La Forge in Hout Street at the back side of Heritage Square in Cape Town is a special place for wine lovers and cheese addicts to meet up, taste, discuss and indulge in the goodness of the inner city wine and cheese pairing in an old blacksmith warehouse.

Heritage Square is a unique block of Dutch and Georgian houses in the centre of the historic part of Cape Town.

It is bordered by Buitengracht Street, Hout Street, Bree Street and Shortmarket Street.

The earliest building was built in 1771 and La Forge is set in a New York style warehouse (c1901).

Didier Bertrand recently opened his “cheese and wine sanctuary” to the public in a beautifully restored 18th century building, after taking over the building from Cape Town’s last blacksmith.

The wines available from La Forge are all from the Cape Town region (Not Stellenbosch, Franschhoek or Paarl for example).

This means there will be a variety of approximately 270 labels from 45 different wine makers in the greater Cape Town. You can either taste these wines at La Forge, or buy them from the La Forge wine store.

Didier’s unique concept is to bring people together to talk about cheese and wine while enjoying it on tables he designed himself.

He built the tables from old fishing net cable reels, designed in such a way that it is easy to move out of the way for bigger functions.

The tables seat 6 – 8 people, as Didier feels it is important to share tastes and compare wines with others.

So instead of it being an intimate tasting for two, it is a taste experience shared with many people.

The future of La Forge looks bright, with a restaurant coming soon.

The cuisine will mainly be peasant food (everything comes from the earth and nothing gets wasted) like cheese & wine, raclettes and salads.

These dishes are all currently available at La Forge, and the restaurant cuisine will add crepes, pizzas and omlettes to the menu.

Other plans for the future include a cheese-making room where cheese-making classes and team building exercises will take place.

The idea is to learn to make your cheese in a controlled environment, where it will be kept for 3 weeks after which you can collect it to take home with you.

Cheese you will learn to make include amongst others camembert and Roquefort – but we don’t want to give away too much information just yet.

The cheese-making experience is set to be ready by mid-winter in August.

Something else to look forward to at La Forge are cinema evenings and unplugged music nights as well as cheese and wine pairing presentations.

La Forge is a multi-functional venue for hire in Cape Town, and also caters for bigger functions like dancing and film shoots.

Recently La Forge hosted a successful book launch for 200 academics from UCT.

The cheese and wine tasting at La Forge will cost a mere R48, where you will taste 3 local wines and 5 cheeses.

Nestled between the quality Caveau wine bar & deli, as well as the Savoy Cabbage restaurant and Africa Café restaurant, La Forge certainly reinforces what life is about on Heritage Square: good food and good wine.

Molo Says: “With its rustic feel and great inside space, La Forge is definitely one of those places to go to in Cape Town on a rainy day.“

"Another recommendation is the excellent Winelands Cheese & Wine Tour, as well as our our selection of things to do in the Cape Winelands.”

Subscribe to our free monthly Editor's Picks Newsletter for more information.