Durbanville, a rural village in one of South Africa's best-known wine-growing regions, is a good 30 kilometres from Cape Town. In the middle of the fertile Durbanville vineyards, we found the winery Bloemendal a real gem. At 239 hectares, the farm is one of the largest in the region. It was bought by the great-grandfather of Jackie Coetzee, the current winemaker and owner, in 1702 and initially supplied Cape Town and the Dutch East India Company ships on their way along the "Spice Route" with fresh produce before the first wine was bottled in 1920. Bloemendal wines can therefore look back on a long tradition of winegrowing and winegrowers. The vineyards stretch across the Kanonenberg and Tygerberg mountain ranges and produce grapes of exquisite quality, which enjoy an excellent reputation worldwide under the name Waterlily Wines. 

Durbanville is one of the coldest wine-growing regions in South Africa. Cold, rainy winters give the vines the rest they need and warm, sunny summers provide high humidity. The sea breeze and the protective mountain range combine to create an ideal microclimate for growing exquisite grapes. Add to this the thoughtful, mindful approach of Jackie Coetzee, who favours quality over quantity and voilà, top wines are born. His words: "Do it because you enjoy it! Do your best, but never be satisfied".

In any case, we were more than satisfied, rather downright enthusiastic about the Suider Terras Sauvignon Blanc, a white wine that can be stored for up to 10 years, whose grapes are harvested from 37-year-old vines on the northern slopes. As soon as fermentation begins, this wine is pressed into new barrels, where it continues to ferment for up to 11 months before being bottled.

The Waterlily Shiraz, hand-picked from 16-year-old vines on the central slope, even undergoes an 18-month maturation period before bottling.

The Waterlily Merlot, on the other hand, is de-stemmed directly from the vine on the southern slope, crushed and soaked in cold water for 48 hours until the fermentation process is started. All three wines are first-class and we look forward to sharing our enthusiasm with you.