Two ways to play
Games.
Spin the wheel if the car cannot agree on a valley, or on what to look for. Or take the test, if you think you are a true Wine Fly.
Spin the wheel
Where to go, or what to look for if someone is tasting. It is a pick, not a dare. Durbanville, Helderberg, Tulbagh and Walker Bay are still on the valley list when the wheel is not in the mood.
Spin when you are ready.
True Wine Fly?
Eight questions a level. Grapes first, then the roads, then the small print.
The short version
Pinotage is a Cape grape. Abraham Perold crossed Pinot Noir and Cinsaut at Stellenbosch in 1925. Cinsaut was called Hermitage then, and the name Pinotage is those two words pushed together. It is not a Shiraz, and it is not very old by wine standards.
Groot Constantia is the estate people mean when they say the old one. Simon van der Stel was given the land in 1685. Klein Constantia is the neighbour, and the reason to go there is Vin de Constance, the sweet wine that made the valley famous in Europe. They are two stops, not one.
Chenin Blanc is the grape planted on more Cape vineyard than any other, and has been for years. Sauvignon Blanc is the white most visitors can already name. Cabernet and Pinotage matter, but they do not cover as much ground.
MCC on a sparkling bottle means Méthode Cap Classique. The second fermentation happens in the bottle. Champagne is a place in France, so South African bottle-fermented sparkling wine uses its own name. The MCC guide is the longer version, and Robertson is the valley that comes up most often.
Wine of Origin is the line on the label that says where the grapes grew. Wine of Origin Stellenbosch means Stellenbosch grapes. The cellar can sit near the boundary. It does not mean the wine was bottled in Cape Town, and it does not tell you the colour.
Hemel-en-Aarde, above Hermanus, is the valley people drive for Pinot Noir. It is a long day from the city. Elgin is the other cool one, over Sir Lowry's Pass, and it is as much Chardonnay as Pinot. Swartland and Robertson are different days: old-vine Chenin and wheatlands in one, Cap Classique in the other.
Harvest runs from about February to April. Warmer valleys start earlier. Elgin and Hemel-en-Aarde often pick later than Robertson. You may see the cellar actually working, and a tasting room that is short of staff because of it. When to go has the rest of the year.
Wine Fly does not sell wine, and it does not take the booking. The estate does. The vineyard list is the practical page once the questions are finished.