An escape.

Leaving morning rush craziness in Cape Town about an our drive away, life slows down. You’re in Stellenbosch valley. As far as your eyes can see, mountains go up and down with some sort of greenery growing down the slopes. Yes it's vineyards. We are driving determined to visit at least a few.

Spier.

As we turn from highway to the road leading to Stellenbosch, we soon drove by a name I know very well - Spier. Their wine is easy to find everywhere and I have been buying it since I discovered South African wines a while ago. So of course we made a pitstop to roam around. Once we entered, we understood why this wine is so easy to find, the farm is massive, with estate spanning as far as you can see, they even have Segway tours to go around, conference venues, African souvenir market, few restaurants and more. So instead of tasting wine, we had a quick coffee here in their Hoghouse Bakery, and continued onwards as our goal was to find a small cozy vineyard.

Stellenbosch. The town.

On the way we stopped in Stellenbosch town, a small picturesque university town, with charming Cape Dutch styled houses, streets lined with large Oak trees, cafes, galleries and boutique shops. The atmosphere here is relaxing, although it's early lunch time or late breakfast, you could barely see a table without a bottle of wine or at least a glass of it.

Babylonstoren.

After a short walk around the town we are on a mission to find a winery where we can finally have a sip ourselves and eat lunch. We read quite a bit of good feedback about Babel restaurant in Babylonstoren farm, and as we are fairly hungry so we drop a pin on Google Maps and drive off towards it.

Once we came to the estate, we understood that we’ll end the day here as there is so much to see and do here. Although we didn't find a table in Babel restaurant as reservations are a complete must here, they had a farm-to-table style eatery called Greenhouse, which was even more charming. Felt like a picnic under the trees! The taste of everything was just unbelievable, so fresh, so real and perfectly paired with wine. 

A farm like no other.

Babylonstoren is one of the oldest and most beautifully restored Cape Dutch farms in the area, it has more than 300 varieties of plants in the gardens, supplying four of the farm's eateries with fresh ingredients and healing herbs. And of course wine! The wine tasting room sits in between vineyards looking at the mountain, framed in floor-to-ceiling glass walls, with an underground cellar for a better look on how it’s being made. You can taste five wines from the Babylonstoren range, or go fancy with three of their flagship wines.  They also produce olive oil which you can try/purchase as well. 

The 'everything else'.

There’s just something in the air here, the day just flies by effortlessly, and when the sun stops biting you, you realise, you've been wondering around the gardens, vineyards, and barns all day....

If you are looking for full day experience in wine lands, without rushing anywhere - Babylonstoren is the place. They have a small entry fee once you enter the estate, but the wine tasting prices are ridiculously low as is everything else.

Till the next time.

A small cozy wine farm is still on our bucket list for the next time. On our next visit we will go for few days, staying overnight. 

P.S. Pinotage and Chenin Blanc from the area are best sellers and there’s a reason for it. Highly recommended!