Saronsberg Wine Cellar — Attraction in Witzenberg Local Municipality

I had a horrible experience at Saronsberg thanks to the blonde hostess,Janine. Since I was travelling alone and sleeping over at Saronsberg, I arrived just before 4pm and wanted to enjoy the wine tasting while appreciating the art gallery before they closed at 5pm. However,Janine clearly didn't want to help me and treated me with total disrespect,as if I'm an unwelcome nuisance for arriving an hour before they close. She kept insisting that a wine tasting normally takes 90 minutes and the staff leaves at 5pm,so the last tasting starts at 3:30pm. Bear in mind that I was alone,so I wasn't part of a potentially unruly group who would overstay their welcome. Also note that Saronsberg's website says that wine tasting is open from 10am to 5pm and does not state that the last wine tasting starts at 3:30pm (edit: this was at least updated on the website in response to this review). In addition, the check-in email for my accommodation specifically stated that the last wine tasting is at 4:30pm, not at 3:30pm like Janine said. So I did absolutely nothing wrong by walking in at 3:55pm. At some stage Janine said I can have 5 wines but will still have to pay the same fee of R150. Despite the fact that I told her I am sleeping over at Saronsberg and will leave at 5pm when they close, that I will be buying a bottle of Seismic as a gift and another bottle for myself, and that I won't mind if I don't get through all 9 wines by 5pm, she kept treating me like a naughty child for arriving just before 4pm instead of 3:30pm. I have honestly never experienced such rude and shockingly dismissive service at any wine farm before. I was really looking forward to the experience of doing a wine tasting at Saronsberg, enjoying their art gallery and then sleeping over at their guest cottages, but I would strongly advise against spending the money to stay over or making the effort to go to Saronsberg at all, just to have Janine completely ruin your experience upon arrival with her rude attitude. The only positive thing was that the other 2 ladies I dealt with, Leonie and Henro-Lene, were very kind and helpful! Previously when I visited Tulbagh, I stayed over at Rijk's Wine Estate and I had the best experience - I will recommend Rijk's a million times over Saronsberg, simply because of the disdain and disrespect Janine treated me with. I truly hope Saronsberg will dismiss Janine - her bad attitude is tarnishing their brand (I have already advised my friends in Gauteng and the Cape,as well as British tourists to avoid Saronsberg) and she has no business being in the hospitality industry if this is how unprofessional and rude she treats clients for arriving "late" for a wine tasting according to her own made up rules. Saronsberg will never see me again...

We did not have pleasant experience at Saronsberg. We came for a wine tasting on Monday 25 March. The blond hostess that eventually served us was clearly not in the mood to be there. I don't think she even introduced herself to us. We sat out on the grass, she was never there when we were ready for the next tasting, to the point where I had to get up and ask her to line up some of the wines so that I can go on to the next wine when I want to. Glasses were not swapped between white, rose, red. The other hostesses around us were friendly and engaged with the customers. We ordered the cheeseboard off the very basic menu and had also to ask what it entails as it is not detailed on menu, that too was an effort to explain, as if we are supposed to know! Not value for money, R120 per tasting, R130 for a "cheeseboard" which is three packaged cheeses, two packs of melba type crackers 3-4 thin crackers, one small hotel size preserve. You can add meat as in packaged salami sticks or packaged biltong at extra cost of R35 each. Definitely not value for money and wines not too my taste. This beautiful wine farm has completely fallen in to the trap of commercialisation and easiest service at inflated prices. I live in Blouberg and visited many many wine farms over the years - this was a big disappointment. Owners have lost the essence of attention to detail and it...

I've had some wonderful experiences here before but this weekend was not one of them. Called on Friday to ask if I can reserve a table on Saturday as we were a large group of 10 people and was told ofcourse with my name, time and day taken down. When we arrived we were looked at like we must be joking because they apparently dont take bookings and especially not on weekends. News to me and apparently the staff answering the phones.

They managed to squeeze us in but the service was slow and the tasting portions were not generous at all. Luckily tasted there before so knew what wines we wanted to buy, because we wouldnt have been able to figure it out from the small tastings on the day.

Hoping we caught them on an off day as i'm a bit hesitant recommending tastings there to others as much as i...