Get a Cheesy Taste of the Cape

Forget lions and elephants - this is Cape Town. It's all about cheese and wine, people

We know, we know: it’s such a cliché. When you think of Africa, you think of wine and cheese, right? Well, OK, perhaps not yet – but that’s about to change.

African Cheese and Wine Tours gives locals and tourists a totally different experience of the Western Cape. It reveals a tastier side to life in Africa, where the gastronomic charms of the Old World find their fullest expression in the Really Old World.

The Cape is unique, we all know that. One reason is because it boasts a “Mediterranean climate” with winter rainfall. This makes it an ideal place for growing grapes and producing cheese. And with South Africa’s emerging reputation as a world-class purveyor of fine wines and excellent cheeses, it’s about time someone came along to guide us through our palatable heritage.

Enter French-born, and now long-time Capetonian, Didier Bertrand. The owner of African Cheese and Wine Tours, he explains that, “On these tours you experience the reality of Cape Town. It’s not a mass tourist experience. It’s small, intimate, and personal. We start with a blank schedule and experience the Cape naturally.”

See, touch, smell, taste

Didier offers 15 different tours that provide a unique way to not just see the Cape, but to taste, touch, and smell it. By going to the very places where wines and cheeses are produced, Didier gets to the heart of something special. “Together we create a taste pallet out of the history and things we see on the tour,” he says. “We don’t talk about people without seeing them or seeing where they lived or worked; we don’t speak about wine or cheese without tasting it; and we don’t talk about something without touching it, seeing it, and experiencing it.”

It all started with Didier’s quest to find the perfect cheese. Fed up with the processed cheeses on the supermarket shelves, he craved better. “As a Frenchman I am steeped in the world of cheese. The French are passionate about their cheese and wine. We eat up to 80kg of cheese a year and we are baptised in wine. My mother was born in a cheese making town, and I grew up with cheese. Because of my background I needed to find organic, natural cheese in Cape Town,” Didier remarks.

Didier stumbled upon an opportunity to expose the organic world he had discovered in the Cape. “I started wanting to find good food for my family and suddenly I was getting orders from French expats and started selling cheese to them out of my boot at the French school where I taught,” he continues. “Now it has become a way to explore Cape Town. I push the envelope to get to the spice of life. And I use cheese and wine as an excuse to experience the history and diversity of the city.”

Slices and sips for all

How cool is that? What an interesting way to taste and experience the city. If you want a different slice – and swig – of Cape Town, join one of Didier’s tours. You don’t need to be a gourmand or a wine connoisseur to enjoy this tour (though it wouldn’t hurt). Just be open to a different perspective on this wonderfully diverse continent.

There is sure to be an African Cheese and Wine Tour package that will suit your needs. You can focus on the wine and cheese-making processes in your tour, or focus on a region like the West Coast, or just let Didier surprise you. In any case, this will be one of the more memorable experiences you can have in our beautiful land.

For bookings and for more information on the African Cheese and Wine Tours contact Didier Bertrand on  +27 (0)73 613 2561, didier@cheeseandwine.co.za or visit www.cheeseandwine.co.za

Read more about Didier’s tours in our tour overviews:

African Terroir: The quintessential cheese and wine micro-terroirs of sub-Saharan Africa.

Cape Town Wine: A delectable combination of 5 distinctly different ways of making wine.

West Coast | Darling Tour: Meander in the wild, raw and untamed West Coast. From the largest oak vated cheese and wine makers to mature colder current wines.

Cheese Making: Make ricotta and mozzarella in the same morning! Learn the ins-and-outs of cheese making.

Two Oceans Mix: Experience the two newest wine regions, a microcosm of urban and rural contrasts.

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