Buitenverwachting sits on Klein Constantia Road, a stone’s throw from the edge of Klein Constantia, where I lived from the age of eight until I was sixteen. As a young athlete I trained on the gravel roads between these estates, past these very vineyards, so for me this is home ground.
The name is Dutch for “beyond expectation”, and it is the easiest place in Constantia to fall in love with. A white Cape Dutch manor among the vines, wide lawns under a great Norfolk pine, peacocks wandering about, and the whole wall of the Constantiaberg rising straight up behind the farm.
It is relaxed and unpretentious. You can taste in the old thatched cellar, take a picnic platter out onto the lawns, have breakfast in the courtyard café, or sit down to one of the finest lunches in the Cape. Whichever you choose, it never feels rushed.
John Sparks
Beyond expectation
Like its neighbours, Buitenverwachting was once part of the great Constantia estate granted to Simon van der Stel, the first governor of the Cape. In 1773 it was sold off as a farm of its own, and it changed hands many times. Its golden age as a wine farm began in 1825, when Ryk Arnoldus Cloete, brother of the famous Hendrik Cloete of Groot Constantia, planted 90,000 vines.
From 1866 the farm belonged to the Louw and Lategan families. The estate still remembers Oom Danie Lategan, who wore a freshly picked camellia in his lapel every day, and his daughter Olivia, who was born here and came back as mistress of the farm when she married George Louw.
By the time the Mueller family bought it, the vineyards had fallen silent for about thirty years. They restored the old buildings and replanted the slopes, and their very first harvest brought in a hundred tonnes of grapes. It was, as the farm’s name had always promised, beyond expectation.
Wine, lawns and very good food
The tasting room
In the original cellar, about 250 years old, with thick whitewashed walls, a thatched roof and rare yellowwood ceilings. Leather couches inside, a terrace outside looking over the lawns and the great Norfolk pine.
The wines
Sauvignon Blanc is the speciality, grown on cool, granite slopes, alongside the much-loved Buiten Blanc and a few Bordeaux-style reds from the sunniest north-facing blocks.
Picnics on the lawns
In summer the lawns open for picnic platters, cheese, charcuterie and fresh bread, with a bottle from the cellar. Bring a blanket, find some shade and stay the afternoon.
Beyond
The restaurant, run by the acclaimed chef Peter Tempelhoff, is all about provenance: rare-breed meats, heirloom vegetables and artisan cheeses from small local growers, with the dining room looking straight out over the vineyards.
Coffee BloC
A relaxed courtyard café under the trees for breakfast or a light lunch, with coffee roasted on the farm and a deli to take treats home from.
The peacocks
They have the run of the place, and they know it.
An afternoon at Buitenverwachting, the way I like it
The tasting
We start in the old cellar, tasting a handful of the wines on the terrace with the mountain in front of us.
Lunch
Then lunch, either a long and memorable one at Beyond or, on a warm day, a picnic platter out on the lawns under the Norfolk pine.
The valley
Afterwards a slow drive through the valley I grew up in, past Klein Constantia and on to Groot Constantia, where the story of Constantia wine began.
Photographs to keep
Twenty-four photographs of Buitenverwachting, the manor, the vineyards, the lawns and the food, to look at large and download.
Open the gallery ↗A picnic on the lawns, a peacock for company, and the Constantiaberg behind it all.
Before you go
Where
Klein Constantia Road, in the Constantia valley, about half an hour from the centre of Cape Town.
When
The tasting room and café are open Monday to Saturday and closed on Sundays. Beyond opens for lunch and dinner on most days and needs booking well ahead. The picnic lawns open in summer, weather permitting.
Bring
A picnic blanket if we are eating on the lawns. Food from outside isn’t allowed, but the platters are generous.
Pairs well with
Groot Constantia next door, Chefs Warehouse at Beau Constantia for sundowners, and a morning on Table Mountain.
Photographs courtesy of Buitenverwachting.