Purple Haze – Franschhoek and wine country!

As with my last visit to Cape Town airport, the experience was very positive. I breezed through immigration, picked up my bags and collected my hire car. I was soon driving east from the city. First the road passed some sprawling shanty towns, with houses made from corrugated iron. But soon these gave way to some impressive mountain scenery.

My destination was Franschhoek, a small town in the heart of South Africa’s wine country. The town is one of the country’s oldest, and was founded in 1688 by Huguenots refugees who fled France when the protestant religion was banned there. The new settlers brought vines with them, and started to make wine. Many of today’s vineyards have French names, though the town’s own name is Afrikaans – meaning “French corner”.

I found my accommodation without difficulty. The owner recommended me a few wineries to visit out of the dozens located around the area, and the next day I set off to explore them. First was a trip to Chamonix vineyard to buy some white wine. Like many of the other places I was to visit today, the setting was amazing, with the vines stretching away to the base of imposing mountains.

After that, I took the very touristy option of trying Franschhoek’s famous wine tram. Many of the local vineyards have got together to offer visitors many different wine routes, with transportation by tram or by bus. The system is a little complicated, and I had to read the instructions a few times before understanding. The most popular route is the Orange one, where buses leave every thirty minutes, and where it is theoretically possible to do tastings in twelve vineyards.

I chose the more sedate Purple Route*, whose buses depart every hour and where you can visit a maximum of six wineries if you start early (I did not) and move on every hour (again, I did not). First on the route was “La Bri”, which offered a rather nice wine and chocolate tasting.  

After an hour, the bus arrived to take me to Holden Manz – where I tried a range of white and red wines on a sunny terrace surrounded by mountains. I loved the setting, and since my tasting included six wines, I ended up staying there for two hours. I ordered some lunch, in an attempt to soak up some of the alcohol.

From there, I took the tram to Rickety Bridge vineyard, where I tasted some sparkling wines. I was beginning to feel like a rickety bridge myself!

I had time to visit one more vineyard for a tasting but told myself that this would be a little too much, especially since I had booked an excellent restaurant for dinner. So instead, I headed home for a bear nap to sleep off some of the alcohol. On the way I walked through the town, which had very pretty architecture and where every second building seemed to be a restaurant, coffee house or art gallery. I mused that the galleries must do good business from those who slightly overindulge in their tastings.

I spent a happy couple of hours napping by the pool of my flat…

……before heading off for dinner at “le Coin Francais”, one of South Africa’s best restaurants, for a gourmet meal………and another bottle of wine of course. My host had explained, with some pride, that it was possible to walk safely at night in Franschhoek – which was just as well after a day in which I had probably drunk more wine in 12 hours than ever before in my life.

*Actually my tram route was the Blue Route. I think. My memory is strangely fuzzy. Purple Haze made a good title for the post though.