Delaire Graff Lodges & Spa

The Story

In 1982, wine critic John Platter bought a neglected farm on the Helshoogte Pass and named it Delaire (“from the sky” in French) because the name matched what you could see from the top. Two decades later, Laurence Graff acquired the property and spent six years turning it into something else entirely: a mountaintop where his personal collection of over 400 contemporary South African artworks lives alongside a gravity-fed winery, David Collins Studio interiors, three restaurants, a Graff Diamonds boutique, and lodges with private plunge pools overlooking the Simonsberg range and, on clear days, Table Mountain.

Graff’s background is diamonds, not wine. But the instinct, identify what is exceptional, cut away everything that diminishes it, present what remains without apology, translates directly. The estate reopened in 2009 and joined Relais & Châteaux in 2013. Morné Vrey’s wines carry Tim Atkin’s “First Growth” classification. Tretchikoff’s Chinese Girl hangs at reception alongside the Winemag Winery of the Year 2025 award and Two Michelin Keys.

A diamond dealer’s eye applied to a Stellenbosch mountaintop. The result is sharper than the sum of its parts.

Location

The Helshoogte Pass connects Stellenbosch to Franschhoek, climbing through some of the Western Cape’s most coveted vineyard land before dropping into the Banhoek Valley on the other side. Delaire Graff sits at the top, which means you arrive at the views first and the property second. The panorama from reception takes in the Simonsberg range to the north, the Groot Drakenstein to the east, and on a clear day, Table Mountain to the west, a sightline that extends across most of what the Winelands has to offer from a single vantage point.

The estate occupies the slopes of Botmaskop, some seventeen hectares of vineyard planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Franc at an altitude that benefits from cooling afternoon breezes and granitic soils, the terroir behind Bordeaux-style wines that have earned Platter’s five-star ratings. Altitude also means wind. The Helshoogte funnels it, and between October and February the southeaster can disrupt outdoor dining and chase you from the pool. March and April are the quieter months: harvest light, fewer visitors, the wind mostly elsewhere. Winter brings rain and lower rates, but also fireplaces, fewer crowds, and a red wine season that suits the mood.

The position is mountaintop, not village. Stellenbosch town is a ten-minute drive below, and the estate feels deliberately removed from the wine route traffic that moves between Franschhoek and Stellenbosch at ground level. This suits the overall intent: a self-contained estate where wine, art, and food exist within walking distance of each other. But anyone wanting to stroll to dinner in town or explore on foot will find the isolation a limitation rather than a feature.

Rooms

Every lodge comes with a private heated plunge pool, David Collins Studio interiors, original art from Laurence Graff’s personal collection, and views that vary by category and price. The distinction between the five lodge tiers is less about comfort (all share the same marble bathrooms, Bose sound systems, stocked minibars, and pillow menus) and more about what you wake up facing and how much space separates you from the rest of the estate.

Garden Lodges are the entry point, oriented towards Keith Kirsten’s landscaped gardens rather than the valley. They are the most frequently critiqued for proximity to public pathways; the estate’s restaurants, wine lounge, and boutiques draw day visitors who share the grounds, and Garden Lodge occupants notice this more than anyone. The upgrade to a Luxury Lodge buys mountain and Banhoek Valley views, mornings where the light moves across the Simonsberg range while the plunge pool warms beside you. Superior Lodges face the vineyards and are consistently reviewed as offering the strongest balance of privacy and outlook, the position where the estate’s public dimension recedes entirely.

The two Presidential Lodges sleep four across two bedrooms. Presidential Lodge 1 takes the Table Mountain sunset but sits in a slightly more exposed position; Presidential Lodge 2 offers Simonsberg views with greater seclusion. Both suit couples travelling together who want shared living space without compromising on privacy.

Then there is the Owner’s Villa, Laurence Graff’s private residence, available when he is not. Four en-suite bedrooms, a double-height living room under 200-year-old French oak trusses, a private infinity pool, a wine cellar stocked from the estate, and a dedicated chef who builds menus around what you want rather than what the kitchen has planned. The villa operates on different terms entirely: all-inclusive, fully staffed, and furnished with pieces from Graff’s collection that do not appear elsewhere on the property.

The art in every lodge is the detail that stops you. Cyrus Kabiru’s sculptural spectacles, assembled from recycled Nairobi street materials, hang in the standard lodges. Nelson Makamo’s Boy with Glasses (charcoal, pastel, and acrylic, 2012) greets you at lodge reception. The buildings are dhk Architects, stone-clad walls under thatch; Simon Rawlings of David Collins Studio handled everything inside. None of this is decorative wallpaper. Each piece is named, placed with intention, and part of the collection that defines the estate.

Communal Areas

The art collection announces itself at reception, where Vladimir Tretchikoff’s Chinese Girl, purchased at Bonhams in 2013 for £982,050, then a record for a South African artwork, hangs with the deliberate confidence of someone who paid close to a million pounds for a painting and wanted you to see it immediately. From there, the collection radiates outward: William Kentridge’s charcoal drawings in the Delaire Graff Restaurant, André Stead and Lionel Smit’s 1,300 Perspex swallows suspended above Hōseki, Kendell Geers in the Wine Lounge, Deborah Bell in the Spa, Dylan Lewis’s bronze leopards and cheetahs among the gardens. Over 400 pieces occupy the estate. Whether this constitutes the most significant private collection of contemporary South African art in the Southern Hemisphere, as described, depends on how you measure significance. What is not in question is that you will encounter more original South African art walking between lunch and the spa than most galleries display in a dedicated exhibition.

The three restaurants operate independently. The Delaire Graff Restaurant, under Clinton Jacobs, is the fine dining flagship, a space where Kentridge and Sydney Kumalo’s sculptures share the room with a Stellenbosch panorama through floor-to-ceiling glass. Hōseki (Japanese for “jewel”) replaced Indochine in late 2023, with Virgil Kahn running an omakase-inspired menu alongside Roy Nachum’s paintings with Braille text in relief. Lorenzo’s, named for the Italian form of Laurence, opened in late 2024 under Alfonso Russo and handles the Italian register. All three carry recognition: Two Michelin Keys, a JHP Gourmet Guide listing (Hōseki at two plates, the Delaire Graff Restaurant at one), and a Condé Nast Johansens Best Dining Experience award. The estate’s own gardens and greenhouse supply the majority of the produce across all three kitchens. Lunch, when the valley fills the windows, is the stronger meal. After dark, the views that define the daytime experience disappear, and several reviewers have noted that dinner can feel less atmospheric than the setting promises.

Keith Kirsten’s gardens carry over 350 species, roughly 70 per cent indigenous, and took the Relais & Châteaux Garden Trophy in 2015. Lionel Smit’s mirrored Morphous figure and Anton Smit’s monumental heads stand among the plantings, the garden doubling as a sculpture walk whether you intend it to be or not. The spa is intimate rather than resort-scale: four treatment suites, an infinity pool, a Technogym, steam and sauna. Augustinus Bader products. The Graff Diamonds boutique and 100% Capri, an Italian linen brand exclusively available in Africa at this location, complete the estate’s public spaces.

The wine lounge, restaurants, gardens, and boutiques are open to non-residents, and the communal areas carry more traffic than a comparably priced private lodge.

Activities

The estate operates as a single integrated experience rather than a schedule of programmed activities. You move between wine tasting, art, gardens, dining, and spa at your own pace, on foot or by golf cart, with no fixed departure times and no guided itinerary unless you want one.

Wine tasting in the Wine Lounge is included for lodge occupants. The estate produces its wines from seventeen hectares of vineyard on the Botmaskop slopes in a 450-tonne gravity-fed winery designed to let the fruit express the terroir without mechanical intervention. Morné Vrey has made the wine since 2008. The results speak in awards: Platter’s five-star ratings for the Laurence Graff Reserve and The Banghoek, with the Terraced Block Chardonnay earning its third consecutive five-star. The tasting is a conversation with what the estate has produced rather than a performance.

The art collection extends across the entire estate as a self-guided walking tour. Tretchikoff, Kentridge, Kabiru, Makamo, Lewis, Geers, Bell, Stead, Smit, Nachum. The collection rewards repeated encounter; you notice Kabiru’s street-material spectacles after the Tretchikoff, and Deborah Bell in the spa only once you have stopped looking for art. Keith Kirsten’s gardens provide the outdoor gallery for the sculpture collection: Dylan Lewis’s bronze big cats, Anton Smit’s monumental heads, Lionel Smit’s mirrored figure.

The spa facilities are included for lodge occupants, with Augustinus Bader across the four treatment suites. Bicycles are available for cycling the estate. Beyond the gates, the broader Stellenbosch and Franschhoek wine routes are a short drive, and the concierge arranges horse riding, mountain biking in the Banhoek Conservancy, and vineyard touring across the region.

This is not an activity-led property. The estate’s value lies in the convergence of wine, art, food, and setting. The luxury of having nowhere particular to be.