Inner-city-winery-on-our-doorstep-cape-town
The term urban winery is not an oxymoron as one might think – and the proof thereof exists in one of Cape Town’s most iconic buildings situated right in the heart of the city.
As a wine-lover, I was thrilled to find out that a fully operational winery, cellar and tasting room opened in Heritage Square earlier this year and that they have quietly been producing excellent wines right under our noses. I was, however, somewhat irked that I only found out about it recently.
Nonetheless, I got over my grumps and took myself off to Heritage Square find out just how authentic a cellar in the city can actually be. Very, authentic, it seems. The Dorrance cellar is a wine-lovers haven located in the beautiful courtyard of one of Cape Town’s oldest buildings. Once inside, you easily forget that the bustling city is only meters away and an intimate tasting experience with the wine-maker himself will have you feeling that you are, in fact, perhaps even in the vineyards of FranceWine-maker and proprietor, Christophe Durand, has been in the industry for many years and arrived in South Africa from France in 1995, establishing himself as an importer of fine French oak barrels, supplying the best Cape wine estates.
In 2000 he decided to try his own hand at the art of wine-making and so Dorrance Wines was born. However, it was only in March 2014 that they opened their own cellar in the heart of Cape Town and, procuring grapes from Franschoek, Elgin and Perdeberg, their delectable wine is now made and matured right here inCapeTown.
