March 2025

At the beginning of March, Berto had to fly to Cape Town for a few days for work purposes. He probably suspected that I was missing Cape Town (and our friends) because a few days before he was due to leave, he had surprised me with a ticket to travel with him to South Africa’s Mother City.

It was a whirlwind visit – we didn’t even unpack our clothes from our suitcase before we had to fly back to East London again. But it was just long enough to have that all important ‘braai’ with our friends and to spend a day visiting two beautiful wine farms with one of our long-time friends.

About 25 years ago, Riana worked with me at an export company in Cape Town. We soon became close friends, and she often did house sitting for our dogs when Berto and I were on one of our many road trips. In the meantime, she got married (her husband is now also part of our circle of friends), and they have become parents to two beautiful girls. Riana started working in the wine industry since 2007 and nowadays she has her own company that markets and sells some of the best wines to restaurants and hotels.

Riana and me at a work function in the early 2000s

So, it was a big treat when Riana took me to two beautiful wine farms in the Stellenbosch area – wine farms that I had not visited before. Today we are going to show you the first farm we visited and where the two of us enjoyed a delicious breakfast with stunning views. And in next week’s post we are going to do a wine and chocolate pairing at another wine farm.

The Jonkershoek Valley just outside Stellenbosch is one of the most beautiful areas and surrounded by the majestic Jonkershoek Mountains. Stark-Condé Wines is located in this valley and is truly picturesque.

Jonkershoek Mountains as seen from Stark-Condé Wines

In the middle of a big pond is a building where wine tastings take place. However, it was still a tad early in the day for that and Riana and I walked over to their restaurant Postcard Café which is located right next to the pond for a late breakfast.

Pond at Stark-Condé Wines

There are tables inside and outside at Postcard Café and since it was such a lovely summers day, we chose to enjoy our breakfast outside under the sun umbrellas.

Inside seating area at Postcard Café

Breakfast under sun umbrellas

While we were surrounded by the high Jonkershoek Mountains and the beauty of Stark-Condé Wines, Riana and I had time to catch up on each other’s lives.

The view from our breakfast table

Quite satisfied with our tasty cappuccinos, we looked at the breakfast options. We giggled at the Namibian oysters that were at the very top of the breakfast menu – this might have been a bit daring on an empty stomach!

Creamy cappuccino

I was very happy to see trout on the menu and chose that with scrambled eggs and crème fraîche. Riana was clearly not as hungry as I was, and was quite modest in her choice of a home-baked scone along with jam, butter and cream.

Our breakfast plates

Breakfast was delicious and we finished it off with glasses of fresh juice. After a lot more talking, we decided it was time to drive to the next wine farm.

Last glimpse over the pond and Jonkershoek Valley

And although I didn’t taste Stark-Condé’s wine, I couldn’t resist posing for a photo on the bridge on the way to the wine tasting building in the middle of the pond.

No wine tasting this time – but halfway there

On the way back to the parking area, we passed a lovely smaller pond that was covered in water lilies. It really is a picturesque wine farm.

Water lilies

There are so many beautiful wine farms in the Stellenbosch area, but if you’re looking for tranquillity, look no further than Stark-Condé Wines. And apparently their hand-crafted Cabernet Sauvignon are the best.

The beauty of Stark-Condé Wines

In our next post, we’ll mix chocolate and wine – yes, it was as good as it sounds! To read about this wonderful experience, click here.