Alto Wine Estate — Attraction in Stellenbosch Local Municipality

Recap Lovely settings within airy valley although the wine tasting room does not pay tribute to the quality of wines. Other than unquestionable wine quality, one might find some contrasting notes in the interiors design with the brand image, over all affecting the customer exp.

Story First place we visited in our highly planned and sought-after two-week wine tasting road-map around Stellenbosch area in July-August. The winter blanket in Western Cape was not impressive in 2022 yet the cold breeze and rain can play havoc in the wine-lands / Stellenbosch hills. When arrived at Alto found lovely and welcoming garden area furnished with sofas which could not take advantage of due to sudden showers and icy breeze in fact. Surprisingly, when walked in the tasting room felt like more in a boutique farm than a company reaching Milestone with 100th Consecutive Wine Vintage.

The boxy wine tasting room comes with cold interiors and layered with uncomfortable squared chairs and tables spread in less than 50 sqm circa. In this very cold / scarce interiors found one comfortable sofa right in front of a generous fireplace although it took us an hour to find some room and seat.

Back to our tasting exp we went with two food pairing which include a selection of 5 reds and different types of biltong. Good for us we were welcomed to swap some undesired cultivars and to pick our favorites. High marks to quality of wine with the exception of their dessert / porto wine. Food pairing was great. Ultimately we like almost any Alto and would definitely recommend the wine tasting although can’t help but suggesting to the Alto management to improve the indoor area, the service, the ladies & gents.

Alto red wines can be appreciated more in cold & misty winter days when you also seek for some all-comprehensive-comfort in an wine tasting.

Last but not least, we left premises only after having secured in the trunk a few boxes of Alto wines ie. invested a few thousands in wine bottles & tastings speaking of which, were not waived despite the purchase of wine btw. Almost any wine farms do it. Notwithstanding, a few days after our tasting found at the wine cellar in a supermarket same type of wine waay cheaper than at the factory.

Debrief Alto Wines got some super power although missing some nice touch incl. but not limited to paying more tribute to their visitors. It happens to be the first and foremost brand ambassadors. At Alto Wines you feel almost unwelcome, the less you stay the better. You drink, you buy,...

The potential was there but unfortunately the experience fell flat. Despite making a reservation almost a week in advance for 5 people and arriving exactly st the appointed time, when we arrived we had the choice of a 4 seater table wedged into the corner or a 4 seater table in the cellar, and a chair would be added. We thought the cellar sounded nice - warm and cozy hopefully, so we opted for that. It was not. We did not realize the cellar meant the actual cement-floor, ice-cold warehouse where the wine barrels are kept - see the dark gloomy warehouse photo below. This is a 'luxury' place. Why anyone thinks it's okay to seat people in a a cement warehouse for a classy wine tasting in the middle of winter is beyond me.

Anyway, so there we sat in the cold warehouse with Coco, Alto's dog at our feet. We like dogs. Coco hung around for a while and got her pats, bless her heart. But my dad is highly allergic and of course when they brought the biltong and wine pairing Coco was under the table looking for scraps. Despite our obvious discomfort the waiter went om explaining the wine - he thought Coco was comfortable under the table I guess. My mom eventually had to lure Coco away with biltong and shut the door between the nice tasting room (I'm sure the guests there had a nicer experience) and the cellar.

Now, the tasting. We took 2 x biltong and wine pairings and one Alto classic tasting. I don't quite understand why but for the classic tasting the waiter brought only one glass with red wine, with no explanation. Then later poured a different wine into the same glass. The wines for the wine and biltong pairing were at least explained nicely. The biltong was very wet and chewy, too thick cut perhaps for how wet it was.

We are nice guests and did not make a scene but I think it's embarrasing for Alto to treat anyone like this. Again, I'm sure the guests in the nice warm tasting room had a great time. Unfortunate that this was not our experience. One star for the platter and one star for the actual wine because those were stellar. In a wine region chockfull of excellent places, there are better options than being treated like an afterthought at...

What an absolute sad experience we had today at Alto. We have always loved their wine, even served it at our wedding. We phoned today to make sure they are open and know that we are on our way (just 4 people, only 2 to do a tasting) - not once did they mention they were understaffed or overbooked. We arrived, moved our own umbrellas in the sun to create shade. My husband went inside to fetch a wine tasting menu. He spoke to the same girl that he spoke to on the phone. She said she will be outside in a minute to take our order. Another couple arrived and left. We were still waiting. After 40 minutes in the sun without so much as eye contact from the staff, I went inside to ask if someone is going to help us. At first I was still patient. The girl told me that I must bring her our order... okay... Then I asked her why we have been waiting for 40 minutes if she told my husband that she will be outside to help us. Her response was that they give preference to their bookings. And she was incredibly rude about this - I felt her attitude towards a client who have already been waiting outside in the sun was stinking. The shock on my face must have shown. I told her that it is fine, we would ratger leave. My husband went back to talk to her and explained that we would have been happy to come a different day if they would just have been honest and told us they were too busy or too understaffed. But it is an outright LIE to tell someone you will be with them in one minute and then make them wait 40+ minutes. But don't waste our time by making us sit outside without even so much as an acknowledgement. We left and went to Haskell (which was twice as busy, but helped us immediately). Rather buy their wine from the store and enjoy it at home - their staff are rude and service is...