Best quarantine ever? The South African wine farm that took in stranded tourists for free after the country went into lockdown
When the country went into lockdown, two European couples found themselves with nowhere to go – but plenty to drink, naturally
Spier Wine Farm was going to be the cherry on top of Anna Punke-Dresen's family trip to South Africa. This luxury wine farm and hotel – one of the oldest in South Africa – was the final stop before she, her husband and their four-year-old son Oskar ended their dream trip and flew back home to Germany. Like most things during March 2020, that simple trip quickly became chaotic.
On March 23, South African President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa announced a strict 21-day lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus
Employees at the wine farm helped Punke-Dresen and nearly 100 other guests book travel home before the lockdown went into effect at midnight on March 26. Punke-Dresen's family booked a return flight, and could finally breathe easily knowing they'd get out just in time. But then, their flight was abruptly cancelled.
At the same time, the wine farm was going through its own internal crisis. Cancelled reservations, weeks of running the hotel at a third of its capacity, and a closed wine revenue – the lockdown meant no alcohol sales – had the wine farm losing money by the minute. But that didn't stop its general manager, Joep Schoof, from stepping up and doing what he felt was right.
“We woke up in a lockdown on Friday [March 27], and that's when we started to transition from being an operating hotel to more of a scenario where our guests were becoming our family members,” Schoof said.
‘It's not a normal economic situation, and at some point you have to stop charging,’ said the hotel manager
Schoof let the Punke-Dresens and the British couple stay free of charge in exchange for donations to the Solidarity Response Fund, an initiative supporting Covid-19 relief in South Africa. He and two staff members, a chef and maintenance crew member, stayed in vacant guest rooms to help them while keeping the hotel and dining facilities ready for life post-lockdown. Additional staff members also stayed on-site to maintain the 1,000-acre property, which includes expansive vineyards and vegetable gardens.
While the setting was surreal, with pastel facades and pedestrian streets resembling a Mediterranean village, lockdown life at Spier Wine Farm was very different than before.