Welcome to Paarl Wines and Vineyards. Paarl is the central hub of the Winelands district in the Cape Province. Paarl along with its little sister with a big reputation - Franschhoek, has many historic and venerable, as well as new, wine farms and vineyard estates in their winelands, producing some of the best wines in the country, and indeed the world.
Scattered winelands around the Paarl Mountain with its gleaming granite rocks and the town of paarl, nestled in the foothills of the Klein Drakenstein and Simonsberg Mountains, and tucked away in the Franschhoek Valley, these splendid Wine Estates on the Paarl Wine Route enhance the beauty of the area with their lush vineyards and their wines are a delight to the wine lovers who visit the Cape Winelands in their droves.
South Africa is regarded as a new world wine producer, having lately taken the wine world by storm. However, the first wines were pressed from grapes during the days of Jan van Riebeeck in 1659 in Cape Town. 2 Years earlier in 1657, during an expedition into the interior, Abraham Gabbema had arrived in the Berg River valley, and saw some boulders glistening in the sunshine after a storm and named them the -den Diamandt ende Peerlbergh- The diamond and pearl mountain, from where the name Paarl is derived.
In 1687 farms were allocated to Dutch settlers along the banks of the Berg River, and a year later the Huguenots began arriving from France and settled in the Drakenstein area of Paarl and the valley which they called Franschhoek -the French Corner. Due to the ideal climate, and with their knowledge of vines, they soon began planting vineyards and making wines throughout the region which became known as the Winelands District.
Through the turn of the 19th century into the early 20th century, German and Italian settlers flocked to the Cape, adding their own expertise and traditions of wine making to the growing wine industry in the winelands of South Africa. Paarl in the 20th century became the headquarters of the South African wine industry with the establishment of KWV to represent wine growers and to stabilise and regulate the growth of wine industry in South Africa.
It was only in 1997 when KWV was privatized and the wine industry was deregulated, that the modern South African Wine industry was born and became part of the International world of wines. At this time with South Africa's reintegration in the International arena, the Wine Route of Paarl and Franschhoek winelands came of age and began to be acclaimed worldwide
So, looking for a Vineyard Estate to taste some of the delectable wines of the Paarl Winelands, then do consult our Wines and Vineyards Directory for a complete list of all the wine farms in the Paarl Winelands.
As our site is still fairly new, many of the listings are still simply names and numbers of the establishments, however all the Vineyards and Wine Farms in the Paarl Winelands that we are aware of are listed.
As a convenience to you the visitor these simple listings do have an email link which comes to the Paarl Management and we will forward your enquiries to the establishments concerned within the same day that we receive them, and will forward any reply to you immediately we receive them.
This will be for a limited time only. Should you use this facility please do not change the title of the email as it will contain the name of the establishment you are enquiring to.
When coming to visit the vineyards in the Paarl Winelands, you should check out the weather. Click on our Paarl Weather link to the right at the top of this page which will take you to the Paarl page at the SA Weather site or use the link on our main menu at the top on the left.
