Boschendal

The perfect place if you want to relax and enjoy the wine. The tasting is done in an informal manner, but Wallace, the wine advisor, is quite knowledgeable about his product. One can just ask and all the answers will be given. I always get good service from them.

The red wines are exceptional and I will always go back there!!!

Take a number. Now serving. Ka-ching. Next please.

Nice good service. Order your wines get it and tast it in your own time. Cheese platter for 2 for R60. what a bargain. Very nice bubbly.

So i came back here for another visit….. this time the other side of the establishment, the tasting being very informal, i picked my 5 wines, it was brought to me and thats….. so thats upsetting, i want to know what Shiraz or what chardonnay is in my glass please! yes we are students….. but a wine student as well…. i think i deserve a bit more, after all it’s my future i’m tasting in the glass!
so a bit of a happy note, the setting is beautiful and open… great for a sunny day and family to picnic.

[...] past weekend market my third visit to Boschendal Wine Estate. My first visit to the estate was a complete nightmare and if it wasn’t for Synergy Live, it would have been my last visit to the place. The [...]

Good experience, but you feel like you are part of a conveyor belt – just getting the numbers through. Tourist trap comes to mind. Waited for the wines to suck, but they are actually quite good. No information on the farm passed on AT ALL. So fail in that regard. If you have nothing better to do, it makes an ok stop. If you have some place to be… avoid.

the blanc de noir is a winner sub for red wine in the summer

Go for the view and setting NOT the service or the wine. They are resting on their laurels.

I finally visited Boschendal on a Saturday afternoon just after 1pm. What a beautiful setting! Big trees, historical buildings and surrounded by magical mountains.

Unfortunately the same can not be said of the service. After standing around for a while a guy called Wallace approached us and said that we must first pay for our tasting inside. When we got there the lady explained the different options and said that we can pay when we are done with the tasting. We did not have trouble finding a table under the trees cause we were the only visitors there. Walace gave us the price-list and said we must pick what we want to taste. After 5 minutes and I walked over to the outside counter to find out of we must fetch the wines we want to taste from there. A lady took my list and said she’ll bring it over.

There were 6 staff members on duty and I realised that the service is probably so slow due to the amount of chit-chatting that’s happening between the them. When the lady eventually arrived with our wine she placed it infront of us and walked away without saying a word. I stopped her and asked if she can tell us a bit more about this historical estate. She rolled her eyes and said: “it was established in 1685. It use to belong to Anglo American and was recently auctioned off to the Douglas Green group” She left.

We started of our “only the lonely” tasting with the Sauvignon Blanc 2009. It was not bad but a bit pricey at R60 a bottle if you look at the quality. The Chardonnay was not bad either at the same price. When we got to the 2003 Shiraz we realised that it was oxcidated. I called the lady over, she smelled it and said: “no, this is what it should smell like” We disagreed and she took the glasses to Walace who then immediately came over to our table to apologize. He explained that they know about the oxidated bottle but forgot to throw it away. They lady obviously pored our wine from the wrong bottle. Walace appears to be the only staff member that knows what his doing.

We never finished our tasting, paid for it and left.

Boschendal spends a lot of money on marketing themselves as THE wine estate to visit in South Africa. It’s a big disappointment if you expect the best and receive the worst. Tourist will think that if this is the best South Africa has to offer, imagine how bad the rest must be. They give the winelands a bad name. Boschendal is definitely below average compared to other wine estates in South Africa and I will not recommend it to anyone after my bad experience. I feel embarrassed! It’s a pity that such a pretty estate are being made an arse of due to the lack of service, staff training and passion.

Die ou dame speel gasvrou vir talle geleenthede, insluitend die Argus-bergfietsresies elke jaar. Elegante geboue onder die eike, en wyne om daarby te pas.

Nice setting with a nice variety of wines but unfortunatley none that really stood out for me. Host was slighlty disinterested

Blanc de Noir is always a consistent from Boschendal – a true representation of what wine estates of the old cape vintage used to be!! A very relaxing departure from the city life!

My favourite wine estate is Boschendal. It has a breathtaking view of the mountains and the old buildings add to the amazing ambiance.
If one estate must represent SA wine I would say Boschendal is your best bet.
The wine tasting is great and the restaurant serves amazing dishes and the history and beauty is amazing.
The wine is also fantastic.

A lovely Vineyard in a great setting!! with a good collection of wines for all occasions! there Blanc De Noirs are one of the best around! we always make sure we’ve got some at home!

Boschendal Wine Estate is most probably the be ultimate wine experience in the Western Cape.The farm dates back to 1685 when the first French Huguenots started making wine here. The farm offers informal wine tastings under the most beautiful old oak tree infront of the Taphuis. Conducted wine tastings are also available. The cellar tour took us through an amazing white whine cellar, where all the massive tanks are suspended to the roof. The red wine cellar is amazing. The vineyard tour took us through 300 hectares of vineyards high up in the Simonsberg. The views of the Franschhoek valley are breathtaking.
Cultural heritage at its best: the Manor House is one of the best examples of the Cape Dutch architecture.
We will however, remember the genuine friendliness of all the staff forever.