Family Friendly Trips

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A Family Friendly Wine Tour

Who says you can’t mix kids and wine tasting, AND have a fun day out for the whole family? Well, me usually. I’ve had a couple of failed attempts at taking Samantha on wine tours before and generally she can cope with one wine tasting before boredom sets in and she starts complaining – not the ideal environment for Mum to enjoy a few wines and relax. But with the South African Winelands on my doorstep and literally hundreds of wineries begging to be sampled, I owed it to myself and wine loving parents everywhere to see if this is indeed possible.

I enlisted the help of Pieter Geldenhuys of PG Tops Tours to design me a family friendly wine tour and he definitely came up with the goods. Equally passionate about wine and his corner of the world, Pieter is happy to customise tours to suit his clients and will even modify things on the day to ensure his guests have the best possible time.

For us he selected the Stellenbosch area to visit and narrowed our stops down to four specially chosen wineries that he was sure we would both enjoy.

Our first stop was Spier Estate- the Disneyworld of wineries with every bell and whistle you could think of. This alone, is a great family destination, with plenty to keep the kids amused while Mum & Dad kick back and indulge. Featuring a hotel and conference centre, plus no less than 4 restaurants there is definitely something for all tastes here. There is also a deli where you can create your own picnic, then enjoy it out by the pond. As well as a playground for the kids to play in there is The Cheetah Outreach programme and the Birds of Prey Centre, all within the Spier Estate so there is no shortage of things to see and do to keep the small people entertained. The chance to pat a cheetah makes for an amazing holiday memory for the grownups, too!

Stellenbosch itself is also worth a look around. It is largely a university town, but has also been very careful to maintain its historical heritage. The buildings here reflect over three centuries of occupation including Dutch, Georgian and Victorian architecture. A myriad of museums and places of interest are found along the oak-lined streets. Be sure to pop into Oom Samie se Winkel on Dorp Street. This is a famous old shop set up as an original farmers shop would have looked a few hundred years ago, but still functioning today.

With breakfast well settled, I’m ready to taste some wines so our next stop is Middelvlei Estate. Pieter has chosen this one for our hitlist because it is very much a family owned and operated winery, where children are welcome and part of the place. The three siblings of the Die Momberg family run Middelvlei and the extended family portraits throughout the tasting room are testament to just how “family” oriented this operation is. I relished the luxury of relaxing in front of a blazing open fire and tried a selection of their award-winning wines, while Samantha ran around and played outside, taking great delight in the resident wallabies, turtles and ducks. They also do cellar tours here and we’re heading back on the weekend to try out their weekly Boerebraai. (family bbq).

Pieter eventually dragged me away from the fireplace before I cosied up for the entire afternoon, as we had more treats in store. Muratie Estate was his next selection – a very old winery steeped in interesting history. Dating back to 1699, Muratie retains its centuries old oaks and the original homestead, a romantic love story lingers and even the cobwebs remain untouched. The farm is authentic and beautiful and resists any temptation to become over commercialised. An unexpected highlight of our visit was the opportunity to have our wine host, David, who just happens to be a concert pianist, play the piano for us. What a perfect accompaniment to the wines – sometimes it does pay to have a pesky child in tow, who won’t take no for an answer!

With or without the kids, four or five wineries is probably optimal for a great day out. We opted to make our last stop for the day at Fairview Estate. Officially this is more in the Paarl wine region than the Stellenbosch Route but they are all so close it really doesn’t matter. Fairview is another well oiled machine – set up to cater for visitors en mass. They have goats here and make cheese, so you can combine your wine tasting with a cheese tasting as well. They also have a great restaurant, making this a perfect lunch spot, especially if you like the long, lingering variety. We could have easily whiled away another couple of hours here, and I’m told the food is consistently fantastic. Always good to know!

By the time we headed home at the end of the day, I was ready for a Nanna nap. (I’m always a bit useless when it comes to drinking wine in the middle of the day!) But what a fantastic day we’d had and Samantha didn’t complain once. We had managed to take in 4 different wineries and had sampled a variety of old versus new, family run versus commercial machines. We’d found the best wineries for kids and some great restaurants, enjoying stunning scenery in between. There’s no way I could have done this armed with only a brochure of the wineries of the area.

Big ‘ups’ to Pieter for matching our needs and getting it so right. As he says, he likes to give his clients a sample of his life. He takes people to the places that are special and meaningful to him – its real, it’s authentic and his guests appreciate it. Pieter runs all manner of tours out of Cape Town, all completely customised and flexible, operating on a philosophy of “the answer’s yes, what’s the question?”

To contact Pieter:

Pieter Geldenhuys
PG Tops Travel & Tours
Email: bookings@pgtops.com
Tel: +27 (0)21 461 4497

You can also visit:
Middelvlei Estate
www.middelvlei.co.za

Spier Estate
www.spier.co.za

Muratie Estate
www.muratie.co.za

© Jacqui Thomas, 2011

Check out more of Jacqui’s adventures at www.roundtheworldadventure.com

If there’s a place, trip or experience you’d like Jacqui to cover please email Jacqui@jacquithomas.com