Bed Down in a Scenic Estate in South African Wine Country

Location: Stellenbosch, South Africa
Hotel Name: Delaire Graff Estate
The Skinny: Because going to Africa for the spectacular scenery and awesome culture apparently needs a value add, this South African hotel outside Cape Town is set out to become an art, wine, and shopping destination, the sort of hermetically sealed one-stop vacation superstore where a certain kind of tourist goes to spend money and experience total insularity between their arriving and departing flights. And it succeeded! Since this particular resort has a friend in the diamond business (owner Laurence Graff, who's also chairman of Graff Diamonds International) there's a high-end jewelry boutique on-site, which takes care of the shopping component, and Graff's own personal art collection features prominently in the design of the place, which ticks the "art" box. The wine comes from the vineyards surrounding the compound, which have their origin in the Dutch colonial era—the first vines were planted in 1679, and the soil has been in more or less continuous operation ever since. The accommodations are intimate (with just 10 lodges, the majority of which sleep two adults), the views are tremendous, and the appointments are tasteful, but excitement or interaction with local culture? Maybe not so much.

· Delaire Graff [Official Site]
· All Hotels Week 2014 posts [Curbed National]