South Africa, February 14-24, 2025

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Come with us to meet South Africa's ambitious, talented winemakers

— In the last twenty years South Africa’s wine industry has gone through a revolution, and today the country is a major producer of quality wines. Thanks to the new generation of winemakers, quality has increased dramatically. There is a lot of new thinking and experimentation, and producers listen closely to what consumers want.

South Africa is also a spectacular country to visit in terms of scenery and landscape, boasting dramatic mountain ranges and rocky shores, indigenous flora and fauna, and of course legendary wildlife safaris. South Africa has its own culinary traditions which are showcased by the top-quality restaurants found here. In short: this is a tour that features outstanding wines, excellent food, breathtaking nature and stunning scenery.

Tour Highlights

11 days, plus travel days
Many winery visits
Gourmet meals
Magnificent landscapes
Expert wine guide
4200 EUR

Franschhoek
Stellenbosch, Paarl
Walker Bay
Swartland, Tulbagh
Hemel en Aarde
Constantia
Cape Town

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The wines of South Africa need little introduction, thanks to the overwhelming success they had at international level after the end of apartheid in the early 1990s. The country opened its doors and wine lovers from around the world were finally able to discover fruity, full-bodied wines made in the regions around Cape Town, and the quality today is excellent. Many of the newer producers are exceptionally ambitious and make wines that can hold their own when tasted alongside other top-quality bottles from the world’s leading wine producers.

South Africa is considered to be part of the New World in terms of wine making, but its viticultural heritage dates back to 1655 when Dutchman Jan Van Riebeek planted the first vines near Cape Town, followed by the Huguenots who arrived from France at the end of the 17th century; the sweet wines from Constantia were already world famous by the 18th century.

There will be plenty of time for sightseeing here. We will visit the Cape of Good Hope and Table Mountain. We will have time to stroll around the towns of Franschhoek and Stellenbosch, as well as the city of Cape Town. You will explore almost all of South Africa’s wine regions, both the famous classics and the younger pioneers pushing the boundaries for top-quality wine in South Africa: Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, Paarl, Swartland, Elgin, Tulbagh and Walker Bay on the south coast. There will be lots of opportunities to enjoy South Africa’s fabulous scenery.

You will enjoy many excellent meals. It is a country with many different gastronomic specialities, the famous braai, of course, but also the Malay cuisine, fresh fish and seafood, and much more. You will experience some of the best of South African cuisine on the tour.

Our hotels are modern and very comfortable; in the centre of Cape Town, ten metres from the sea in Hermanus, a classic colonial-style hotel in Riebeek Kasteel, to mention a few. We travel in a comfortable bus.

The tour is led and managed by one of BKWine’s internationally well-known wine experts and co-founder Britt Karlsson. Voted Wine Personality of the Year, she is also a columnist for Forbes.com and author of more than ten wine books, including The Creation of a Wine (awarded “World’s Best Wine Book for Professionals” by the Gourmand Awards) and “The Wonderful World of Wine” used on many wine courses as study literature. There will also be a local South African guide on the tour to give you even more understanding of the country and the culture.

Programme — South Africa wine tour

Preliminary programme.

Contact BKWine for more details.

There may be changes to some details of the programme, e.g. which wineries we visit. We put great effort into making your visits both exceptional and memorable. For this reason we often visit other than the most obvious, big-name producers (where there are often a number of guides employed). Instead we chose to give you a more unique, personal experience at our carefully selected estates, often (but not always) meeting the owner or the winemaker.

Programme overview

Day – – — Leave home for Cape Town
Day 1 — Arrival, welcome to Cape Town
Day 2 — The Cape Peninsula and the Cape of Good Hope
Day 3 — Elgin, Overberg and Hermanus
Day 4 — Hermanus and Walker Bay on the south coast
Day 5 — Over the mountains to Franschhoek
Day 6 — Franschhoek, the famous valley
Day 7 — Swartland and Tulbagh
Day 8 — Stellenbosch, the capital of wine
Day 9 — Stellenbosch
Day 10 — Stellenbosch and Constantia
Day 11 — Departure from Cape Town
Day – – — Arrival back home

Day – – — Leave home

How you travel to South Africa depends on your starting point. Most long-haul flights are overnight, meaning that you arrive in Cape Town in the morning. You may like to arrive a few days early (we can arrange extra hotel nights for you), but whatever you do, you need to be in Cape Town on the morning that the tour kicks off, ie. Day 1. (NB: See below under “flights” for important information).

Day 1, Friday 14 February — Arrival in Cape Town

Arrival at Cape Town airport in the morning. You will be picked up at the airport. (Perhaps you have chosen to come a day earlier to enjoy Cape Town, we are happy to help with hotel rooms).

Today’s activities start around noon. These will include sightseeing in Cape Town, light lunch, and a visit to the famous Table Mountain. We will take the cable car up to the top of the mountain. From here you have a breathtaking view of the city, the Ocean, and the surrounding landscape. (If the cable car is closed due to strong wind, which sometimes happens, we will do other sightseeing.)

Late in the afternoon we are back at the hotel. In Cape Town, we will stay at The Cape Milner, a charming four-star hotel located in the centre of Cape Town. It is walking distance to the popular streets of Bree Street and Kloof Street with their many shops, restaurants, and bars. We will stay in Cape Town for 2 nights.

There will be time to relax before we meet again later. We will board our bus again and head to Camps Bay to enjoy the so-called sundowners, sunset drinks, and a small, very personal surprise. A perfect way to celebrate the start of our tour. We then continue the evening with a welcome dinner. While drinking some first good South African wines we will get to know each other and the wines.

Day 2, Saturday, February 15 — Day trip to the Cape Peninsula

After breakfast we head towards Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, the south-westernmost part of Africa where according to legend, the Flying Dutchman sank.

It is almost always sunny and very windy here. The entire tip of the peninsula is a nature reserve with the most extraordinary flora and fauna. The natural South African fynbos (scrubland) features more species than almost anywhere else in the world. Amongst the wildlife found here are ostriches, antelopes, springbok and baboon. Be careful of the latter, as they are very curious and may well grab food or other items, given the chance.

We will visit the spectacular Chapman’s Peak Drive, a recently opened road along the coast that clings perilously to the side of the cliffs, taking us along the Atlantic Ocean past Noordhoek. At Cape Point we take the funicular up to the historic lighthouse with a 360-degree view over the area: this is certainly (and literally) one of the high points of the trip, after which we will continue to the Cape of Good Hope.

We have lunch together at a fish restaurant overlooking the sea. Seals can usually be seen on the rocks outside the restaurant.

In the afternoon we are back in Cape Town and we make our way to the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, the old harbour that has been converted into a well-visited area with restaurants, museums, and a variety of shops. Here you can also find MOCAA, Cape Town’s new, spectacular museum of contemporary art. The bus will drop off those who want to spend some time at Waterfront, before it drives back to the hotel. From the Waterfront it is easy to take a taxi (or Uber) back to the hotel.

Day 3, Sunday, February 16 — Elgin, Overberg and Hermanus

Today we start learning about wine. We will check out from our Cape Town hotel and we will head for the south coast. But before we reach the coast we will stop in the region of Elgin.

This area has a relatively cool climate and thus winemakers here have focused on varieties such as riesling, sauvignon blanc, pinot noir and gewürztraminer. Elgin is known for its apples, and is a relatively young wine region. You find some very ambitious producers here, making wines full of character and freshness.

After our morning visit in Elgin we will continue to the neighbouring region of Overberg. Here we will visit a fabulous estate called Gabrielskloof, which has seen many improvements since the wine maker Peter-Alan Finlayson was hired a few years ago

We will have a visit, a tasting and a superb lunch here at Gabrielskloof.

In the afternoon we will make our way down to the south coast of Western Cape and the small town of Hermanus, in the Walker Bay wine region. We will check in at Harbour House Hotel, where we’ll be staying for two nights. Situated in the town centre on the water front, it’s a perfect location to explore the town and has stunning sea views. The evening is free, so enjoy some down time in this pretty little town by the sea.

Day 4, Monday, February 17 — Hermanus and Walker Bay on the South Coast

Today we will visit some interesting wineries in Walker Bay. This is a relatively new wine region whose elegant wines have received much attention in recent years.

Proximity to the ocean means a cool environment for the vines, resulting in quality wines with good acidity and freshness made from grapes such as Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.

Many of the famous names in Walker Bay are situated in the valley known as Hemel-en-Aarde. It is a spectacular setting, between the sea and two impressive mountain ranges, and there are many excellent producers along the Hermanus Wine Route, producing world class pinot noir and Chardonnay. Hamilton Russel, Newton Johnson (both pinot noir pioneers), Creation wines are a few examples. We will do a morning visit here in this beautiful valley.

Near the small town of Stanford we will call in at Springfontein, an estate whose highly creative winemaker is turning out original, thought-provoking wines. Here we will also enjoy a gorgeous multi-course lunch, one of the best in South Africa, with a focus on pairing food and wine. By early evening we will be back in Hermanus, and the evening is free for you to explore the small town and its restaurants.

Day 5, Tuesday, February 18 — Over the mountains to Franschhoek

After breakfast, we pack our bags and leave Hermanus. We are going north, over the mountains, to Franschhoek, driving through spectacular landscapes and stopping along the way to admire the wonderful views.

Franschhoek (the name means the French corner) is where the French Huguenots settled in the 1600s. We will have a winery visit here at a charming, historic estate that dates back to the 17^th century. This spectacular location is a classified historical monument, and its new owners have been working hard for several years to bring new momentum and energy to wines. After a tour of the vineyard and cellar we’ll enjoy an aperitif on the stoep (Afrikaans for porch) of a dazzling white Cape Dutch style building, followed by a delicious lunch of local specialities.

There will be a second visit in the Franschhoek area in the afternoon, giving us the opportunity to focus on organic wine production and the challenges faced by South African growers making wine in this way.

In the late afternoon we will arrive at the small town of Franschhoek itself where we’ll check in at our hotel, Protea Hotel Franschhoek **** . It is situated in the middle of town, and we’ll be staying here for one night. The evening is free so you’ll be able to relax and maybe check out one of the many excellent hotels in the town. Alternatively, our hotel also has a restaurant famous for its meat.

Day 6, Wednesday, February 19 — Franschhoek, the famous valley, onwards to Swartland, over Paarl

Today we will continue to explore Franschhoek, this beautiful valley, with two winery visits and tastings with local producers.

Our morning visit will be at Glenwood Estate, a 30-hectare winery in the attractive Roberstvlei Valley. Not so many visitors come discover this gem. They grow chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, semillon, merlot and shiraz. Since 1986 it is owned by Alastair Wood, and has a high-profile winemaker in the shape of “DP” Burger, who has made the wines famous. We will do a cellar visit and a wine tasting with DP.

We continue north towards the wine region of Paarl, one of the largest in the country. Here we stop for lunch at a vineyard before continuing towards Swartland, a region located approximately 75 kilometres north of Franschhoek.

Swartland is not really a new region but has been in the shadow of the more famous ones for some time. In recent years, it has received much – well deserved – attention for its wines, full of character and personality. Summer here is very hot and dry but with cool nights so they preserve the fresh acidity in the wines.

Once we arrive in Swartland, we check in at the historic Royal Hotel Riebeek Kasteel. The hotel is in the small town of Riebeek Kasteel. It is a legendary hotel, famous, among other things, for being the oldest hotel in the Western Cape and for having the longest stoep (veranda or porch) south of the Limpopo, where presidents have enjoyed sitting in the shade. You have the evening free to explore the town which has several restaurants. Our hotel also has a restaurant and, not least, a bar that is over 150 years old and that serves a very good gin and tonic. Compulsory! We will stay here for 2 nights. The evening is free.

Day 7, Thursday, February 20 — Swartland and Tulbagh

After breakfast we board the bus to continue exploring the Swartland and the neighbouring region of Tulbagh, considered by many to be South Africa’s most exciting wine regions today.

The winegrowers here have a preference for grapes from the south of France, such as grenache, carignan, syrah and cinsault. You don’t see many Bordeaux grapes here.

We will start the day in Tulbagh. Here we will meet a very talented and passionate winemaker named Wynand Grobler who now runs the beautifully situated Tulbagh Mountain Winery. We got to know Wynand when he worked as winemaker for Rickety Bridge in Franschhoek. Now, he has launched out on his own up here in the warm north. In Tulbagh he makes some very interesting wines.

We will stay in the neighbourhood for our lunch at the Rijk’s Winery, a beautiful farm with a restaurant that serves traditional South African cuisine often inspired by the Cape Malay cuisine.

We go back to Swartland for our afternoon visit to a small grower who, among other things, makes an exciting chenin blanc with skin contact. We will taste his interesting range of chenin, pinotage, clairette, carignan and syrah.

In the late afternoon we are back at the hotel and the evening is free to explore the charming village of Riebeek Kasteel at your leisure or enjoy the hotel pool.

Day 8, Friday, February 21 — Stellenbosch, the capital of wine

We check out from the hotel in Swartland in the morning. After breakfast our tour will continue to Stellenbosch, the wine capital of South Africa.

Stellenbosch is home to many famous estates. An attractive, lively university town, it has a fascinating history.

We will visit some top estates in Stellenbosch today. One of the visits will be an organic pioneer in Simonsberg and we will learn about the specific issues in the vineyards that a wine grower in South Africa has to deal with. The visit ends with a tasting of some delicious wines, some made from very old bush vines.

For lunch we will go to a winery-restaurant with a beautiful setting high above the Stellenbosch vineyards. The view is fantastic and we will have a delicious meal with some exciting wines.

In the afternoon, we will check in at our hotel in Stellenbosch, River Manor Boutique Hotel, which is centrally located, within walking distance of restaurants, shops and bars. Our hotel is centrally located and within walking distance of restaurants, shops and bars. This is good news, as Stellenbosch and its pristine white Cape Dutch architecture certainly warrants exploring. We will stay in Stellenbosch for two nights.

The evening is at your leisure.

Day 9, Saturday, February 22 — Stellenbosch

We continue to explore Stellenbosch today. It is South Africa’s largest wine region and many top properties are located here.

In the morning, we will visit a Kaapzicht, a winery that makes fantastic wines from syrah, cabernet sauvignon, chenin blanc and a few other grapes. The farm is run by the fourth generation and today Danie Steytler and his wife Carin are at the helm. We also take the opportunity to take a closer look at the vineyard and some really old chenin blanc bush vines.

We have lunch at Kunjani Wines, which in addition to having good wines and a superb restaurant also has an exciting and beautiful architecture. The winery is owned by Paul and Pia Watermeyer, he is German, she is South African.

Our afternoon visit will be at Oldenburg Vineyards, a winery located in a magnificent valley, Banghoek, surrounded by mountains and vineyards. Until 2003, all grapes were sold to the cooperative. But the new owners changed Oldenburg by planting quality grapes and keeping yields low. The wines are superb, full of flavours with concentrated fruit. The young winemaker is very ambitious.

Late afternoon we return to the hotel and the rest of the afternoon and evening are free to explore Stellenbosch.

Day 10, Sunday, February 23 — Stellenbosch and Constantia

After breakfast, we check out from our hotel. We will continue to explore beautiful Stellenbosch in the morning and later in the day to Constantia.

We will familiarise ourselves with some of the sub-regions such as Banghoek, Devon Valley, Jonkershoek Valley, Papegaaiberg, Polkadraai Hills and Simonsberg, each of which has its own specific terroir.

Our morning visit is to a winery considered to be one of South Africa’s pinotage specialists. A cross between pinot noir and the southern French grape cinsault, pinotage can make wonderfully fruity and spicy wines. It was created almost 100 years ago here in South Africa and is the country’s emblematic grape.

From here we will continue to the eastern part of Stellenbosch, to a winery in the picturesque Jonkershoek Valley. This is a small family estate with 40 hectares of vines, where cabernet sauvignon and syrah are the two most prolific varieties. The winemaking is inspired by Burgundian methods, with fermentation in open tanks and manual punch down of the skins.

Lunch will be taken at the winery restaurant, surrounded by mountains, with a range of wines to be tasted with the carefully prepared dishes,

After lunch it is time to leave Stellenbosch. We will spend our last night in the wine region of Constantia which is quite close to Cape Town. It is South Africa’s oldest wine region and today includes around ten different estates. Here we find for example Groot Constantia and Klein Constantia. We will stay at the stylish Steenberg which, in addition to being a small boutique hotel, also is a well-known winery that was founded back in 1682.

The proximity to the cool Ocean means that white grape varieties thrive. Their sauvignon blanc wines (a Constantia speciality) are among the country’s best. Also, excellent red wines from i.e. cabernet sauvignon, syrah, malbec and nebbiolo (!). On arrival, we will do a wine tasting down in the cellar.

This is our last evening and it is soon time to say goodbye. We do that with a dinner in Tryn Restaurant on the Steenberg Estate.

Day 11, Monday, February 24 — End of the wine tour

The tours ends with breakfast. Transfer to the airport in Cape Town to catch your return flight home. If you are going straight home, i.e. not staying on for some extra days in South Africa, you will probably be catching one of the overnight flights that will get you home in the morning the following day. We will have two transfers to the airport, one in the early morning, and another in the afternoon for travellers leaving in the evening.

If you would like to extend your stay for a few days, let us know. We can help you organise extra hotel nights.

Day – – — Arrival home

You arrive back home.

Go For It!

We’d love to have you with us.

Add-on option: safari

To go on a safari in South Africa is a special experience. On this tour we will visit the nature reserve at Cape Point, but a safari is not part of this programme. If you want to combine this tour with a safari, we offer a safari add-on (see details below).

If you want to extend your trip with some other activity, please contact us and we will assist you with that too.

More info

We have written a lot about South Africa and about wine touring in the region, what to do and what to expect.

Read more about travelling in the South Africa wine regions on our wine travel blog:
- South Africa behind the scenes through detective novels and thrillers
- “A total success, what more could one wish for?”, said those who travelled on a wine tour in South Africa with BKWine
- An introduction to the wines and wine regions of South Africa
- Interviews with winemakers, reportage from wine regions, in South Africa
- Wine, lashes, elephants and MCC in the Cape Winelands
- Pouring over the edge in the Franschhoek vineyards
You can also find more information on BKWine Magazine on the wines from South Africa, our online wine magazine, for example:
Our YouTube videos on South Africa.

Travel pictures

We have made two photo galleries with pictures from previous trips to South Africa to give you a better feel for what you will experience on this exceptional trip.

The pictures were all taken by BKWine on previous editions of this fabulous tour to the tip of the African continent.

Wine books

We have written more than ten wine books. They have won both national and international wine writing awards.

No other wine tour organiser has a comparable knowledge, competence and experience.

Tour Details — Wine tour of South Africa

Dates: February 14-24, 2025

Price per person: 4200 euro

Single room supplement: 890 euro

Included in the price:

10 nights in four-star and five-star hotels, double occupancy, including breakfast
- 2 nights in Cape Town, 2 nights in Hermanus, 1 night in Franschhoek, 2 nights in Swartland, 2 nights in Stellenbosch and 1 night in Constantia
Meals as described in the programme (*) :
- 10 gourmet multi-course lunches with regional specialities at wineries or in restaurants, all including wines
- 2 gourmet, multi-course dinners, all including wines
- Early evening sunset aperitif
Start and end point: Cape Town
Bus transport during the whole trip
All vineyard and winery visits, 2-3 per day, as per the programme
Private, top-quality tastings at wineries
Day trips, as described in the programme
Local English-speaking guide
Wine guiding and wine tutoring by expert BKWine guides: Britt Karlsson and Per Karlsson, founders of BKWine
Porterage at hotel check-in and check-out
Transfer from the airport on the day of arrival and to the airport on the day of departure

(*) See below for more important information on our meals.

Not included:

Travel (flights etc) to the destination and back, from your home location.

You are responsible for organising and your travel to Cape Town yourself.

If you would like assistance organising your flight tickets etc, please contact us.

We recommend taking a few extra days to prolong your vacation in this wonderful destination. We can assist you with booking additional hotel nights if you want.

For this trip to take place we must have a minimum of 14 participants registered by the “book before” date. Maximum number of travel guests: 22.

Guide

Wine guides: Britt Karlsson and Per Karlsson, founders of BKWine

Britt is co-founder of BKWine Tours, named World’s Top Wine Tours by Travel+Leisure Magazines. She is the author of The Creation of a Wine (voted World’s Best Wine Book for Professionals in the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards as well as Best Wine Book of the Year in Sweden in 2010). In 2012 she published Wine and the Environment (voted Best Wine Book for Professionals in Sweden and second place winner in the World’s Best Educational Wine Book awards in 2013). In 2011 she was also chosen as Wine Personality of the Year by Munskankarna and has been named one of the five most influential wine writers in Sweden.

This wine tour is organised in collaboration with a local travel operator in South Africa. To ensure the best possible organisation and a unique experience it is important to have excellent local knowledge, and in South Africa it is also a legal requirement to have a South African licensed guide on a tour. Hence there will be two guides, each expert in his/her field of South African tourism and wine respectively. Our local guide will be able to tell us about the sites we will visit but also about the culture, history and traditions of the country.

Flights

We have chosen not to include the cost of flights in this tour. Here’s why.

Our clients come from many different countries and continents. By booking your own flights, you have maximum flexibility when choosing how and when to travel.

In many cases it is cheaper to buy flight tickets as an individual than as a tour operator (and we are a small and very specialised tour operator). We have chosen to put all our effort into creating an exceptional tour programme while keeping the costs reasonable, rather than including a flight booking service and then having to cut corners on the tour programme. We believe that this give you much better value for your money.

We will do everything possible to make it easy for you to arrange your travel, and we can put you in touch with one of our travel agent partners if you would like assistance. Please contact us if you have any questions regarding your flight arrangements.

Booking your flight to South Africa

We suggest that you book a flight that arrives in the morning of Day 1 (or earlier). Depending on your home location, this is likely to be an overnight flight. On Day 1 we will all meet for lunch, and this is the start of the programme. If you choose to arrive earlier, we can help to arrange additional hotel nights at our hotel.

Special cancellation conditions

Please note that special cancellation conditions apply for this wine tour.

Cancellation of your booking can be made according to the following:

More than 60 days before the beginning of the trip: the Traveller pays a fee equivalent to the Booking Fee.
46 to 60 days before the beginning of the trip: the Traveller pays a fee equivalent to 75% of the total price.
45 days or less before the beginning of the trip: the Traveller pays the full fee.

Safari: a possible post-trip extension

If you would like to extend your trip to South Africa with a few days of safari, please contact us. We can offer a safari add-on extension in the magnificent (and malaria-free) Pilanesberg Game Reserve north-west of Johannisberg. It is common (though, of course, not guaranteed) to see all of The Big Five: elephant, lion, rhinoceros, buffalo and leopard. If you are interested in this option, let us know when you book the wine tour and we will get back to you with more details.

Travel photos from the safari

Curious to know what it looks like and what you will see?

Under the heading “More info” above you can find several links to pages with photography from our previous safaris that have followed-on to the wine tour. It is a wonderful experience.

Book This Trip

Book before: ~~15 October 2024~~ No more bookings Take a look at our other fabulous tours. Or join us on the 2026 tour!

Booking is confirmed by paying the booking fee of 800 EUR. Full payment should be received at the latest 60 days before the departure date (see our terms and conditions). Details on how to pay will be sent to you when you register.

It is important that you read our travel booking terms and conditions.

We also invite you to read more on why you should travel with BKWine, about customer protection, and about what you can expect from our wine tours in the section below “More on our wine tours”.

You book by contacting Britt Karlsson, BKWine:

phone: +33 1 58 88 04 66 or +33 6 80 45 35 70 (+33 is the country code for France)
Skype: “bkwine”. Call us on skype.
email: info@bkwine.com, or use the contact form below

“I want to book this tour” or “I want more info”

* = required

Important: We automatically send you a copy of this email when you submit it. If you have not received it within a few minutes: 1) check your spam folder, 2) consider resending it, you might have misspelled your email address. Or simply send us a normal email using our address noted just above.

Share this tour programme with your friends

Maybe your friends want to come with you on this wine tour? Let them know about the programme and ask if they’d like to join you. Share the info on social networks or send an email to your friends:

More on our wine tours

Why travel with BKWine?

We are Britt and Per Karlsson. We are specialists in wine and food tours and wine tourism, but also experts in wine in general. We are internationally published wine writers and have written ten award-winning wine books.

No other tour operator has a comparable knowledge and experience of wine, wine regions, wine tourism and gourmet travel.

We have organised hundreds of wine and food tours, and this is what we love to do. We take it very seriously – it is not a sideline or a hobby – and what we want more than anything is to share all these wonderful experiences with you.

All our tours are led and managed by guides who have in-depth wine knowledge, and in many cases we lead the tours ourselves.

Thousands of happy customers

Over the years, thousands of wine lovers have travelled with us. Many come back to tour again and again with BKWine to new wine regions. Our record-breaking client has been on more than ten BKWine tours. We are happy and proud to have such faithful customers.

Awards and Mentions

We’re pleased and proud to have received many accolades, including:

“World’s Top Wine Tours”, Travel+Leisure Magazine, the world’s biggest travel magazine
“Best wine tasting holidays”, AOL Travel’s list of top wine tours
“Recommended Wine Tours”, Munskänkarna, the world’s biggest wine appreciation association
“World’s Best Wine Book for Professionals” as well as “Best Wine Book of the Year”, Gourmand International awards, and many other book prizes
Three OIV book awards, International Organisation of Vine and Wine
“Wine Personality of the Year”, an honour bestowed on Britt Karlsson by Munskänkarna in 2011, the world’s biggest wine appreciation association
Inclusion on the Wine Media Power List, by Wine Business International magazine

About the wine producers and wineries we visit

Our aim is for you to experience some of the very best and most interesting aspects of the wine world, in terms of wine and food.

We put great effort into creating outstanding winery visits, and in this way we are quite different to many wine tour organisers. It is not always the most renowned, internationally known estates that offer the best experiences. Organising a wine tour featuring famous names of the wine world is relatively easy: it is merely a question of making lists and ticking boxes. On those kind of “bucket list” wine tours, you rarely meet the winemaker or the owner. You will simply be one of thousands of visitors they receive each year.

We do things differently. With BKWine Tours, you will meet the people behind the label, often the winemakers and/or the owners. Thanks to them, you will have a unique, truly personal experience and an insight into the wine world that no one else can offer. When you travel with BKWine, you are more like a special guest than a tourist.

We have personal connections and unparalleled knowledge thanks to more than 20 years as wine journalists, with 10 wine books published, and as wine tour organisers with more than 30 years’ experience. You can be sure of getting the best wine travel experiences with BKWine Tours.

A true gourmet experience: food and gastronomy

For us, wine and food are intimately linked, and this is a fundamental part of our wine travel philosophy. For this reason, a wine tour with BKWine is always an outstanding culinary experience both for the wine enthusiast and for the gourmet. A BKWine tour is a gastronomic voyage that explores the deep relationship between food and wine.

Customer Protection, Financial Travel Guarantee, and Terms and Conditions

You can always feel safe when you book your tour with BKWine. BKWine has a bonded bank guarantee that gives full protection according to EU and Swedish law. BKWine is a Swedish limited company and as such is regulated by strict rules.

When you book a tour it is important that you read the terms and conditions. BKWine’s booking terms and conditions follow the guidelines developed by the Consumer Protection Agency.

Health, vaccination and allergies

Our tours have no particular health requirements although inevitably we will be walking a certain amount in wine cellars and vineyards. Sensible footwear is a must.

Most of our travel destinations have no particular health guidelines or requirements for vaccinations or medical certificates, but if in doubt, you should always consult a medical professional, vaccination centre or relevant embassy in your country of origin.

We can always accommodate food allergies. However, in order for us to manage such requests you must let us know about any allergies before the tour starts.

Read more in our FAQ and in our Terms and Conditions.

Travel insurance

BKWine does not sell travel insurance. If you want travel insurance, check if your regular home insurance policy includes some kind of travel insurance, or contact your regular insurance company or a travel insurance specialist.

Custom Tours

We also offer custom wine and food tours if you want to travel on different dates, or if you want something different to what we currently offer on our scheduled tours. This tailor-made service can be offered for individuals, companies, professionals, wine tastings clubs etc.

Important information

Our groups are always small. The number of people in the group may vary. The maximum can range from 8 to around 20; check the details in each programme. But our groups are always modest in size. This is important because it guarantees a quality experience and a personal welcome at the wineries we visit.

Read the BKWine Booking Terms and Conditions here. They are important to you!

You are expected to organise your travel independently to the destination for most of our tours, but once you are at the location, we take care of everything.

For more inspiration

Read our wine travel blog. For more, read our online wine magazine the BKWine Magazine with articles from all over the wine world.

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Subscribe to our free wine and travel newsletter, the BKWine Brief. Each month, it gives you news from the world of wine, restaurant recommendations, tips on our favourite wine producers and much more. It will also keep you updated on forthcoming wine and food tours.

Filed under : Cape Town, Constantia, Franschhoek, Hermanus, Paarl, safari, South Africa, Stellenbosch, Walker Bay

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