South Africa’s Hidden Gems on the Helderberg Wine Route

QUICK VIEW:
An excursion to South Africa’s Helderberg Wine Estates should include stops at the Lourensford and Waterkloof Estates. Both Estates feature impressive facilities, great views, and excellent wines.

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The South African wine industry is very well-developed by global standards. The country's wines hold their own in international competition and in the marketplace. South Africa has over 100,000 hectares under vine!

Most of the major wine estates are located in the favorable climates of the Western Cape.

A visit to the Western Cape without a wine estate experience would be like touring Los Angeles and not taking an excursion to Hollywood Boulevard.

The Western Cape is blessed with an abundance of wine routes. Unfortunately, a survey of regional wine routes can be quite confusing for most tourists.

Wine route definitions and classifications are not consistent across the web. As a result, many of the smaller estates tend to get lost in this shuffle.The Helderberg Wine Route is one of the smaller wine routes that doesn't get the attention it deserves.

Before we take a closer look at the Helderberg Wine Route, let's get familiar with an overview of the wine routes scattered across the Western Cape.

In order to better understand our touring options, we put together a comprehensive listing of all the significant wine routes in the Western Cape.

The listing shows the distance from Cape Town and the size of each wine route.

That's an impressive 375+ wine estates, just in the Western Cape!

The Stellenbosch Wine Route is by far the most established and most popular wine estate destination for tourists to the Western Cape. Stellenbosch was the first wine route to be organized in South Africa, starting back in 1971.

Stellenbosch, Constantia, Franschhoek, and Helderberg have the oldest estates. Some of these estates date back to Governor Simon van der Stel's early establishment of vineyards in 1685. Understandably, a lot of Western Cape history revolves around wine culture.

On this particular trip across South Africa, we had decided to set up our home base in Gordon's Bay--about 33 miles/55 km from Cape Town. Our location in Gordon's Bay was fairly close to the Stellenbosch, Elgin, and Helderberg wine routes, with Helderberg being the closest.

On previous South Africa visits, we had focused on the Stellenbosch Wine route. We were determined to explore the wine routes less traveled this time.

Our goal was to find diamonds in the rough on the Helderberg Wine Route. What a good choice! 'An overwhelming success!

Planning our Helderberg Wine Route itinerary, we wanted to visit both a larger estate and one of the newer boutique properties. The Lourensford and Waterkloof Wine Estates were perfect for our criteria.

The Lourensford Wine Estate was originally part of the larger Vergelegen Estate.

Governor Simon van der Stel started developing the area in 1709. In those days, the farms were used for grazing sheep and growing fruit and vegetables.

Van der Stel had a great affinity for vineyards, given his experience at the Groot Constantia Estate in Cape Town. Slowly, but surely, he began the process of developing the first vineyards in the area. As they say, the rest is history.

The Lourensford Estate is situated on approximately 4,000 hectares. Much of this land is located on the slopes of the Helderberg Mountain. For most of its history, the estate has been known for their extensive fruit orchards and for cultivating Protea flowers. 

Lourensford made a serious commitment to wine-making starting in 2000. Facilities for a state-of-the-art winery were completed in 2002. Today, Lourensford cultivates at least nine different types of grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, merlot, shiraz, pinot noir, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, durif, semillon, and viognier.

The long driveway to the main complex was beautifully laid out, with colorful flowers lining the avenue for as far as we could see. Arriving at the main complex, there was no doubt this was a very well-established estate. The complex was framed by several pristine white-washed Cape Dutch buildings that surrounded a perfectly manicured central garden.

Lourensford Estate is known for its family-friendly venues and tasteful garden sculptures. We wanted to throughly explore the grounds, and walking the gardens was definitely one of the highlights for us. As we strolled down the garden paths, we were delighted around every corner with life size statues, or larger than life unique and eclectic art pieces. 

We also enjoyed our tour of the Art Curator Gallery and the Karlo & Guy Antique Store. The gallery had an impressive collection of contemporary African art. The antique store displayed French furniture from 18th and 19th Centuries.

We weren't surprised to find a world-class spa in the complex.

The Lourensford Spa offers an array of beauty treatments, including signature massages and body wraps. Lourensford also has a Life Retreat Studio where they conduct a series of yoga classes: kundalini, restorative yoga, meditation, and yoga sculpt. The setting is  conducive to working on mind-body-spirit endeavors!

As we crossed the gardens, we entered the Lourensford Market area, open only on weekends. Since we were there on a weekday, we could only view the infrastructure. The Market is a big draw for locals and tourists, with over 70 permanent vendor stalls, an artisan brewery (ABRU), and a concert stage for live music.

After our extensive tour of the grounds, we made our way back to the Tasting Room in the main building. Lourensford offered a number of wine tasting packages.

The Premium Wine Tasting (featuring four wines from their Limited Release Range) ($6); Belgian Chocolate Pairing ($9); and Wedgewood Nougat Pairing ($9) packages were most popular. 

Interestingly, they also offer a fascinating Barrel Room Tasting session that requires groups of at least eight participants. The tasting is conducted in the barrel maturation cellar.

The experience is especially recommended for corporate clients and team-building exercises. Participants are given the opportunity to taste Lourensford's more select boutique wines during this demonstration.

The Lourensford Estate excursion was such a treat. The beautiful setting on the lower slopes of Helderberg Mountain, the artfully landscaped gardens, and the living history of the estate, provided a diverse mix of elements for a comprehensive wine country experience.

Our next wine estate would have a decidedly different feel. As mentioned earlier, we also wanted to see one of the newer boutique wine estates on the Helderberg Wine Route.

An informal survey of locals almost unanimously suggested that we visit the Waterkloof Wine Estate in Somerset West. 

It would be hard to compare Lourensford and Waterkloof on most measures, as they are both special in their own categories. By their nature, boutique wine estates are quite small and tend to be more specialized.

The Waterkloof Wine Estate has two outstanding factors in its favor--an award winning view of False Bay, and a complex back-story.

The word "intentional" comes to mind as we look back on our Waterkloof experience. Everything at the Waterkloof Wine Estate is intentionally part of the experience.

These choices have their genesis in Paul Boutinot's original search for the perfect vineyard location, the perfect cultivation methods, the perfect grapes, the perfect wine-making process, the perfect view, and the perfect showcase.

When Mr. Boutinot started his search for the perfect location in 1993, most of the obvious vineyard locations were already taken or much too expensive. He was looking for a venue that could sustain naturally balanced grapes capable of producing wines "with a defining sense of origin." 

It took Boutinot ten years to find that perfect location on the southern slopes of Schapenberg (Sheep Mountain). Schapenberg lay between Helderberg Mountain and the Hottentots Holland range of mountains.

The first Waterkloof wines were finally bottled in 2005, but that was just the beginning! Over the next three years, the Boutinot team carefully analyzed the soil and began their search for just the right vine rootstock that would yield a balanced grape. They even researched trellis systems!

Cultivation methods were also important to the Boutinot experiment. The Waterkloof Wine Estate was converted into a "fully-fledged organic farm, with integrated biological farming" in 2008. Almost half of the estate was set aside to protect the local flora and fauna. 

Organic farming meant using ecological pest control techniques and biological fertilizers. Biological farming would mean working with nature to produce a balanced eco-system that wouldn't need excessive pesticides.

They also chose to use horses and oxen for tilling and maintaining the land instead of tractors and other machinery.  For all these efforts, Waterkloof was awarded Champion Status by the World Wildlife Fund's Biodiversity & Wine Initiative in 2008!

The Boutinot team was also very intentional when it came to making the wine. Boutinot did not believe in overly-interventionist wine-making techniques.

Their mantra became "honest wines, with minimal intervention and maximum care." This meant they would use wild yeast ferments and no acid additions, a genuine natural approach to wine-making.

All they needed now was a place to showcase their wines that would match the Waterkloof mission and philosophy. The Boutinot team hired a world-class Australian architecture firm to capture the Waterkloof spirit.

Waterkloof won the prestigious Great Wine Capitals Best of Wine Tourism Award for Architecture and Landscapes two years in a row in 2012 & 2012.

The architecture is so unexpected as you drive up Schapenberg Hill and enter the parking lot. The iconic design presents itself in dramatic style. The inspiring building is engineered to mimic an ultra-modern arts center, which Waterkloof calls the "Cellar in the Sky."

As we walked up to the giant oak entrance doors, we were greeted by a life-size metallic tree sculpture, inspired by the neighboring countryside.

The interior was spaciously laid out for maximum luxury. A large fire pit surrounded by a massive seating area sat in front of the bar and outside the wine making room. Tasteful works of art add to this beautiful ambience. 

Then, there's the view ... the view ... the view! Somehow, all of that glass created a magnification effect that focused and accentuated our attention to the surrounding area everywhere we looked. 

We headed out to the upper balconies and outdoor decks to get an even closer view of False Bay ... what a spectacular panorama!

We had assembled family for this Waterkloof experience, and the ladies were there for some serous wine tasting!

Once ready, we were ushered into what Waterkloof calls the "Glass Box." Our group was seated in a spot with breathtaking views, framed by False Bay on one side and the vineyards on the other. The "Glass Box" is designed for just such unobstructed views.

Waterkloof offers a premium wine tasting package for $8 that includes glasses of six of their best premium wines, chosen from the Waterkloof, Circumstance, Seriously Cool, and Circle of Life collections. Just be warned, they do not skimp on the pouring! 

Participants can also order their signature Waterkloof Platter for $15, which serves 2 to 4 people. We were impressed with the composition of the platter. Here are some of the more interesting delicacies:

Let's just say we enjoyed ourselves ... a little too much! We couldn't recommend the Waterkloof Wine Estate experience more highly. It's a must-do experience if you are within driving distance of Somerset West.

The Boutinot team has succeeded in realizing and exceeding their vision.

Our picks of Lourensford and Waterkloof satisfied our dream of getting an authentic taste (or sip!) of wine estates on the Helderberg Wine Route, and proved to be the ideal choices for our itinerary.

Up Next:  Best Itinerary for South Africa’s Elgin Valley and Caledon