Wine growing is found in many areas of South Africa, but the original, original, historic wine country can be found just an hour's drive from Cape Town, around the towns of Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek. 

The first vineyard was established by Jan van Riebeeck shortly after he founded Cape Town in 1652.  With the slow expansion of the Cape settlement, the first farmers discovered that the climate and soil in the valleys and on the slopes of the mountains outside Cape Town, originally called only the Cape patch, were particularly suitable for viticulture.  The Huguenot refugees from France, who were resettled in 1688 in the area now called Franschhoek, then drove this development forward. 

Today, the wine country, with its high mountains and green valleys and its vineyards, which give the area a special splendour of colour in autumn, is a particularly beautiful region in terms of landscape.  On the wineries, as well as in the towns and villages of the wine country, there are many beautiful old buildings that embody the heyday of Cape Dutch architecture.  Many of these wineries, where wine tasting is also possible, are open to visitors every day, but some are closed on Sundays. 

NOTE: Please note that the blood alcohol limit for drivers is 0.24 mg/l in their breath, or 0.5 per mille in their blood and strictly enforced on the roads.