Merlot estates

Only red wine is made here, mainly Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, on the lower slopes of the Helderberg. Staff guide the tastings and offer informal tours of the underground cellar, and the winemaker's lunch of steak or salmon with a glass of wine runs daily on a first come, first served basis. The Engelbrecht family has owned the estate since the late seventies, and its title deed dates from the seventeenth century.

Open from Monday to Saturday and on public holidays, this family-owned estate on the Helderberg slopes counts Cabernet Sauvignon among its wines. Hempies du Toit turned it back into a wine farm in the mid-nineties.

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.

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.

Walk-ins are welcome on Saturdays and weekday tastings are by appointment, and you can book a walk up to the home vineyard on the Helderberg's eastern slopes. Architect David Trafford and his wife Rita, an artist, started this small family winery in the mountains above Stellenbosch. The reds include a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Franc, and the range also takes in a Chenin Blanc and a Straw Wine.

Tastings are walk-in on Fridays and Saturdays and by appointment midweek, and every wine is grown, made and bottled on the farm. The Wraith family put the estate together from two neighbouring farms in an amphitheatre between the Helderberg and Stellenbosch mountains, and Alex Starey runs the vineyards and cellar. Alongside the annual Keermont range there is a Single Vineyard Series, which is not bottled every year.

Tastings run every day, with food platters served alongside the tutored ones, and the range includes a Banghoek Chardonnay and The Laurence Reserve red. The estate on the Helshoogte Pass also has two restaurants, one of them the Asian-inspired Indochine, along with lodges and a spa. Laurence Graff of Graff Diamonds has owned it since the early two-thousands.

Tastings run at the Wine Tasting Centre, and there are two places to eat, the Stables bistro and Camphors restaurant. The estate has seventeen gardens, and the camphor trees by the homestead go back to Willem Adriaan van der Stel, the Cape governor granted the farm more than three centuries ago. Cabernet Sauvignon leads the GVB Red, a blend with Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot.

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.

Tastings come with the option of a chocolate pairing, and the restaurant serves breakfast and lunch. Pinot Noir, a Bordeaux-style blend called Ansela van de Caab and a Cape Vintage port-style wine are the ones to know. The Melck family owns the farm, on land near the Simonsberg first granted in the seventeenth century.

Pinotage, Shiraz and a Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blend lead the range at this Devon Valley estate, which has a tasting room and lodges for overnight stays. Dutch couple Marianne and Fons Aaldering bought the farm with its vineyards already planted, and the family still runs it, with their daughter Jacqueline and her husband Gert-Jan Posthuma managing the winery.

Red wines are the focus at this small winery on the Helshoogte Pass, with tastings in a room inside the owner's home on weekdays and by appointment at weekends. Prohibition is a straight Cabernet Sauvignon, and the Shiraz carries a new artist's portrait on its label each vintage. The farm also has self-catering cottages.

Tastings are held in the old horse stables, and the restored Schoongezicht Garden is open to the public every day. The range includes John X Merriman, a Bordeaux-style blend named after a Cape statesman who once owned the land, and Peter Barlow, a single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. The Barlow family has owned the estate at the foot of the Simonsberg since the nineteen-forties.

Pinotage is the focus here, and Red Leaf, the restaurant beside the tasting centre, works it into the menu, down to a Pinotage burger. Beyers Truter, previously winemaker at Kanonkop, started Beyerskloof in the late eighties, and his son Anri now runs the cellar and the bistro.

Tastings run daily here in the Bottelary Hills, with lunch from Wednesday to Sunday and a Vintner's Platter on Mondays and Tuesdays. Shiraz has been bottled here every vintage for more than half a century, and The Stork Shiraz is named after the wartime nickname of the late Ken Mackenzie, whose family still owns the farm.

The tasting room offers three tastings, and bookings are only taken for groups of more than eight. There's a restaurant pouring the wines by the glass or bottle, and the cellar sits on the Helderberg slopes with Table Mountain in view to the west. It began as a joint venture between Ernie Els and Jean Engelbrecht to make a Bordeaux-style red.

Tastings here include a single-wine pour of the Boustred Chenin Blanc and a masterclass hosted by brothers Chris and Rob Boustred, with flatbreads made to go with the wines. VUUR cooks every dish over open flames in the former horse stables, and guests can stay on the estate. Murray and Juliet Boustred bought the farm on the Simonsberg foothills to make wine, and their sons now work alongside Murray.

Walk in for a tasting from Monday to Saturday, with premium wines poured on request and cheese and charcuterie platters on offer. The Malan family farm high slopes against the Jonkershoek mountains above the Banghoek basin, and the range includes Cabernet Franc and the Family Reserve, a Bordeaux-style blend.

Weekday tastings run in the Polkadraai Road cellar that was once home to Amani. Catherine Marshall started out with Pinot Noir and still makes it from cool Elgin and Hemel-en-Aarde fruit, alongside Chenin Blanc Fermented in Clay and the Ode to Arges Semillon.

Tastings run from Monday to Saturday, with a classic flight of whites and reds or a premium flight of reds. Piet Steenkamp is the fourth generation of his family to farm and make wine here in the Bottelary area. At the top of the range, the Steenkamp label includes a Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blend and an old-vine Chenin Blanc, the Ou Bosstok Steen.

Barrel-matured reds from noble varieties are the focus, with Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and a Cabernet Franc Reserve in the range. Tastings are by appointment only, in a cellar at Bosman's Crossing that was once part of a brandy production house. The family-owned winery was started by Dave Lello, and Jane Lello now runs the whole operation from vine to consumer.

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.

Tastings here centre on site-selected and single-vineyard wines, in a tasting room at the foot of the Helshoogte Pass. Neil Ellis started out as a négociant buying in grapes, and the fruit still comes from vineyards in Stellenbosch, Elgin and Darling. His son Warren now makes the wines.

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 by appointment only, with flights drawn from the Precision Series, the V-Series and the Tales range. The vineyards sit among the Schapenberg hills near Sir Lowry's Pass, on a farm restored by the Gabb family, originally from Shropshire. The estate is Fairtrade certified and a WWF Conservation Champion.

Olive oil and wine can be tasted separately or together here, with the wines split between Bordeaux varieties and the Giulio Range, an Italian line named after operas. Giulio Bertrand, a businessman from Piedmont, bought the Somerset West estate in the early nineties, planted olive trees and brought Sangiovese vines from Italy.

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 and cellar tours run here, and the estate has its own hotel and restaurants. Most of the vineyard is planted to red varieties, and the flagship Bell Tower is a Bordeaux-style blend named after the bell tower on the property. The farm dates back more than three centuries, and its old manor house now serves as the cellar.

Tastings are held in the restored manor house, where the Helshoogte Pass begins its climb out of the Banghoek Valley towards Franschhoek. The estate also has restaurants and a country lodge. The wines are made from Bordeaux varieties, with single-vineyard bottlings, sparkling wine and the Simone and Richelle blends.

Tastings run every day, and the Bodega restaurant, set in a Cape Dutch-style barn, serves lunch and tapas from Wednesday to Sunday. The estate is on Blaauwklippen Road in Stellenbosch, and the Blaauwklippen Wine Trails begin with a tasting here.

Pinotage and Cape blends lead here, with the flagship Auret blending Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinotage. The Devon Valley farm has a restaurant serving comfort food and wood-fired pizzas, plus accommodation. The Pritchard family still own it and still use traditional basket presses.

Tastings here range from a flight of estate whites to a premium line-up with Cap Classique and Port, and a signature tasting runs in the historic cellar. Veldt Restaurant cooks over open flames, and the estate, on the slopes of the Simonsberg, keeps a block of old-vine Chenin Blanc. Weddings, seasonal dinners and harvest celebrations are held here too.

Visits are by appointment only at this small Devon Valley winery, where Merlot leads the range. The flagship Synchronicity blends Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Pinotage, and is only made in selected vintages. Martin Meinert bought the land in the late eighties.

Wines here include the Y range of Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot, and Danilo, a blend of Merlot and Grenache. The farm sits against the Helderberg and belongs to the Naude family.

Tastings are private and by appointment, and they can include a tour of the boutique gravitational cellar. The vineyards on De Goede Sukses, in the Simonsberg ward, are planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinotage, Shiraz, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. Lyn and Dudley Marklew bought the farm, and their children Bill and Haidee run it today, with Haidee making the wine.

Chenin Blanc is the focus, tasted in the Wine Lounge on the slopes of the Helderberg, with food pairings on offer. Ken and Teresa Forrester bought the farm at auction in the early nineties along with two old Chenin vineyards, and the FMC, made with Martin Meinert, is the flagship.

Tastings are held on the top floor of the winery in the foothills of the Simonsberg, with cheese and charcuterie platters, and the Vine Bistro serves French bistro food at lunch and on Friday and Saturday evenings. May de Lencquesaing bought the estate, and her private glass collection fills a museum in the winery that's free to visit. Lady May, from a single vineyard, is the flagship.

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.

This Simonsberg estate concentrates on Pinotage and Chenin Blanc, with the Single Block Pinotage as its flagship. There's a country lodge on the working farm, and the owner is AdVini, a French wine group.