Reviews

Amazing views with great food and wine,...

7/22/16
Amazing views with great food and wine, what else can I say? Highly recommended Cape Town restaurant experience. Booking ahead of time is suggested.
Source: google Donovan Jacobs

One of my favourite restaurants in Cape...

5/12/16
One of my favourite restaurants in Cape Town! The food and wine on their own make this the perfect place for special celebrations, but the view of Table Mountain just tops it off. Great for wine tasting and cheese & charcuterie platters any day too.
Source: google Maike Schulze

On the 19 December 2015, my father...

12/30/15
On the 19 December 2015, my father celebrated his 95 th birthday..
De Grendel is the wine estate close to the retirement village, so the obvious choice for the birthday lunch.
Compliments to all the De Grendel staff!

A cushion was brought to make the seat comfortable for the birthday boy.
He loved his meal.
And the great treat was the chocolate decoration on the plate:

Happy 95th birthday.

Because it was a very special day for the birthday boy, the visitors from Pretoria and London and all at the dining table enjoyed the tasty food, the friendly service and the view.
A day to remember!

Thank you all at De Grendel

Jeanne-Marié Welgemoed
Source: google Jeanne-Marié Welgemoed
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About Winery and Wines

Sir David Graaff first planted vines on De Grendel in 1999, almost 200 years after the last vines were destroyed. Since then De Grendel has become synonymous with exquisite wines, borne of the Graaff's love of the soil and scientific approach to winemaking. De Grendel, meaning latch or lock in Dutch, is one of Cape Town’s oldest farms, stretching out over almost 330 hectares on the fynbos-covered slopes of Tygerberg Hill. The breathtaking view of Table Mountain from the farm, 350 meters above sea level, is arguably the best in the Cape winelands. On a clear day, you can see all the way from Table Bay to False Bay, and sometimes even on to Cape Point. First awarded to the Danish settler Claas Mayboom by Governor van der Stel all the way back in 1720, De Grendel van de Tijgerberg was bought by the iconic South African businessman and politician Sir David De Villiers Graaff in 1890 to be used as a breeding and resting ground for the prized purebred Arab horses that he bought while travelling in Argentina. When he returned to his then-home Fernwood, the horses' health deteriorated in the wet climate of Newlands, and on the advice of his veterinarian, he was told to find more suitable stabling. As the story goes, he undertook a trip by ox wagon to Muizenburg. Arriving, the South Easter was blowing and the beach was filled with blue bottles and smelly sea grass. He immediately turned north and arrived at the farm, on the slopes of the Tygerberg. He loved the site and bought it to house his horses.

While there are references to grapes having been grown on De Grendel in the 1800s, it was only in 2000 that viniculture was established on the estate. When the late Sir David Graaff inherited the baronetcy in 1999 he retired from the political career he shared with his father and grandfather before him, and returned to the farm. Until that time the production of wine grapes in South Africa was controlled by the giant KWV co-operative. KWV guaranteed to buy whatever was produced by local farmers on a quota system. Having studied at the University of Grenoble in France, Sir David had developed a love of fine wine, and on the recommendation of a family friend who recognised Durbanville as a key grape-growing area, the first vineyards were planted in 2000. Initially, after an exhaustive study of the terroir and climate, Sir David planted 10ha with Cabernet and Merlot. Now, fourteen years later, 110 hectares of De Grendel are under vines. Situated on the other side of the hill from the rest of the Durbanville wine route, De Grendel is unique amongst Cape vineyards in that it is the only estate with the holy wine triumvirate of sea views, cool ocean breezes and misty nights. And, because the Durbanville region is well suited to producing some of the country’s best Sauvignon Blanc, this cultivar has become a core focus of the winery.

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