Wineries
Barton Farm
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| Barton Farm’s 500 acres lie to the west of the Hottentot Holland mountain range. The area is famous for its fruit farms, the Walker Bay vineyards, flower and vegetable farms.The Farm has nectarine and plum orchards, along with olive groves and lavender fields. There are over 125 acres of vineyards offering a range of wines including Barton Chenin Blanc and Barton Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon.The holiday villas look out over olive groves and vineyards, with pockets planted with proteas and other Cape flowers. Visitors are welcome to use the farm tracks for walking or cycling.Wines Sauvignon Blanc Chenin Blanc Barton Blanc Siraz/Cabernet Sauvignon Blend |
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Beaumont Wines
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Once an 18th century outpost for the Dutch East India Company, Compagnes Drift farm in Bot River, is now home to Beaumont Wines, a family-run winery with a proud tradition of making individualistic wines from ancient clay-rich soils in the Walker Bay region. Founded by Raoul and Jayne Beaumont, son Sebastian is the winemaker with daughter Ariane assisting in management.With merely 34 hectares under vine, the vast majority of the 400 hectare farm is pristine fynbos-rich mountainside, part of the Groenlandberg Conservancy in the Kogelberg Biosphere. The farm is a treasure for both nature- and culture-lovers. The historic water mill is being restored to produce a limited amount of stone ground whole wheat flour while two beautifully-restored historic cottages offer authentic farm accommodation. |
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Boutros
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Situated 7 km from Bot River Town, on the picturesque Van der Stell Pass, you will find the home of Boutros Wines. Ou Meul farm, owned by Pieter and Bonnie Meiring, is a relatively small farm of 33ha; of which only 2,6ha are under vine. Being a family-run farm, as well as having a keen sense of the natural environment surrounding us, we intend to plant no more than a total of 8ha under vine in future. Currently we have 1,2ha Cabernet Sauvignon and 1,4ha Shiraz. The majority of the rest of the farm consists of beautiful natural cape fynbos. The Bot river running alongside Ou Meul is watched over by the ancient oak tree found on our label. Our vintages have been produced from grapes carefully hand harvested on Ou Meul farm. The first of which, in 2006, is a blend consisting of Shiraz(55%) and Cabernet Sauvignon(45%). Passion, commitment and hard work ensure magnificent vines producing picture perfect grapes. This along with the dedication of winemaker Niels Verburg, has culminated in a vintage that is not to be missed. |
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Feiteiras
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| With the only working Pole Basket Press in South Africa Feiteiras Vineyards can proudly lay claim to making genuine hand crafted wine. The proprietors of the farm Manuel & Jose de Andrade , who hail from Madeira, Portugal had the working wooden screw brought over from their country of birth and with the direction of their father built and erected the press on their farm in Bot River . Vine plantings include Verdelho , a white variety native to Portugal with South Africa’s first Verdelho released in June 2007. The reds produced , a Cabernet Sauvignon and Troca Tintas – a Merlot & Petit Verdot blend are basket pressed and made in the traditional Portuguese method of minimum interference and filtering , in fact no machine filtering , only Moon power. Foot Stomping and then to basket press is the route of the Ports – red and white -so as to continue the methods of our forefathers. We are happy to confess that we produce wine for ourselves and hope our friends and clients will love them as well. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gabrielskloof
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| Gabriel le Roux planted vines on the farm more than 150 years ago. He also distilled brandy, and both products were sold to the passing trade. We do not know the quality of Gabriel’s wines, but believe that if he could see what’s happening at Gabrielskloof today, he’d be pleased.
Barry Anderson had believed for a long time in the potential of the farm, and when he showed it to Bernhard Heyns for the first time in 2001, Gabrielskloof was born. They planted the first vines in 2002 with cultivars carefully chosen to match the terroir. These are Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, Semillon, and Mouvedre, Shiraz, Cab Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec. Together with award-winning winemaker Kobie Viljoen, the team have crushed its first vintage in its brand-new cellar in 2009. Quality underpins everything at Gabriëlskloof starting with the virus free vineyards. One of the most important characteristics of the estate is its isolation from other established vineyards, giving the viticulturist the opportunity to keep clean, virus free vines. The proximity to the sea, as well as the altitude of over 200 m, ensures cool maritime breezes during the growing season and low temperatures. The rolling hills outside Botrivier offer diverse slopes and pockets of Bokkeveld shale and Table Mountain sandstone and a variety of terroir to suit even the most demanding varietals. There is some amazing bird watching to be done on the farm – we are most proud of the flocks of Blue Crane that have made themselves at home here. The restaurant and deli, which are independently owned, provide superb cuisine and also sells olives and olive oil that are produced by the farm. |
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Goedvertrouw
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| Goedvertrouw Wine Estate is no ordinary home. It is a place of handcrafted wines, homemade meals, an enchanted country garden and abundant birdlife.Full of life, yet peaceful and soulful, it takes on the character of its owner. A real working farm, Elrieda Pillman continues to live out the dream her and late husband, Arthur shared. The house in which Elrieda now resides at Goedvertrouw, was originally built in 1820, making it one of the oldest houses in the area. The old bell in front of their home was used to summons the slaves on the farm in the first half of the 19th century and to signal the arrival of the train from Cape Town, which would transport vegetables grown in the area to Cape Town. The Goedvertrouw property also has an old graveyard of early settlers to this part of the Cape. What Elrieda today uses as a wine cellar still has the original “skietgatte” used during World War II. Elrieda lovingly handcrafts four cultivars from the skilfully fashioned Pinot Noir to the wildly experimental Pardoemps – a blend of Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinotage.Situated on the Van der Stel Pass between Botriver and Villiersdorp, this magical world of flowers and birds surrounds the old homestead and affords a view down the valley gazing over the geese in the pond, the hand-reared lambs, piglets and cattle. Make sure you stay for one of Elrieda’s homemade meals whether it is for breakfast, lunch or dinner. In summer you will be served on the stoep and after hours of eating, drinking and being mesmerised you’ll struggle to leave, which is okay as there are three double-bed en-suite rooms in the house. In winter you will be seated cosily in the tasting room or in the homestead’s lounge alongside the fireplace.Full of grace and wisdom, underneath is a hard-working woman who is always ready to jump in and milk the cows or drive the tractor herself when need be. |
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Luddite
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| The Verburg & Meyer families founded Luddite Wines in November 1999 with the sole aim of making world class Shiraz. The first vintage released was 2000 and was very well received by the market!Luddite Wines is situated on the eastern slopes of the Houw Hoek Mountains, 1½ km from the Village of Bot River in the Walker Bay Region. The property is 17ha in size. At present 5.5ha are under vine and 200 Frantioa and Mission Olive Trees have been planted.The aim of Luddite Wines is to develop into a self sufficient farm. We will not term ourselves organic but have committed ourselves to farming conscientiously and as greenly as possible.
The vineyards and Olives are dry land and the pig’s free range. 2007 will see the 1st Parma Style Ham and Mediterranean sausages all made under the careful supervision of Niel from Bread and Wine Restaurant in Franschhoek. |
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Wildekrans
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| Wildekrans was purchased in the 1970’s and set up as a mixed farming operation of wheat, cattle, sheep, ostrich, fruit, wine and table grapes. With time it became obvious that Wildekrans was an ideal spot to grow vines, and today Wildekrans is a distinguished boutique wine estate nestled in the serene Bot River Valley. The cool Atlantic sea winds and lean soils allow their grapes to reach optimal ripeness and impart the characteristic cool climate aromatic profile that their grapes are celebrated for. Wine maker, William Wilkinson, takes pride in producing fine wines that reflect the true expression of the Bot River terroir. Add to this the meticulous cellar care (sensible management and cellar design, gentle treatment of grapes, minimal handling, modern cooling and hygiene) as well as exceptional vineyard care, (early morning harvesting, closeness of cellar to vineyards, canopy management and strict yield control), it is inevitable that great wines will be produced. Our classic selection of wines includes Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinotage, Merlot, Warrant, Cabernet Franc Merlot and Shiraz. We also produce delectable whites – a Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc; as well as an easy drinking range – Caresse Marine. The Wildekrans mission statement is “to produce wines that compete with premium white and red growing regions. These wines must be easy to enjoy, good with food and represented in all price categories. |
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Witklip
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| Witklip – waiting to be discoveredAdventurous wine lovers have another discovery to make, Witklip, a 25Ha farm off-the-beaten track near Bot River, is reviving a little bit of history and giving birth to a boutique wine cellar under the passionate care of a team that believes in the fundamentals – kept it simple, clean and well cared for, from the vineyard to the bottle.Witklip has the benefit of being planned and designed from vineyard plantings for the production of quality grapes, to a cellar designed to produce exactly the style of wine required by the owners. The team consists of winemaker Philip Costandius who is consultant to Leon Engelke, farm manager, vintner, winemaker (and Michelangelo Garagiste of the Year 2007) on the farm owned by Belgian restaurateur, Lode Lemahieu.The style of wines envisioned by Lemahieu include a top of the range Shiraz blend and a white counterpart featuring mostly Chardonnay. These wines will be labelled under the Eerste Hoop label, giving recognition to the historic hunting lodge of Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel, who used to visit the valley to hunt. Under the Witklip label two cultivar wines will be produced, namely Shiraz and Chardonnay, and a red and a white blend to “sit on the stoep” and drink. “It will be a dynamic process as we will see what the vineyards and clones give us. Vineyard selection will determine the final product”, Engelke says. The Witklip and Eerste Hoop labels have already made an entry into the market with Shiraz and Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz respectively, all wine made and bottled off the estate at present. |
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