Kaapzicht is home to the second oldest block of chenin planted in South Africa, the famous 1947 block. Stellenrust’s oldest single vineyard block was planted in 1964, and every year its increasing age is highlighted on its label.

Kaapzicht is in the capable hands of Danie Steytler jnr, the fourth generation custodian of the wine farm established by his great-grandfather, Major David Steytler in 1946. Named Rozendal at the time, Major Steytler farmed with livestock, crops and grapes. Danie jnr acknowledges the rare privilege he has in working with fruit – chenin blanc specifically – from gnarled old vines planted by his great-grandfather way back in 1947.

1984 was the year when Rozendal changed its name to Kaapzicht – as well as the direction it was headed. Instead of providing wine to the large Stellenbosch Farmers’ Winery, it began bottling and selling under its own label, one which celebrated its view of Table Mountain and Cape Town – Kaapzicht or Cape View. It has gone from strength to strength, winning acclaim not just for its chenin blanc but for the quality of its reds, pinotage and pinotage-based blends in particular.

The ancient granitic soils found on the predominantly north-west facing slopes yield fruit that offers generosity in flavour but also make for structured wines. Combined with the cooling maritime breezes from both False and Table Bay and the nightly drop in temperature and occasional cloud cover, it makes for fresh acidity levels when the time comes to harvest the crop.

Around 50% of the maiden Oniv chenin blanc is from Kaapzicht: a 40% portion from the Kliprug single vineyard with another 10% which was matured in Hungarian oak barrels. As the name suggests, the vineyard is on a ridge and the soil is dotted with iron-rich rocks with clay sub-soil 

Visit https://kaapzicht.co.za/ for more.

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.

Kayleigh Hattingh is a first generation winemaker, who grew up in the shadow of the Bottelary Hills in Stellenbosch. She studied Viticulture and Oenology at Stellenbosch University, before travelling and working at Mullineux and Leeu Family Wines, Ovid in Napa Valley and Terroir al Limit in Priorat. She decided to return home in 2018 when an opportunity arose to join Kaapzicht Wine Estate as assistant winemaker. She came across two special dry-farmed plots of Syrah and Colombard, perched on top of a granite hill on the slopes of the Bottelary Hills. The soil is typical to the area – rich in granite over a deep seam of well-drained clay. Excavated granite boulders surround the vines and frame a view of Table Mountain in the distance. A breeze from False Bay cools the grapes in the summer, so the grapes mature slowly and evenly and preserve natural acidity. Kayleigh makes wine with minimal intervention. She describes Rebel Rebel Wines as a project: “Founded in the chaos of the 2020 vintage. The wines are made naturally. No alterations or adjustments. Just pure terroir and honest reflections thereof”.

Naudé Wines is the culmination of a journey that began more than 30 years ago. Since that first harvest, I’ve worked all over the world, hoping to craft wines that tell a story of time and place.

I love the diversity we have in South Africa. Not just of the people, but the soils, the microclimates, and the wine varietals that thrive under their own unique conditions. I’m fortunate to have been introduced to a few of these vineyards, and work with some of the wonderful grapes that they produce, many of these from certified old vines.

The grapes on these vines are storied, complex and unique. Each year they represent something different – whatever nature allows them – and with any luck, I don’t get in the way.