Beautiful venue. Awesome wine glasses!

Discovered their wines at the Stellenbosch Wine Fest and for special occasions – like significant other’s birthday – buy the cabernet sauvignon.

Stunning wine farm and even better wines, pricey wines but the shiraz the cab savignon that we walked away with were well worth it. Fabulous that we also got the taste the expensive wine at R1200 a pop!

Excellent farm with well infomed hosts. Excellent wines although slightly pricey. Fantastic that they give you the option of tasting the super expensive ones.

This is the estate that motivated me to relocate from up north and follow my dream of creating fine wine. From my first experience at the Butcher Shop back in 2001 till now – it’s an estate that I admire.

First off, let me make it clear that I absolutely LOVE this estate’s wines. Unfortunately the tasting experience at the cellar is not always what you might expect from such a prestigious estate.

We once went as a large group and was seated at a big table in the cellar. The tasting room is well equipped to handle larger groups. Our tasting assistant was a very pleasant young man who displayed good wine knowledge. He did not simply repeat the tasting notes on the price list and readily answered all our questions.
I was sufficiently impressed and recommended the farm to some visitors recently. I accompanied them for a tasting, which was utterly lacking. Our tasting assistant did not seem to know much about the wine apart from what was already printed in the tasting notes and she took far too long between pourings.
So a very mixed experience then, but still worth the trip to taste their very special wines. The Estate at R300 a bottle was my favourite. I even preferred it over the 1694, which cost an eye-watering R1200 a bottle. Truly a very special wine, but outside most budgets. I settled on the 2004 Shiraz at R160 a bottle.

So after hearing a lot about this estate and wondering why their wine is so expensive, we decided to pop in and visit.
We were slightly dissapointed by the cellar and tasting room. However the tasting staff were very organised and we got to taste the 1694 wow over R1000.

One of our favourites! A must-visit estate with amazing wines!

The one thing that I like about Rust en Vrede, is the fact that they cater for the rich and the not so rich people. You can purchase a really nice wine from about R120, and an even better one for R300. If you are loaded, you can invest in the 2006 Rust en Vrede 1694 for only R1200. I know…..super expensive, but super smooth! They also have different tasting fees for different wallets.

Stephan van der Westuizen was friendly and well trained.

The setting is breathtaking and if you listen closely you’ll hear the silence making a noise….. That is if you can block out the customers yacking about the amazing wine!

Rust en Vrede is well worth a visit, even if it’s just to taste what R1200 taste like.