Often forgotten in favour of the more well-known wine routes or unheard of by tourists, the Robertson Wine Valley provides an off-the-beaten track experience where winemakers indulge visitors with long talks in cosy cellars and local chefs cook up a storm in quaint country kitchens. But every year, the Wacky Wine Weekend attracts wine lovers who flock to the region in search of a burst of bubbly, to savour a good glass of Sauvignon Blanc or to enjoy a lingering Pinotage on the palate.
![big-chair-rooiberg](https://5starstories.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/big-chair-rooiberg.jpg?resize=467%2C700)
And so it was that I joined those wine connoisseurs and headed through the tunnel and over and on past a windy Worcester to the town of Robertson for a weekend of wine tasting, hiking in the beautiful surrounding mountains and discovering some gorgeous places tucked away in the valley.
![bon-cap-winery-robertson](https://5starstories.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/bon-cap-winery-robertson.jpg?resize=700%2C525)
The folded mountains of Pat Busch Mountain Reserve welcomed us to the valley, and as we sat watching the sun dip behind the tree-covered slopes from the wooden balcony of our Africamps tented accommodation, the sun-kissed mountains and vineyards beckoned for us to explore. And so we did.
![africamps](https://5starstories.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/africamps.jpg?resize=700%2C467)
Just up the road from our accommodation, Rosendal offered us two vintages of Sauvignon Blanc set against the backdrop of their charming hotel and shimmering lake, while a bit further on Rietvallei served up a braai your own experience where kebabs and sausages could be braaied to our picking and were best served up with a bottle of John B Bubbly. Later in the day Bon Courage and Wonderfontein joined the bubbly brigade and Springfield Wine Estate offered a lakeside setting with live music where we sipped on Thunderchild – a wine which supports the local orphanage and which a portion of my Wacky Wine ticket also went towards.
![Springfield-wines-robertson](https://5starstories.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/springfield-wines-robertson.jpg?resize=700%2C467)
Onwards and outwards, Bon Cap served up a delicious buffet breakfast which lined our wine-filled tummies, and just past the biggest chair in Africa at Rooiberg, the lesser known farm of Le Roux & Fourie Vignerons offered a rustic setting just off the main road with few people and a delicious one on one wine tasting while an elderly Jack Russell ran around at our feet, begging to join our party.
![bon-cap-winery](https://5starstories.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/bon-cap-winery.jpg?resize=700%2C467)
After a hard day’s wine tasting our journey took us back to our tented accommodation at Africamps, where after a walk up and over the mountains, through a colossal forest of protea plants with Cape sugarbirds flitting around and down into a moss-covered river bed, we lit the braai fire and the indoor wood burner for a cozy, warm evening, tucked up under the stars.
![africamps-pat-busch](https://5starstories.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/africamps-pat-busch.jpg?resize=700%2C467)
After a delightful sleep in our canvas getaway in the middle of nowhere we awoke to a breakfast basket of delicious which we cooked ourselves and enjoyed as the sun set the reserve aglow and welcomed us to another day in the Robertson Wine Valley with a whole new host of farms just waiting to be explored!
![breakfast-pat-busch-robertson](https://5starstories.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/breakfast-pat-busch-robertson.jpg?resize=700%2C467)