The Southernmost Wine Routes in Africa

The Southernmost Wine Routes in Africa

The Cape of Storms has unleashed a different kind of storm over the past decade, and this one is not in a teacup but a glass! Pioneer wine growers have worked together to use the environmental extremities of the Agulhas Plain to produce an outstanding range of wines that are taking the world by storm.

They have learnt, by trial and error, how to avoid bottle shock and how to blend grape varieties, flavours and cultivars to create wines that truly capture the essence of the vines growing on the southernmost tip of Africa.

There is something decadently divine about sipping and sampling the wines of the newest and southernmost wine routes in Africa bordering the stormy, windswept Agulhas coastal plains.

Take a leisurely drive along the tarred R43 from the Uilenkraalsmond valley, through Baardskeerdersbos, the quaint missionary village of Elim and further along to Bredasdorp and the southernmost tip of Africa. Cape Agulhas wine route that all offer wine-tasting, sales and tours by appointment, and boast a variety of delicious red, white and rosé wines.  

Few people thought it would be possible to produce wine in this area known for its environmental extremes, a wild, untamed world adjacent to the notorious Cape of Storms. 

The Agulhas Plain is home to one of the richest biodiversities in the world, equivalent to that of a tropical rainforest. Thousands of flora species flourish in this region characterised by outstretched sand plains, wetlands, gravelly bottomlands and extensive limestone and calcareous dunes. Until a few years ago, many of the wineries used to be agricultural or cattle and sheep farms. Even the "new" winegrowers are pleasantly surprised at the amazing success they achieve by experimenting with different blends, cultivars and flavours. The consistently cool, moderate climate and the mineral-rich soil has proven to be perfect for cultivating an exquisitely unique range of wines, especially sauvignon blancs’.

Come explore this wild, versatile world and taste the sublime fruit of the vines nurtured into perfection by nature’s extreme forces. The perpetual cool winds that blow across the plain from the southeast in summer and the northwest in winter encourage the grapes to ripen gradually to healthy, concentrated fruit.