Where It All Began

Desert Wine (no, not dessert wine!)

 

The Karoo Desert is famous for a lot of things: long, lonely landscapes, amazing rock formations, art festivals and sheep! One thing it’s perhaps less famous for is wine.

Despite this, for the third year in a row,the Karoo Art Hotel in Barrydale has won the Diner’s Club Wine List Diamond Award, which celebrates those establishments that offer a creative and dynamic wine list that pairs wines as part and parcel of the food menu. Considering that most of the establishments in South Africa who win this award are urban, five-star hotels, this is a major achievement.

You can stay at the Karoo Art Hotel for as little as R1 720 (US$110) per night. It makes a great alternative to the more traditional Garden Route trip via Knysna and Plettenberg Bay and is roughly 2.5 hours from Cape Town.