Het Vlok Casteel, Riebeek Kasteel, Cape Winelands: Shop Review

Het Vlok Kasteel
Church Street, Riebeek Kasteel | Map

Specialty: Olives, olive products, wine, jams, chutney, dessert toppings, biltong and more!
Tel: +27 (0) 22 448 1433
Fax: +27 (0) 82 567 9132
jlvlok@iafrica.com
SA Blog recommends a look inside? Don’t miss it!

Further Insight & Opinion
Of all the little olive- and wine-selling shops that one can visit in Riebeek Kasteel, Het Vlok Casteel is the best, hands-down. Meneer and Mevrou Vlok have taken the Afrikaans home industry tradition to an entirely new level – without losing the warm country touch that makes it so charming.

They’ve literally built a castle on their farm compound, which is situated right at the entrance of Riebeek Kasteel, and was the site of much enthusiastic munching and savoring during the recent Riebeek Valley Olive Festival. (When the festival’s not on, the Vloks intend to store their grapes and olives in their “castle”.)

Their product range, meanwhile, is truly spectacular: three different kinds of olive (mission, kalamata and nocellara) are pickled and pressed into nine different tapenades and six different extra-virgin olive oils; they’ve just brought out their first vintages of shiraz and cabernet; and they make a dozen varieties of jams, chutneys and syrups (Your Correspondent’s favorite: passion fruit!), not to mention biltong. Both proprietors are incredibly industrious, taking you through all the nuances of flavor during an extended tasting, and you’re bound to be charmed into a hefty purchase!

Het Vlok Casteel is the place for Swartland gifts: it gets SA Blog’s first “Best of the Swartland” award. Congrats!