There are only four wineries in Darling – Cloof, Groote Post, Darling Cellars and Ormonde Vineyards. Following the declaration of Darling as a wine region in 2003 we formed ourselves into a loose marketing association that we call The Darling Wine Experience.

While none of us would regard ourselves as being tourist destinations, we enjoy the opportunity of showing wine drinkers what makes Darling such a special wine growing area (in fact, at this time of year the roads around Darling experience heavy traffic from trucks carrying grapes to wineries in Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek). In support of this, we seem to get more than our fair share of gold medals, Platter four-star ratings, and SAA listings.

All of us are open for wine tasting from Monday to Saturday (mornings only). At this stage, only Groote Post, in co-operation with Debbie and Shaun McLaughlin, offer lunch from Wednesday to Saturday. Gourmet BBQ is offered at Cloof several Saturdays per month on a pre-booked basis (details in the Events section of www.cloof.co.za ).

Darling is no more than an hour’s drive from most parts of Cape Town.