Streamlined sophistication, superb design and spectacular views - three features shared by several new venues at Cape cellars that have recently opened. While they all offer top-notch wines, the cuisine ranges from simple and seasonal to trendy fare for international palates.

Delaire was first in line with its striking new restaurant and stunning deck with incomparable views to the Simonsberg and Drakenstein mountains. Little more than a stone's throw away, Tokara was next up, opening a deli-restaurant on the Helshoogte summit that is light and airy - dressed stone and blonde wood complementing stainless steel and white walls and floor tiles. On the long counter, a bowl of perfect artichokes makes a culinary statement.

"From my garden," said Anne-Marie Ferreira proudly. "I am lucky enough to have a gardener who is wonderful with vegetables."

The menu focuses on "real food" with prices that please: breakfast of baked eggs with spinach and parmesan and toast for R25, or settle for a serious sandwich filled with roasted chicken, grilled veggies, pesto and camembert (R45). Estate wines start at R30 for a glass of Zondernaam chenin or buy the bottle for R85.

At noon on a weekday, guests were chatting over flutes of bubbly, others were polishing off brunch and browsing through the olive oils and wine, and some were ordering frozen Karoo venison and lamb.

Fine local cheeses and wicked handmade chocolates make tempting gifts. Anne-Marie's daughter, Kara Ferreira, is the youthful chef in charge, and I enjoyed a wedge of her spring onion and Peppadew quiche, while sitting at a window wall overlooking a sweep of vineyard and olive orchard.

Earth, air and water make feature elements of Bistro Sixteen82, the recently opened restaurant and tasting area at Steenberg's mountainside cellar. The temperature was climbing toward 30186C at mid-morning when the doors opened to admit me to a cool foyer with stainless steel tanks and racks of bottles on one side, and a lounge area on the other, bounded by a wide reflection pool. There's a central bar and high stools for formal tastings; this in turn gives way to the restaurant which opens on to another series of pools, edged by low sofas so guests can dangle fingers in the water. Sculptured lawns and restios lead up to vines and views across to the Constantiaberg and Table Bay.

Executive chef Brad Ball elevates bistro fare to sophisticated heights with clever twists, while trendsetters will relish the Raw Bar where sashimi and ceviche, carpaccios, tartars and gravadlax make the options. Breakfast choices include fresh berries, honeycomb yoghurt and toasted almonds (R46), pastries and four egg dishes. The chef's omelette - truffled and souffléd with white asparagus and toasted sourdough (R55) - sounds irresistible, but I settled for tea and honey-soaked brioche, served with care and precision. Clearly, glass teapots, set atop little glass spirit burners, are de rigueur for serving leaf tea this season.

Perhaps Waterkloof estate's new restaurant, high on the Schapenberg slopes, takes first place for breathtaking design and panoramic vistas. When I was last there, the new cellar was functional but the glassed restaurant and tasting lounge, protruding from the gravity-flow winery, were still being built. Both are now open, offering lunch seven days a week and dinner every night but Sunday - an experience I hope to savour early next year. Chef Gregory Czarnecki, who hails from Burgundy with a CV that lists several Michelin-starred French restaurants, describes his cuisine as having "a core of elegance and integrity".

Having been forwarded his short menu, I found five starters, all priced at R60, including a goat's cheese terrine with caramelised beetroot, Granny Smith apple, nuts and melba toast, and another of tagliatelle of ink and squid with shitake mushroom, asparagus with butter foam and watercress.

Mains range from R105 to R145, starring tuna, red roman, yellowtail and kingklip, along with duck breast, lamb, kudu and chicken. A quartet of desserts (R55) feature the essential pannacotta, teamed with polenta crumble and rhubarb marmalade; a deconstructed lime pie with tequila sorbet; and chocolate ginger ganache with lemon jelly and caramelised pineapple.

There are at least five wines whose producers are making coffee-chocolate aromas and flavours their selling points, in spite of much muttering from purists about wine being treated in this manner. The trend was started by Bertus Fourie when he was at Diemersfontein, and produced the pinotage which yielded freshly brewed mocha coffee ahead of berry flavours. Fourie produced a similar wine for KWV, before launching his own Barista earlier this year, a 2009 pinotage that combines the coffee and chocolate aromas with plum and raspberry notes in a wine of quality.

But why stay with pinotage, asked others? Using the same techniques of carefully toasted oak to impart non-traditional aromas, Susan Erasmus of Vrede en Lust has produced Mocholate from the farm's malbec, recommending it be chilled and paired with carpaccio, duck, pizza and pasta.

It's a lightweight wine and sells at just under R70. I would try it alongside a dark chocolate truffle as well.

Not to be outdone, Carel and Margaux Nel of Boplaas in Calitzdorp turned to their signature Tinta Barocca and have just released Boplaas Tinta Chocolat (R48), a medium-bodied red that adds spice to their Portuguese Collection and cacao to your palate.