South African Values: Goedverwacht & Piekenierskloof

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Goedverwacht, Robertson

Goedverwacht translates from Afrikaans as good hope — or great expectations, hence the labelling. The du Toit family farm no less than 172 hectares of vines — giving economies of scale — along the bends of the Breede river near Bonnievale. The wines are made by father Jan in collaboration with son Gawie. Jan once firmly stated his place in the world of wine in South Africa: "I farm for money, not with money" — distinguishing himself from all the supermarket owners, luxury goods merchants, bankers, jewellers or golfers who have bought wine estates in the Cape. The birds on the labels are blue cranes. Antropoides Paradisea is the national bird of South Africa, once commonly sighted in the Breede River Valley but now an endangered species.

Cape Grenache: Rhône Ranging with Piekenierskloof

Piekenierskloof, located to the north of Swartland, is home to old, dry farmed, vineyards some 550m–700m up in the Citrusdal mountains, source of some of the best and oldest Grenache in South Africa, both white and red. Much of those highly sought after Grenache grapes are supplied by the eponymous Piekenierskloof winery, now owned by brothers Oubaas and Potgieter van Zyl, third generation descendants of the first family to plant vines in the area. Indeed they can remember as schoolboys helping their father plant the first Grenache at Piekenierskloof in 1973.

Jaco Engelbrecht, one of South Africa's most lauded viticulturalists, often compares Piekenierskloof to Priorat in Spain, but points out the South African wines are often 1–2% lower in alcohol — a result of solar radiation; essentially the differing energy received by the two regions as a function of the sun's angle in relation to the earth. Put simply, Piekenierskloof receives significantly higher solar radiation which helps to fully ripen the grapes at lower alcohol levels. This is a very good thing.