Paarl Wine Route

Paarl takes its name from the great granite domes above the town, which a seventeenth-century traveller saw shining after rain and called the pearl. The Berg River valley below them is warmer than Stellenbosch and lower, and the wines reflect it - shiraz, cabernet, and chenin blanc that has been grown here for generations, with cooler pockets on the Simonsberg side. Paarl was for most of the twentieth century the administrative centre of the South African wine industry, headquarters of the KWV cooperative whose cellar complex includes the Cathedral Cellar with its enormous carved vats, still open for tours and tastings. The town itself has the longest main street of any in the country, running some ten kilometres, lined with Cape Dutch, Victorian and Georgian buildings. Paarl Rock and the mountain reserve above it carry walking trails and are worth a morning.

What you actually see

• The granite domes - the rock that named the town, above the valley.
• A warmer valley - shiraz and cabernet on the Berg River floor, chenin throughout.
• The KWV cellars - the Cathedral Cellar with its carved vats, open for tours.
• The long main street - roughly ten kilometres of Cape Dutch and Victorian frontage.

When to go

February to April for harvest; spring for the mountain. Two days.

Honest expectations

Summers in the valley are very hot. Paarl is less picturesque than Franschhoek and parts of the main street are run-down. Drink-driving enforcement is strict. Some estates require booking for tastings.

Nearby

Franschhoek is south-east; Stellenbosch is south.