Wine Tasting in Stellenbosch? Use the Vine Hopper!

Stellenbosch is Cape Town’s twin, a nearby town filled with rich history and exquisitely beautiful wine farms. Producing some of South Africa’s most loved wines, it’s expansive and impressive. It can also be daunting.

The scale of the town, the number of wine farms, the fast moving traffic on the R44 highway, the 31 miles distance from Cape Town (read: it feels too far to Uber as a local) – it has always felt busy during a time I was aiming to unwind.

With the added challenge of trying to avoid drinking and driving (while the main activity for the day is, um, drinking) – is also quite the challenge!

Vine Hopper to the Rescue!

Last winter I was introduced to the Vine Hopper and it’s honestly quelled so many of my concerns. For full disclosure – we were staying in Stellenbosch at the Mont Angelis cottages, on the outskirts of Stellenbosch, so the concern of getting back to Cape Town was removed. The goal to visit many wine farms and keep safe, very much remained.

The Vine Hopper – by Adventure Shop (a member of Cape Country Routes), is a hop-on hop-off shuttle that collects guests from centrally located hotels (or their HQ) and provides safe transport on specified routes around the Stellenbosch winelands. This way, guests can easily enjoy their day out, while staying safe and not have to worry about drinking and driving.

The drivers are also local guides who provide interesting tit bits along the road, adding an extra element of informative storytelling to the service. Vine Hopper has various vehicles, with predetermined routes each day. Each ride costs R450 per person and can be booked online through Adventure Shop.

5 Things To Know About the Vine Hopper

1. There are 3 routes in total, with selected routes available on alternate days – either prioritise the day or the route.
2. Not all stops are compulsory – stay seated on the shuttle and go to the next stop to skip a venue.
3. The earlier you start in the day, the more wine venues you will be able to visit.
4. Wine tastings are not included. You can select the tasting you’d prefer at each location.
5. You can leave your wine purchases on the shuttle, the driver will keep them safely.

Watch Out For: We entered Landbousaal, 1 Noordwal-Wes Rd, Stellenbosch and it took us about a block away. This meant the morning started by having to call Adventure Shop and running up the road like mad women to grab the shuttle on time – which we missed. It may assist you to use iThemba CraftArt Gallery on Google Maps to find the exact location.

Exploring the Northern Line

On our particular visit, we chose the Northern line. My intention was to visit 3 estates we hadn’t visited before. That included Simonsig, Lievland and Remshoogte.

• Lievland was my favourite for the day. It had the “Old Cape Town” feeling, reminiscent when things were less busy.
• Remshoogte includes a game paddock so you can view zebras and springboks, while tasting.
• Simonsig is the Cape’s oldest Cap Classique (our version of champagne).

I’ll be updating this blog post with a few feature of each of these locations in due course. All of them are lovely, you can’t go wrong with any of them.

Prefer to Watch? Check out our Vlog:

The Vine Hopper tours start from 8:45am during the week, 9:00am on Saturdays and Sundays. We hope you have a lovely time on the Vine Hopper! Their contact e-mail address is in**@**************co.za, should you require further information. If you’ve visited already – I’d love to know which farm was your favourite – and why? DM us on Instagram or pop a comment down below. Cheers!