Stellenbosch is family country for me, and when guests come to the Winelands, Lanzerac is where I like them to sleep.
The farm was granted in 1692, only a few years after Stellenbosch itself was founded, and it has been making wine ever since. The white-gabled Manor House sits under old oaks in the Jonkershoek Valley, with the vineyards running right up to the mountains behind it. It is one of the loveliest places in the Cape to wake up.
It is also where South Africa's own grape first found its way into a bottle. In 1959 the estate bottled the world's first commercial Pinotage, and the cellar still makes it today. Every stay includes a cellar tour and a tasting of the estate's wines, so you leave knowing exactly what you have been drinking with dinner.
John Sparks
Harvest time in the Winelands
On The Cape in February, Lanzerac is our night in Stellenbosch, and we arrive right in the middle of the harvest. The air smells of grapes, the cellar is at its busiest, and the long summer evenings are made for sitting out under the oaks.
Rooms among the vines
Fifty-four rooms in four kinds, each one different, with antiques, good art and a private patio over the vineyards or the gardens.
Classic and Luxury rooms
Quiet and generous
Comfortable, beautifully furnished rooms with king or twin beds and their own patio.
Junior Suites
More room to unwind
A sitting area, a deep bath and a little more space for a slow morning.
The Suites
For a celebration
The estate's grandest rooms, with space to spread out and the mountains at the window.
The Manor Kitchen, the Taphuis and the cellar
Dinner in the Manor Kitchen, something simpler in the old Taphuis, a nightcap in the Craven Lounge, and wine and chocolate pairings in the Tasting Room. The cellar tour and tasting are part of your stay.
The Lanzerac Spa
A spa among the vineyards, with a heated indoor pool, Rasul chambers, a steam room and sauna, all open to guests, and treatments to book if you would like them.
More photographs, to look through
Thirty photographs of the estate, the rooms, the cellar and the table. View them large and download any you like.
Open the gallery ↗Wake under the oaks, with the mountains at the end of the vines.
Before you go
Where
Lanzerac Road, at the head of the Jonkershoek Valley, a few minutes from the centre of Stellenbosch and about forty-five minutes from Cape Town.
Included in your stay
Breakfast, the minibar, a cellar tour and tasting of the estate's wines, the spa's pool and heat rooms, and a shuttle into town.
In February
It is harvest time. The days are warm and long, so bring something light, a hat, and a jacket for the evenings under the mountains.
Families
Children are welcome, and nine rooms interleave for families travelling together.
Pairs well with
A day in Franschhoek, the wine farms of the Helderberg, and the whales and fynbos of Walker Bay.