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Winelands revisited

Roaming visitors this season in the Franschhoek area can count on having an interesting time at three wine estates where there's more to sample than just the Sauvignon Blanc. The historic wine farm Solms Delta is a unique experience.

Bought derelict five years ago by Mark Solms, an international neuroscientist who's a sixth generation South Africa, it's been turned back into a wine farm, in which the workers have 50% profit share, and can see their ancestors history in the fascinating Museum van de Caap, a chronicle of the valleys past inhabitants that includes a list of slaves who started arriving here in 1690. After checking out the remains of a Stone Age settlement, and 17th century colonial dwelling, you can have a really nice picnic on the grass in a woodland glade beside a babbling brook For R 90 per person, our included spinach roulade, smoked snoek pate, gammon, chicken kebabs, Camembert, koeksisters and green fig preserve. Not included in the price is the estates Lekkerwijn - the only four-star rose in Platter. Open Monday to Sunday from 09:00 to 18:00; http://www.solms-delta.co.za.

At Colmant Cellars, a small estate, a kilometer from the Huguenot Memorial on what was the original La Motte farm, Belgian immigrant Jean-Philippe Colmant is doing something equally unusual for South African winemakers. He's focusing on bubbly. Both local and imported.

His own Cap Classique had its maiden vintage last year, made with the help of bubbly boff Pieter Ferreira and French Champagne-maker Nicolas Follet in a state-of-the-art cellar you can visit. Plus, he's importing a range of French Champagnes in containers, leaving out the middle man, so the prices are surprisingly attractive, mostly well under R200 a bottle. You can taste as well as buy. He delivers anywhere in South Africa, no extra charge. Open Friday 10:00 to 18:00, Saturday 10:00 to 13:00; http://www.colmant.co.za.

Don't get the wrong impression about Vrede en Lust. It means Peace and Pleasure, an apt description for this gracious 300-year-old Simondium wine farm whose magnificent thatched Manor house under the oaks has become a luxury guesthouse. It's also ideal for wedding parties.

For daytime visitors, the treat after the free tasting of wines from the new cellar is the light-meal menu and deli selection at Cotage Fromage. As the name suggests, cheese is a major player at this landmark cottage, even at breakfast. You can taste a selection on variously priced cheeseboards. Or you can deliciously pig out on dishes like deep-fried Gorgonzola, served with a mixed berry and balsamic sauce and biltong. Or even oven-baked Camembert layered with creamy-cheese, Gorgonzola, preserved orange rolls and pecan nuts Monday to Sunday, 10:00 to 16:00; http://www.vnl.co.za.

The beauty of Cape Town is that just outside the city doors there is a world so vast and so diverse in which to indulge your senses and to let go of your year's stress. Do it. And enjoy.