Simon Wine Emporium

A Building That Sets the Tone

Central Stellenbosch has a particular architectural register: Cape Dutch gables, thick-walled heritage buildings, and interiors that carry the weight of a town that has been trading wine longer than most of its visitors have been alive. The De Warenmarkt complex on the corner of Ryneveld and Van Riebeeck Streets belongs to that register, and Simon Wine Emporium occupies it with a fit-out that reads as deliberately contemporary against that backdrop. Sleek shelving, considered lighting, and the density of a serious retail program — over 145 labels from more than 70 producers — set an immediate expectation that this is not a tourist-facing bottle shop.

In Stellenbosch's wine bar and retail scene, that distinction matters. The town has no shortage of places to drink well, but venues that hold genuine range across producers, rather than curating around a house narrative or a single appellation focus, occupy a smaller tier. Simon Wine Emporium sits in that tier, and its 2022 Star Wine List number-one ranking confirms its position relative to peers operating in the same format across South Africa.

The List as the Programme

Where cocktail bars are defined by their bartender's creative vocabulary , the house clarification method, the local botanicals, the seasonal rotation , wine bars are defined by their selection architecture. At Simon Wine Emporium, that architecture spans more than 70 producers, which within the Stellenbosch and broader Western Cape context represents genuine breadth. South Africa's Cape Winelands have expanded their producer count and stylistic range considerably over the past two decades: the old Cabernet and Chenin Blanc binaries have given way to Rhône varieties, skin-contact whites, and single-vineyard Cinsault projects that would have been marginal propositions fifteen years ago.

A program of 145-plus wines that draws from 70-plus producers in this environment signals curatorial intent rather than passive accumulation. The question any serious wine bar must answer is whether its list reflects what the region is doing now, or what the region was doing when the buyer last paid close attention. The Star Wine List ranking, awarded in 2022, is one external signal that the selection was being evaluated seriously at that point, though lists evolve and the most useful barometer remains the conversation you have with whoever is managing the floor on a given evening.

For comparison: Stellenbosch's other wine-focused venues each carry their own editorial logic. Stellenbosch Wine Bar and The Wine Glass approach the format from different directions, and the town rewards moving between them rather than committing to one. Spek & Bone operates with a distinct food-and-wine pairing emphasis that places it in a different use-case category altogether.

Stellenbosch's Wine Retail and Tasting Tier

South Africa's premium wine retail and tasting-bar category has developed in a specific direction over the past decade. The old model , a bottle shop adjacent to a tasting counter, where the primary transaction was case purchasing , has been partly displaced by venues that treat the glass-by-the-glass selection as the core offer, with retail as a secondary function. Simon Wine Emporium's format sits at the meeting point of those two models: the selection depth of a serious retailer, housed in an environment that invites drinking in rather than buying to take away.

That positioning has national peers. The Wine Shop by Caraffa in Pretoria operates on a comparable logic in a different urban context, and the format has international antecedents at venues like Bar Leather Apron in Honolulu, where selection curation and physical environment are treated as equal components of the offer. What distinguishes the Stellenbosch version is the proximity to the source: the estates and cellars that supply the list are, in many cases, a twenty-minute drive away, which gives the retail function a different character than it carries in a metropolitan setting.

What to Expect in Practice

Simon Wine Emporium occupies a fixed address at the corner of Ryneveld and Van Riebeeck Streets in Stellenbosch Central , a walkable position from most of the town's accommodation cluster. The De Warenmarkt building is a known landmark in the central precinct, which makes the venue direct to locate without navigation. Specific hours, pricing, and booking arrangements are not confirmed in our data, and the venue website was not available at time of publication; contact via the physical address or direct inquiry is the most reliable approach for planning purposes.

For visitors structuring a broader Stellenbosch program, the wine bar sits naturally within a day that includes estate visits and a restaurant dinner. The full Stellenbosch bars guide covers the wider drinking scene, and the Stellenbosch wineries guide is the relevant reference for cellar-door programming. Dining context is covered in the Stellenbosch restaurants guide, and accommodation options are mapped in the Stellenbosch hotels guide. The Stellenbosch experiences guide covers the broader activity programming for the region.

How It Sits in the South African Wine Bar Scene

South Africa's drinking culture has bifurcated in an interesting way over the past several years. In Cape Town, venues like Asoka have developed cocktail programs with serious technical ambition, and in Johannesburg, Sin + Tax operates in a spirits-forward register that reflects that city's drinking preferences. Stellenbosch has a different gravitational pull: it is wine country in the literal sense, and the bars that carry authority here are largely the ones that treat the region's production with the same seriousness that a Tokyo sake bar applies to its prefecture's output.

Simon Wine Emporium's producer count , over 70 , and its Star Wine List recognition place it at the more deliberate end of that local spectrum. The 2022 ranking was awarded in a category where the evaluators are assessing list construction, depth by category, and the coherence of the by-the-glass offer alongside the full retail range. Achieving the number-one position in that framework is a structural credential, not a hospitality one, and it speaks to the selection rather than the service experience. Both matter, but the selection is the reason to visit first.

Frequently Asked Questions

What drink is Simon Wine Emporium famous for?

Simon Wine Emporium is a wine-focused venue rather than a cocktail bar, and its recognition comes from the breadth of its wine selection rather than a single signature serve. With over 145 wines across 70-plus producers, the list spans the Cape Winelands' range of varieties and styles. Its Star Wine List number-one ranking in 2022 reflects that curatorial depth across the full program. See also the Stellenbosch Wine Bar and The Wine Glass for comparable formats in the same town.

What's the main draw of Simon Wine Emporium?

The main draw is selection architecture: a list drawn from more than 70 producers, housed in a well-designed space inside the De Warenmarkt heritage building in central Stellenbosch. The Star Wine List number-one ranking in 2022 confirms its position as one of the more seriously constructed wine retail and tasting programs in South Africa. Specific pricing and opening hours are not confirmed in our current data. The full Stellenbosch bars guide and Stellenbosch wineries guide provide further context for building a complete itinerary around the region's wine offer.