Stellenrust

Less than 10 kilometres from Kaapsig as the crow flies, lies Stellenrust’s Bottelary farm. History shows that its first bottling was in 1928 – but that was from the Helderberg property, which is coincidentally where the tasting room is located, in the fabled Golden Triangle.

The bulk of the vineyards and the large winery however, are found on the Bottelary farm which began its modern renaissance under the skilled ownership of partner Kobie van der Westhuizen and Tertius Boshoff in 2003. Kobie handles the vineyards while winemaker Tertius credits former Mulderbosch cellar chief Mike Dobrovic for teaching him the most important winemaking lessons: the importance of chemistry and patience. 

A scant two decades later and Stellenrust is a local powerhouse, shipping wines to more than 30 countries internationally while also placing emphasis on staff empowerment and Fairtrade wines. It is also the only producer to have a wine featured in the annual Standard Bank chenin blanc Top 10 challenge every year since the competition began in 2014. (In 2022 there were two spots in the Top 10 occupied by Stellenrust wines! And the annual R25 000 prize goes directly to staff empowerment projects.)

Oniv’s Stellenrust component also comprises 40% – the fruit coming from Block 28 which was coincidentally also 41 years old, planted the same year at Kaapzicht’s Kliprug vineyard! While the famed 1964 vineyard commands his respect, Block 28 planted in 1982, is actually Tertius’s favourite. It too is dry farmed and all bush vine. In its four decades in the soil (Bokkeveld shale, for those interested in the geology), it has seen drought, abundant rain, disease and pestilence and the vines are still standing, facing the setting sun in the west and producing top quality grapes, year after year!

The block was harvested in two picks – at between 22 and 24 degrees Balling – and once in the winery, the fruit was allowed 12 hours of skin contact. This chenin parcel was also not inoculated with commercial yeasts but rather allowed to ferment spontaneously which took, Tertius reports, “about four months”. All of this happening in well seasoned Burgundy barrels, aged between four and eight years. After that, the wine spent a further six months maturing on its fine lees, this time in second-fill French oak.