All activities / Wine / Spirits Education / Cape Town
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Wine / Spirits Education in Cape Town
South Africa's most geographically dramatic city, wedged between Table Mountain and two oceans: paragliding off Signal Hill, kite beaches up the coast, and the Cape Malay food heritage of the Bo-Kaap.
Why here
Cape Town is the rare city with a working wine region inside its boundaries: the Constantia Valley has a Mediterranean climate with cool breezes from the Atlantic Ocean that shape how each grape varietal grows. At Groot Constantia the picking runs from mid January until late March, with Sauvignon Blanc harvested from the start of February and Chardonnay from mid February. Shaker teaches WSET spirits qualifications at its Bree Street academy alongside professional bartending and barista training, and the WSET register also lists the International Wine Education Centre in Cape Town with wine qualifications from Level 1 through the Level 4 Diploma.
Best months
Harvest at the Constantia estates runs from mid January until late March; most grapes are picked in the Southern Hemisphere autumn and preparation for the season begins at the culmination of summer.
Getting there & around
Skill levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced
Schools & guides (2)
Bikes n Wines
OutfitterBikes n Wines runs guided cycle tours in the Cape Winelands outside Cape Town, riding between wine estates around Stellenbosch and Franschhoek with tastings along the way. It is a SATSA member in the Adventure Tourism category, Western Cape chapter, since 2019. The operator is a cycling and wine-touring company rather than a wine school.
Shaker
SchoolShaker runs professional bartending and barista training academies in Cape Town and Johannesburg, with its Cape Town school on Bree Street. It is WSET accredited for spirits courses, which the WSET register lists at Levels 1 and 2, alongside cocktail masterclasses, professional and advanced bartender courses and barista training. The academies offer accredited and vocational hospitality courses for businesses and individuals.
Also good for wine / spirits education in January:
Torn between Cape Town and Plzen for January?
A plan settles it for your skill and budget, same-day.