We had by now visited a few wine vineyards across Cape Province – but I really wanted to spend a day on the famous Franschhoek wine tram.

We found the small ticket office in a little square and upon enquiring how we can get involved, we were immediately flummoxed by the question ‘Which colour would you like?‘.  My mind of course was on trying to appear at least a little wine-savvy but this was quickly squandered with my ‘We’d like to try white, rosé and red please‘ only to realise they were talking about tram routes and not the wine.

Post my confusion – we secured our tickets for the following day for a tram leaving at 10:40.  If all went well, we would be returning into town around 18:00.  If not so well, we may be sleeping off a hangover under a Cabernet Franc vine somewhere in the Franschhoek hills.

The tour consisted of a visit by tram and bus to choice of up to five local vineyards on a circular route.  It was up to us which ones we would choose but fortunately Llewellyn, our friendly hotel concierge, just told us which ones to go to and which ones to skip.  Our tour would consist of a wine tasting at each of these beautiful vineyards:

• Noble hill
• Babylonstoren
• Glen Carlou
• Vred en Lust

At Babylonstoren (my favourite of the vineyards in terms of the wine), we stayed an extra hour to give us time for lunch and a cellar tour.  For lunch we chose a deliciously fresh winemaker’s platter that was more than enough for the two of us.

The vineyard of Glen Carlou was very friendly and our hostess Tefleen looked after us very well giving all sorts of insights into tasting tips, the wine making process and even how to make vegan wine!

Some of the vineyards need to be accessed by a rather quaint tram.  It was possibly the slowest tram in the world so we took the opportunity to rest since by now we’d completed three rounds of tasting (each tasting is usually about 5 x 50ml glasses) plus a glass of champagne!

The last vineyard was Vred en Lust (Dutch for Truth and Passion).  This certainly took the prize for the most amazing views and the wine was a good too.

The ride back into Franschhoek was beautiful since by now the sun was getting low and pin hues filled the sky.  Below was the main church in Franschhoek at the time we got back.

Overall, a very lovely day and thoroughly recommended.  And yes, we did order a few crates of wine to be sent home to continue the tasting experience!