Stereotypes are defined as “an idea of a particular type of person or thing that has become fixed through being widely held”.

Well, two wine routes are challenging the stereotypes that the media and consumers have about their products. It is “widely held” or commonly believed that Franschhoek is not a great place to produce red wine and that Wellington is too hot to produce wines of any great significance.

One of the attributes of South Africa which boggles the brains of visitors is the sheer geographical diversity of the country’s wine growing areas. Within 50 to 100km of Cape Town there are markedly different soil types, slopes, climatic conditions and rainfalls.

Over the years people have fallen into the trap of thinking that Wellington is hot. Make no mistake, Wellington IS hot. Summer frequently sees the mercury heading north of 40 degrees… but there are numerous little pockets where it is distinctly cool. This place, which used to be a ward of Paarl and which has now been granted independent district status (and thus equal footing with Paarl) is looking to improve its image and the appreciation of the quality it can produce. It’ll soon start defining a range of different wards within its own district. Let’s face it, Linton Park or Mischa’s experience of the growing season will be vastly different from either Hildenbrand or Doolhof.

Just last week Wellington Wine Route held its inaugural Quest for the Best. The highlights were that Chenin Blanc and white blends show great promise, as does Pinotage – but that’s hardly a surprise since Wellington is the home of ‘coffee Pinotage’! It’s exciting to see this area realising its potential. The ‘green shoots’ are there: whereas 15 years ago there were a handful of wineries now it’s easy to reel off a host of names – Schalk Burger wines, Linton Park, Doolhof, Nabygelegen, Bosman Family vineyards, Diemersfontein, Mont du Toit, Bovlei, Dunstone, Hildenbrand…. and the list goes on.

A day later, Vignerons de Franschhoek conducted a tasting of 16 wines for a few members of the media – 10 whites, five reds and the rather idiosyncratic grappa-fortified “non-Port” from Solms-Delta. The stereotype that winemakers of the Franschhoek valley have had to overcome is not only quality related, but that they can make good red wines from their own fruit, not just bought in grapes. There’s a delicious irony in the fact that Boekenhoutskloof Syrah is probably Franschhoek’s most critically acclaimed red wine – and the reason for its success is the fact that the fruit was originally from Wellington!

It was a delight to taste wines such as Chamonix’s Pinot Noir which is superb (as is the farm’s Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc Reserve), La Bri Shiraz/Viognier and a host of others. Also interesting to see that La Motte is garnering a huge amount of public interest with the opening of its new restaurant – and with its Pierneef red wines.

Both Franschhoek and Wellington are under 100km from Cape Town making it a comfortable drive taking less than an hour of travel, and both offer exciting and unique wines for enthusiasts to explore.

Seasonal madness is upon us. No, it’s not the festive season but rather the competition season. It seems that everyone in the winelands is scurrying about bottling and delivering wine samples to competition organisers or sitting on judging panels themselves.

By my count the last few weeks has seen the Platter Guide Five Star tasting taking place, the Young Wine Show, Michelangelo, South African Airways’ onboard selection, WINE magazine’s Best Value Guide judging and the Absa Top Ten Pinotage selection. Then there was the Cape Winemakers Guild Auction public tasting in Cape Town, followed by RMB Winex and right now The Mercury Wine Week is on in Durban.

In terms of results, Flagstone’s Semillon was announced as the winner of the coveted General Smuts Trophy for top honours at the Young Wine Show.  None of the other events have announced results just yet. And the Platter Guide has departed from its usual form this year because there is no Five Star tasting in London. Usually that’s been a catalyst to revealing which of the 150 or so wines put forward for the Guide’s ultimate rating have made it. This year the results will be kept under wraps until Platter’s is printed and launched in November. Already there are some antsy winemakers out there…

There’s something so primal about the rock formations of the Cederberg. What was supposed to be a two hour walking trail turned into a three hour plus amble through the fynbos. But that’s the nice thing about long weekends away, your time is flexible. It just meant that lunch was a little bit later… Keeping a group of us entertained at virtually every turn was not only the unbelievable diversity of fynbos on display but the change in rock formations and also the rock art.

We found spots where it looked as though the rocks had melted, others where the faces had been scoured as smooth as glass by the prevailing winds and just a few metres away it was weathered into the most amazingly craggy, jagged and contorted shapes. There were still more showing distinct fault lines and areas of dip and scarp slopes. We marvelled at the impossibly precarious balancing act of piles of stones and rock, weighing tons – which had been there for thousands of years and would remain so for thousands more.

Driving back to Cape Town with snow-covered peaks on one side and rock faces running with water on the other was a special privilege. Seeing the Cederberg, usually quite dry, soaking up the sustenance was amazing. Even more impressive was to see vines not just surviving but thriving in this harsh environment, more than 1 000m above sea level. I reflected back to 2004 when I had to phone Dawid Niewoudt of Cederberg and subtly quiz him about his Shiraz. He didn’t know at the time that I was ferreting out information for an article in the ICONS guide since it had won the Trophy Wine Show award for best red wine on show as well as best shiraz! That 2002 vintage Cederberg Shiraz was only the second time he’d made a Shiraz and his vines were still just five years old. Dawid was the first to admit that he was still playing around and figuring out what worked. It was one of the first indications of the greater things to come from this high-lying winery.

On our way to the Cederberg, we’d driven the Katbakkies pass – and on our return we did the Piekenierskloof pass, both of which have wine related stories. The first is the name of a Chenin Blanc from grapes sourced in the area – and it’s a beautiful name meaning the reflection of a cat’s (in this case, leopard’s) face in one of the pools of water which form in the shallow rock. The tale attached to the second is that of Neil Ellis’ awesome Rodanos Grenache which swept all before it for the popular vote at last year’s Cape Winemakers Guild auction. Beautiful names, beautiful wines and a spectacular but very small part of the South African wine landscape.