The Swartland and Riebeek Kasteel

North of Cape Town the mountains fall back and the country opens into wheat: long rolling fields, new green or pale gold depending on the month, with the Kasteelberg standing up out of them. This is the Swartland, named, the story goes, for the renosterbos that turns its hills dark. It is farming country first and wine country second, and it has become the place many of the Cape’s younger winemakers come to work with old vines.

The first stop is Allesverloren, below the mountain outside Riebeek West, a farm that has been in the valley for three centuries. The name means everything lost: the story is that the family came home from a long journey to church to find the place burnt. It is known above all for its reds and its port-style wine, and a morning tasting here is a serious start.

Then Riebeek Kasteel, a small town under the mountain with a white church at its centre and a couple of hours to spend however you like. Artists and potters came out from the city and opened studios and galleries in the old cottages, and there are delis, olive shops and antiques between them. The Royal Hotel, which calls itself the oldest hotel in South Africa, has a long stoep made for a cold drink.

Lunch is in the village. Then Kloovenburg, on the slopes just outside town, where the tasting is olive oil as well as wine: bread, a row of oils from peppery to mild, and olives from the farm’s own trees. The wines come off the same slopes and are poured alongside, so you taste the hill two ways.

The road home runs through Malmesbury, the Swartland’s market town, among grain silos, with long views back to the mountain. You are in Cape Town for the evening with a boot that almost certainly has olive oil in it. In spring, pair it with the West Coast flowers, in the same corner of the Cape.

Good to know

• Private and on request. We confirm the estates’ days and hours for your date.
• There is real driving each way. Start rested and let the driver do the work.
• Tastings are small pours. Leaving them is fine, and the olive oil needs no excuse.
• Summer is hot inland. A hat and water for the village.
• Olive oil travels well in a suitcase if it is wrapped. Buy it at the source.