latin for high, more than a century ago.

Bush-vine Chenin Blanc from the Bottelary Hills goes into the Secrets & Lies bottling, and the range also includes Pinotage, Shiraz and a Cap Classique. The family-owned estate farms vineyards in the Golden Triangle too. Tastings can come as pairings, one with biltong, dry wors and cheese and another with cake.

Tastings run Monday to Saturday, cellar tours are by appointment, and Rykaart's, a family-run restaurant, serves a set three-course meal built around produce from the farm. The estate on the Helderberg is farmed organically and biodynamically, and its Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay come from old vines and a block planted by John and Erica Platter.

P.K. Morkel planted Pinotage on a commercial scale here in the fifties, and the Bottelary Hills estate still makes it, alongside old-vine Cinsault, Malbec and Cabernet Franc. The restaurant is set up for families, with a children's menu and a play area on the lawn, and children get their own tasting of juices and treats.

Tastings with outdoor seating on Groenvlei, a farm at the foot of the Helderberg, where the range runs from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and a Blanc de Noir. Peter Falke, born in Germany, bought the farm in the mid-nineties, and his family has traded in South Africa since the late sixties.

Every tasting here comes with a food pairing, whether in the barrel room, the vinoteque or, weather permitting, out in the vineyard. The estate sits on the slopes of the Helderberg around a Cape Dutch homestead and historic cellar, with a restaurant open daily and several houses and cottages to stay in. Children can make and bake their own pizzas while the adults taste.

Tastings run every day, with flights from the Estate Range and the Short Story Collection and pairings with chocolate, cheese or small plates. There's a pairing for children too, cellar tours can be booked ahead, and the old manor house holds The Restaurant. The estate is a WWF Conservation Champion, and visitors can drive or walk its avenue of stone pines.

Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon lead at this estate at the end of the Stellenbosch Kloof Road, with Nine Yards Chardonnay and Cobblers Hill, a Bordeaux-style blend, as the flagships. Tastings and tours run every day, and there are two restaurants, the casual Cellar Door and the fine-dining Jordan Restaurant, plus suites on the estate for staying over. Gary and Kathy Jordan run it on land Gary's parents bought in the early eighties.

The tasting room on Stellenbosch Kloof Road is open every day, and booking ahead is advised. The flagship is a Reserve Chenin Blanc, with a DMZ Chenin Blanc alongside it, and Baroque music is played to both the vines and the wines. The name means the morning sun, since the farm is the first part of the Stellenboschkloof valley to catch it.

Guided cellar tours end with a tasting in the basement cellar, and there's a garden restaurant on the estate where booking is advised. The farm sits on the Simonsberg and makes Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinotage, including a dry Pinotage rosé and the Vera Cruz Pinotage. Its name comes from the German for Deli's home, after the founder's wife, and the Sperling family still owns it.

Tastings are held in a former horse stable, and there's a hiking trail on the farm, with guided hikes in the flowering season that finish with a tasting. Brothers Tielman and Louis Roos run the Bottelary Hills estate, which their family bought in the sixties, and part of it is a private nature reserve set aside for fynbos.

Tastings are held in the original cellar, and the wines include a Chardonnay and a Sauvignon Blanc-Sémillon blend. On the food side there's the Avant-Garde restaurant, which draws on South African and Russian recipes, a Russian tea garden, the Babushka deli and Pivnushka, a family-friendly spot for flame-grilled food and craft beer. Dr Mark Voloshin bought the Bottelary Hills estate in the mid-nineties, and it's run as a family business.

Tastings run every day on the Helshoogte Pass, and the range takes in a Malbec, a Cabernet Franc and a Chardonnay alongside a rosé and a dessert wine. The restaurant serves Banhoek country cuisine with tables under the trees and a play area for younger children, and there are suites and country rooms for anyone staying over. The name recalls the farm's past as an apple orchard.

There's a tasting room, the Terroir restaurant and a lodge on the property, which sits beside the De Zalze golf course. The Chenin Blanc runs from a bush vine bottling to a Family Reserve made from unirrigated vines more than forty years old. The Basson family bought the farm in the nineties and still owns the vineyards, while AdVini now holds a majority of the wine business.

Tastings at the tasting room on Old Polkadraai Road are by appointment only, and large groups and children are welcome. The farm is run on biodynamic lines, and the range includes an organic Sauvignon Blanc, an organic Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon blend and a Reserve Red.