In the first feature on wine destinations, Neil Pendock visits Webersburg Wine Estate in the Helderberg, which takes an unhurried attitude to winemaking

BACKGROUND: Fred Weber made his first fortune selling Toyotas in Polokwane when it was still called Pietersburg and bought a farm in the winelands in 1996 - as you do when you've made it Up North.

CELEBRITY QUOTIENT: High. Fred sold part of the 1693 estate to golfer Ernie Els, who recently bought a $300000, 350km/h Ferrari Scaglietti as a farm vehicle. Quite how the car will cope with the vicious speed bumps on the rustic farm roads remains to be seen. From dusty beginnings, Webersburg is surrounded by some of the most fashionable wine properties in SA. Rust & Vrede restaurant, a casual croissant toss away, was voted top dining destination in SA last year by Eat Out magazine, while Moscow property developer Preston Haskell, best friend to Prince Albert of Monaco, owns Dombeya across the way.

UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION: A quintessential historic 18th- century Cape Dutch manor with great views over Alto estate and a dam full of ducks. Vistas out to the majestic Helderberg, which is so close you can almost touch it on a clear day.

BEST WINE: Webersburg Cabernet 2006, R110 from the cellar door, half the price of the neighbours'. Winemaking consultant Giorgio Dalla Cia, who invented Meerlust Rubicon in his 25 years making wine for the Cape's most iconic estate, describes winemaking on Webersburg as "the Slow Food approach". This translates into respect for tradition and a refusal to genuflect before the gods of fashion, which has seen Helderberg wines increase in price, alcohol, extract and amount of new wood character with a concomitant reduction in time spent in bottle before release. Standing up to the hysterical harpies of hedonism takes a fair amount of courage. Little wonder Weber wistfully notes "we never win awards in competitions."

GUEST HOUSE: The 10 suites in the 1786 manor house comprise a boutique hotel and are priced at R1800 (low season) and R2100 (high season) on a double occupancy B&B basis. Breakfast is straight out of a Vermeer painting - mid-winter farmhouse kitchen with burnished copper, terracotta tiles and yellowwood. There are even maids, though they don't wear starched bonnets or pearl earrings.

FOOD: Resident chef Nadia Roux is available to cook intimate dinners and there is a venue for parties, weddings and conferences. Weber's daughter Monique, who married Uva Mira winemaker Matthew van Heerden at Sossusvlei in the Namibian desert at Easter, plans to turn the historic 1786 barrel maturation cellar into a unique and edgy food and wine pairing venue.

• Location: GPS co-ordinates: latitude -34.0066, longitude 18.8427.
• Directions: Take the R44 from Stellenbosch towards Somerset West. Five kilometres out of town, you'll hit the Mooiberge Padstal with crazy scarecrows and papier-mâché animals painted in LSD flashback colours. Turn left into Annandale Road, follow the brown signs to Webersburg.

Contact: Tel. 0218813636, www.webersburg.co.za.