This post was written by South African mom blogger, Janine Avery, from Five Star Stories.
Stellenbosch is one of Cape Town’s most popular wine destinations with over 150 wine farms to visit. While most offer the opportunity to sample some of the country’s finest reds, whites, and Cap Classiques, even pairing them a variety of carefully matched food, some farms go above and beyond to ensure that every visitor, or every age, has something they can enjoy.
Thinking of visiting Stellenbosch with kids? Look no further than these six amazing estates who go out of their way to deliver fantastic pairings that even the littlest visitor to the winelands can indulge in.
Located on the outskirts of town, the Neethlingshof staff will go out of their way to accommodate children. Crayons and colouring in pages are delivered while you wait for your tasting. Adults can choose between standard wine tastings or a delicious flash food and wine pairing while the kiddies pairing here consists of a red and white grape juice as well as a chocolate milkshake, paired with a savoury pancake, slider style cheese burger and a cupcake (an absolute winner).
This farm is situated on the top of the Helshoogte pass with beautiful mountain views. Right outside the tasting room is a large jungle gym and sandpit with beautiful green lawns and on a sunny days there are tables outside so you can keep an eye on the kids while enjoying your tasting. The farm offers a variety of food and wine pairings for both adults and kids. Hungry little ones can indulge in a pizza and grape juice pairing while those with a sweet tooth will be in heaven with the pairing of four different flavoured milks and variety of sweets such as kit kats, marshmallow and speckled eggs.
Blaauwklippen is a great place to visit on the weekend with the family, with an array of things to do including browse the market, visit the bike park, or climb on one of the two extensive jungle gyms. The tasting room is situated quite close to one of the jungle gyms and offers a wide variety of sweet and savoury pairings for adults. While you’re sipping your wine your little ones can snack on three mini pizzas paired with an Appletizer.
Skilpadvlei is one of the few places in Stellenbosch, if not the whole of Cape Town, where you will find an indoor kids’ playroom with slide, swing, lego and much more. The play room is part of the restaurant where you’ll also find a large outdoor jungle gym. Unfortunately, the tasting room is a bit removed from the play areas but the kiddies sweet pairing will definitely keep them occupied with red and white grape juice and a flavoured milk paired with chocolate, biltong and popcorn. The cheesecake and wine pairing is also a must do (for adults) while kids also have the option to decorate their own biscuit with different coloured icing and sweet treats.
At Koelenhof the kids tasting consists of four cups of sparkling grape juice paired with four savoury and sweet treats such as Nik Naks, biltong and chocolate. That said, one of the adult pairings is a sorbet and wine extravaganza consisting of six delicious wines and sorbets, the latter of which will no doubt also turn out to be a hit with your little one as they dig their spoon in to your sweet treats. Koelenhof also has a great outdoor kids play area with jungle gym.
Dating back to 1962, Lanzerac is one of the oldest and most respected wine estates in Stellenbosch. But this doesn’t mean that kids are not welcome. One of the tasting options that they offer to adults here is a delicious wine and chocolate pairing, which matches their award-winning wines with handcrafted truffles. In order to ensure kids are not left out, little ones are also provided with their own box of chocolates paired with some sparkling grape juice.
Share your experiences in the comments. We’d like to hear more about your trip to Stellenbosch with kids, and “wine” tasting with your kids in Stellenbosch. Which wine farm did you enjoy the most, and which one was the most kid friendly?
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Also read some other posts from Janine here:
Janine’s Family Trip to Mauritius
I love the place