RFK Rankings · Cape Town
Best Wine Lists in Cape Town 2026
Cellars and sommelier programs · Cape Town · 6 lists ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published June 21, 2026 · Updated June 21, 2026 · Reviewed by Fredrik Filipsson, Editor-in-Chief · How we rank · Corrections
Aubergine built the first climate-controlled red-wine cellar in Cape Town and holds a Star Wine List of the Year Grand Prix, which sets the bar for a city that dines inside its own winelands. The best lists here read like a tour of the Cape, from old-vine Chenin and Swartland Syrah to Constantia estate bottles poured at the farm that made them, with Old World depth behind them. South Africa has no Michelin guide, so the markers that matter are Eat Out, Luxe and Star Wine List, and the right table depends on what you are after: a thousand-bottle cellar in town, or an estate room a short drive out. Six, ranked on depth, the sommelier program and value rather than estate labels alone.
1.Aubergine
Harald Bresselschmidt's Gardens room with the city's deepest wine credentials. Book it for a serious cellar and a quiet table.
Aubergine, chef-owner Harald Bresselschmidt's room in Gardens below the city since 1996, holds the strongest documented wine list in Cape Town: more than 600 wines and the first climate-controlled red-wine cellar built in the city. It took the Star Wine List of the Year South Africa Grand Prix and a Best Sparkling award, and Bresselschmidt himself won a 2025 Guiding Spirit award for wine in hospitality. Eat the aubergine souffle, the flesh baked into a souffle and returned to its crisp skin. The six-course degustation runs R1,550, or R2,550 with the pairing. This is the city's wine room first.
Book on the Aubergine site; ask the floor to open the red-wine cellar for an aged Cape bottle.
2.FYN
Peter Tempelhoff's CBD room with the deepest cellar on this list. Reserve for old-vine Chenin and a rarities flight.
FYN, on Speakers' Corner on Parliament Street in the CBD, pairs Peter Tempelhoff's Japanese-Cape cooking with a 1,200-bottle cellar that runs deep in old-vine Chenin and Swartland Syrah and holds rarities such as Vin de Constance verticals back to 2010. Group sommelier Jennifer Huge was named Relais and Chateaux Pommery Woman of the Year for 2026, and the list twice took Star Wine List's best medium-sized award. Eat the springbok course or the milk bun with mushroom custard. Pairings run from R1,690 up to R6,590 for the cellar rarities flight. FYN was Eat Out's Restaurant of the Year for 2026.
Book on the FYN site; take a pairing and ask Jennifer Huge about the cellar rarities.
3.La Colombe
Scot Kirton's Constantia room with a leatherbound list and an underground pairing cellar. Book it for the full wine evening.
La Colombe sits on Silvermist Estate at the top of Constantia Nek, where executive chef James Gaag cooks for founder Scot Kirton's group and the wine arrives as a handwritten, leatherbound list of around 500 bottles, Cape-focused with international weight. The kitchen runs a separate underground cellar where the team pours a pairing built around older vintages, and head sommelier Michelle Erasmus took an Eat Out Wine Service award in 2025. The signature is the Tuna La Colombe, served as a miniature tinned-fish trompe l'oeil. The Chef's Menu runs R2,395. It holds three Eat Out stars for 2026.
Book on the La Colombe site; ask about the underground cellar pairing when you reserve.
4.Beyond at Buitenverwachting
Peter Tempelhoff's estate room with a rare-vintage section and a wine library. Book it to drink old Constantia at the source.
Beyond, on the historic Buitenverwachting wine estate on Klein Constantia Road, is chef-patron Peter Tempelhoff's estate room, with exec chef Sebastian Stehr running the pass. The list runs pages deep and carries a Lost and Forgotten section of rare and older vintages, plus a dedicated wine library for pre-dinner tastings, all anchored by the estate's own Constantia bottles. Eat the barbecue Wagyu brisket with dill-pickled cucumber and charred mushroom aioli. The six-course Tasting Experience is R1,250, with a wine pairing at R850. It opened in 2021 and holds two Eat Out stars for 2025.
Book on the Beyond site; ask to start in the wine library with an estate vertical.
5.Chefs Warehouse at Beau Constantia
Ivor Jones's glass room on a working vineyard with an estate-led list. Book it for value and a view down the valley.
Chefs Warehouse at Beau Constantia is a glass room perched on the crown of a working Constantia Nek vineyard, where chef-partner Ivor Jones, with the Chefs Warehouse group since 2016, and head chef Chad Graham cook a sharing tasting. The list pours Beau Constantia's own estate wines alongside a broader winelands selection, and the four-course Chef's Selection lands around R795, the best value on this list. Finish with the Jonesy, a chocolate-bar dessert, or the We Eat With Our Hands course. It holds three Luxe stars and two Eat Out stars for 2025, and the valley view is part of the price.
Book on the Beau Constantia site; pair the tasting with the estate's own bottles.
6.Salsify at the Roundhouse
Ryan Cole's Camps Bay villa with a list built on rare older Cape bottles. Book it for vintages you cannot drink elsewhere.
Salsify at the Roundhouse occupies a restored Georgian villa above Camps Bay, where chef and co-owner Ryan Cole cooks a ten-course menu and the wine program is built around rare, older South African bottles, some with only a handful left in the country. Two pairing routes run alongside the food, one a flight of those scarce vintages, overseen by sommelier Victor Okolo, an earlier Eat Out Wine Service winner. The signature pairs duck with a Leeu Passant Cinsault 2018. The Chef's Menu runs R1,550, the rare-vintage pairing R1,600. It was Eat Out's Restaurant of the Year for 2025.
Book on the Salsify site; take the rare-vintage pairing for bottles you will not find again.
Not for the wine
Great rooms, house-level lists
The Pot Luck Club, Nobu and Tang. The Pot Luck Club trades on Luke Dale-Roberts's small plates and a rooftop view, with cocktails leading rather than a deep cellar; Nobu Cape Town and Tang are sake- and cocktail-forward Japanese rooms where wine is the supporting act. All are good nights out, just not built around the bottle.
The harbour rooms, and two names people still ask for. Harbour House and Pier trade on the sea view with serviceable house lists rather than cellar depth. And two famous names are off this list for good reason: The Test Kitchen closed in 2021, and Jordan Restaurant sits out on its estate in Stellenbosch, outside the city rather than in Cape Town proper.
How to drink well in Cape Town
Decide between town and the estates. In the city, Aubergine and FYN hold the deepest cellars and the staff to range across the Cape and into the Old World, so name a region, Swartland, Stellenbosch, Constantia or the Hemel-en-Aarde, and a number, and let them lead. For something rare, FYN's rarities flight and Salsify's older-vintage pairing reach bottles you will not see on a normal list.
The Constantia cluster, La Colombe, Beyond at Buitenverwachting and Chefs Warehouse at Beau Constantia, sits within a short drive of each other and pours estate wines at or near the source, which is the Cape's signature pleasure. Book ahead, especially around the Eat Out awards season late in the year, and if you want the wine library or cellar pairing, say so when you reserve so it is set up before you arrive.
Frequently asked
Which Cape Town restaurant has the best wine list?
Aubergine holds our top spot for the list itself. Chef-owner Harald Bresselschmidt's Gardens room runs more than 600 wines and built the first climate-controlled red-wine cellar in the city, and it took the Star Wine List of the Year South Africa Grand Prix. FYN runs it close with a deeper 1,200-bottle cellar. For both, name a Cape region and a budget and let the floor open something older than you would have chosen yourself.
Where can I drink the best South African wine in a Cape Town restaurant?
For Cape depth, head to the estate rooms and the deep town cellars. La Colombe, Beyond at Buitenverwachting and Chefs Warehouse at Beau Constantia all pour Constantia estate wines at or near the source, while FYN and Aubergine carry old-vine Chenin, Swartland Syrah and rare Vin de Constance. Salsify specialises in older South African vintages with only a handful of bottles left in the country.
Which Cape Town restaurant has the deepest cellar?
FYN holds the deepest documented cellar on this list, around 1,200 bottles, strong in old-vine Chenin and Swartland Syrah, with rarities such as Vin de Constance verticals back to 2010. Aubergine is next with more than 600 wines and the city's first climate-controlled red-wine cellar. For the rarest single pours, Salsify's program reaches older South African vintages that are effectively sold out everywhere else.
How much is a wine pairing in Cape Town?
Plan on roughly R850 to R1,690 a head for a standard pairing at these rooms, with Beyond at Buitenverwachting the gentlest at R850 and FYN's house pairing at R1,690. The rarities climb sharply: FYN's cellar-and-rarities flight reaches R6,590, and Salsify's rare-vintage pairing is around R1,600. Tasting menus themselves run from about R795 at Beau Constantia to R2,395 at La Colombe.
Do you need a reservation for these Cape Town wine restaurants?
Yes for all of them, and well ahead for the top rooms and around the Eat Out awards season late in the year. La Colombe, FYN and Aubergine release tables ahead and the best evenings go first. The Constantia estate rooms are a short drive out, so plan transport with the booking. For the wine library at Beyond or the cellar pairing at La Colombe, request it when you reserve so it is ready.
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