Month's of preparation had lead to this moment. As the SAA flight glided down over Table bay we could see the cloud laden flat top of Table mountain through the orange glow of the setting sun. It was picturesque, just what one would see in a travel brochure.

With South Africa 's recent political past it has been cut off from the rest of the world but with free elections in the 90's a new era of black rule was ushered in. With it came the lift of embargos and new trade poured in. The rugby world cup came to town, tourism boomed and wine began to flow.

My wife and I are a bit partial to history, and myself to birdwatching and wine and with all three combined in one place what more could we ask for. Sidewalk café's along the Victoria & Alfred waterfront pour a steady stream of coffee, tea and wine to go along with exotic foods like Eland and Springbok, both antelopes and one the emblem of the national rugby team. The V & A waterfront commemorates Queen Victoria and her son Prince Alfred, who tipped the first foundations stones into the sea for the new harbor in 1860. For the shopaholic in us there are countless shop's selling all kinds of tourist memorabilia, books, clothes and the sports shop's have all the latest rugby jerseys, which as a rugby fan was great and I stocked up one my favorite teams.

There is loads of history here too all the way back to the Dutch settlers who established the colony in the 1650's. Afrikaans is a Dutch derived language that is one of eleven official languages and is spoken all over. Cape Dutch architecture can be seen in all the outlaying valleys and is a part of many of the wineries you can see. The famous whitewashed buildings and their thatched roofs shine amongst the green fertile valleys. The cooking, especially the famous Boerwors, spicy sausage made from local game, has a lot of local influence from the Cape Dutch settlers who spread east to settle South Africa. Then there is the story of apartheid at many of the museums where you can see how the system was enforced and it's great failings. Nelson Mandela spent many years in a jail on, Robben Island , a small island off the coast. From Cape Town you can take a ferry to the island and see the conditions he lived in and what forged him into the peace loving and tolerant man he is today. Culture is everywhere and in the markets one can find locally produced goods from indigenous artists, paintings, woodcarvings, fabrics and much more.

Once outside of the city you end up surrounded by sprawling mountains and desert scrub known as Fynbos. This is part of the Cape Floral Kingdom , plants grow here that grow no where else on this earth. Battered by cold winds from the Antarctic and hot winds from the north, out of the many deserts that ring the cape, the foliage, like the first settlers, is hardy and determined, clinging to rock and sand through the worst conditions but issuing forth the most amazing and beautiful flowers.

Major highways crawl into the interior and lead you through the cape winelands . Almost everywhere you drive you will see sign's for wineries and tastings. Even the smallest valley will have a small winery and some vines clinging desperately to a sandy slope eking out a living from the harsh environment. It is hot and dry with temps up in the triple digits. Once you escape the cape floral kingdom you are in the Karoo desert to the north. Here succulent plants hold all the water in this rain devoid vastness. Baking sun beats off of sand and granite, unforgiving but amazingly beautiful especially when it does rain and all the flowers bloom in a yellow carpet.

This is what makes the cape so unique. So many clashes of culture not only in people but also in environment. We passed great winery names on the roads of the cape, Boschendal, KWV, La Motte, we couldn't stop at all of them and I wanted to escape the commercialism that many lie under in the west and kept heading east till we got to the Robertson Valley. Here a large cooperative of 43 farms grow grapes to make wine for South Africa 's fourth largest winery, Robertson. The winery is big by most standards but compared to the industrial like refineries of Napa this was small. Francois Weich showed us around the facility and we walked among it's many tanks and fermenters. Noticing that all was meticulously clean and modern but still small enough to get to each tank to monitor progress. Francois is keen about his wines and wants to make sure that what is produced is a fair reflection of the grapes and the valley.

Their wines range from inexpensive to the high twenties for their limited 30 barrel production Shiraz . All are skillfully made and show the great character of the soils in this part of the world. Most South Africans drink white wines and judging by the temperatures one can see why. Only 40% of the wineries production is red wine and most of that is for export.

We took a drive with viticulturalist Briaan Stipp up onto on the peaks that overlook the hilly valley and he pointed out the main source of water, the Breede River , if not for this thin band of water snaking through the valley the place would be devoid of agriculture. It is easy to see the course of the river in this brown valley by the band of green trees lining its bank. The one thing I noticed up here was the wind, a constant warm, desiccating force bringing hot air to the valley. High above the sun beat down reflecting of the light colored surface here.

The one factor that summed it up for me was when Briaan pointed out that the local vegetation grew on the west facing slopes of the hills as the east facing slopes that get the sun in the morning and right through to the afternoon are too hot to grow on. A nice tip when you are planting a vineyard.

We left Briaan and headed west through the quaint town of Robertson to another local winery called Bon Cap. I wanted to see how organic grapes are grown. Here Michelle du Preez guided us through her collection of vineyards showing us what was different about the soils, how they a rich in fertility without the added fertilizers and sprays. Her motto is if you maintain a healthy vine you make healthy grapes. Michelle is full of energy and passion about her grapes and wines. To tour the vineyards she picked up a truck, called a “Bakkie” locally, and sped us on a whirlwind tour of the vineyards. Every now and then she would pull up to one of the farm workers and a brief conversation in Afrikaans would spill out and instructions would be relayed. She controls everything on the farm and wants it done right. But they also give back to the community by building a library and a crèche for the workers children. They built eight houses for the families who live and work on the farm too. She is a stickler for quality without stressing the land. She will only produce what will make the best wines and no more, regardless of the pressure from the market to make more. Though she is not a fan of the “Organic” label she feels it is more a way of life here and not a trend that will come to pass.

Michelle's wines are fantastic by the way. Very expressive and well made. New winemaker Marinus will have some work to do to keep up the reputation of this winery. She is also a fantastic chef and the local restaurant caters to weddings in the beautiful surroundings of her families vineyards which are tended by her husband, Roelf, who is a passionate seventh generation farmer. He loves his vines and you can often find him, as I did, out in the vineyards on his dirt bike patrolling the vines and seeing how they are doing. Also a patron of organic vineyard practices he maintains quality by green harvesting, cutting excess grapes before they ripen allowing more energy and concentration into the remaining grapes. Much to the chagrin of his father, who at one time sold all his grapes to wineries felt that more grapes equals more money. You have to sacrifice for quality along the way and Roelf stands by this and you can taste it in the wines. One of the great words he taught me was “Lekker” pronounced Lek-errr, you have to roll the R's to get it right. This is like the South African equivalent of awesome, their wine is “Lekker”.

When we were driving around the Cape birdwatching we came across the small town of Tulbagh . This quaint little town is lined with small whitewashed buildings and thatched roofs and the local farmers mill about on the quiet streets. Very peaceful and picturesque. We were glad to come back here to visit another small winery called Tulbagh Mountain Vineyard. Their ratings recently have really put them on the map and their style of wine is very much southern Rhone . I wanted to see what all the hype was about.

One could be forgiven for passing right by the winery on the way to Tulbagh. A small brown sign say “TMV 5 km?” hung near a tall Eucalyptus pointing towards a huge escarpment in the distance.The little dirt road that led to the winery took us towards the rugged, granite mountains that are the majestic backdrop to the winery. Callie Loew was in the cellar working when we arrived and he came up to meet us. He is a young man but passionate about sustainable farming practices. He showed us around the vineyards and the techniques he uses to maintain the sustainability of the place. Hay is put down around the vines to keep the weeds down. The only problem with this is that the local Chakma Baboons pull all the hay aside to look underneath for food. They also eat the grapes when they are ripe. He says they also have some problems with Steinbok and Grey Rhebuck, ( deer like antelopes) from time to time eating the shoots and the neighbors cattle come and eat the leaves off of the vines if your not careful. Though this is a small price to pay to keep the place environmentally sound. He has also placed several owl boxes in the trees surrounding the vineyards to attract these night hunters to catch the hundreds of mice that infest the place. Also tall metal poles with a “T” bar on top attract the local Jackal Buzzards which catch the rodents during daylight hours. All signs of a healthy environment.

The next thing Callie showed me was his worm farm. He takes pride in this. Under a blue tarp is a mound of pure black dirt, worm excreta, which is very pure and rich in nutrients. On top is a layer of fruits and vegetables that are rotting nicely and feeding the worms. Callie collects the black dirt making sure his worms are not in the soil then mixes it up with the pure mountain water running through the property and spreads it our over the vines to fertilize them with natural nutrients.

We ate dinner with him and hi lovely wife, Marie, on their back porch with a glass of wine and watched the sun settle in the distance. The orange glow illuminated the cliff face before us with a fantastic luminescence and at night over dinner we could hear the owls calling as the moon rose like a light bulb over the huge cliff face before us. Proof that the rodent control was being kept natural and in balance too.

From Tulbagh we drove south west towards the home of the winelands, Paarl and Stellenbosch. Here there is a small, stunningly beautiful valley which was the settling place of the first French Huguenots back in the 1680's. The local Dutch called it the French corner, Franschhoek. Today the village is surrounded by famous wineries and at the foot of the valley one of it's most famous, Boschendal. We had come here though to see something a bit smaller, Cape Chamonix . The winery was established in 1991 but the vineyards and orchards have been producing fruit for ages.

A young man by the name of Gottfreid Mocke met us at the tasting room. Judging by his shorts and T-shirt you wouldn't think this man was of great stature here but his laidback attitude belies his winemaker of the year skills. He showed us around the small winery beaming with enthusiasm, talking about the processes and innovations he uses to make some fantastic wines. Open top fermenters, steel tanks and sealed fermentation barrels were all perused. We visited the wine library with vintages dated back to the first wines produced on the farm.

We dipped into barrels of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, which Gottfreid is passionate about. He spent time in Burgundy and Germany honing his skills. We also tasted a wine yet to be made which will be sold for the benefit of the farm workers. Gottfreid will sell off the wine and use the funds to send kids to school, buy books, build better classrooms and so on.

We also spent some time admiring the rows of sparkling wine that he works on, making the base wine, the second fermentation in the bottle and the riddling and degorging is all done by hand by Gottfreid. Very labor intensive but you know you are getting a quality product at the end.

We drove up to the top of the vineyards, a steep 1000ft climb, which reminded me not to volunteer to pick grapes at the harvest here. Overlooking one of the five dams that provide water for the farm the whole valley was spread out before us. The sight was stunning. Row up on row of vineyards and trees cascaded down the slopes from the barren granite above, all fed by water that trickles out of the mountains.

These slopes are what aids in making his Chardonnay and Pinot Noir so good. The water doesn't sit in the soil and all the vines get good sunlight. It doesn't stop there though, his Sauvignon Blancs are ripe and clean and pure fruited too. There is some Cabernet grown here too and he makes a fantastic Bordeaux blend from it.

The one overriding factor we took away from our visit was the hospitality of the local people. All proudly South African and happy to show it. Pride in their wines and country are evident and it is easy to see why when you taste such fantastic wines in such majestic and beautiful settings with such history and amazingly good food. This is a place not to be missed on your travels.