Wines from South Africa by Bloemendal

Durbanville, a rural community in one of South Africa's best-known wine-growing regions, is a good 30 kilometres from Cape Town. In the midst of the fertile Durbanville vineyards, we found the winery Bloemendal a real gem. At 239 hectares, this farm is one of the largest in the region. It was bought by Jackie Coetzee's great-grandfather, the current winemaker and owner, in 1702 and initially supplied Cape Town and the Dutch East India Company ships travelling 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 Tierberg 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 necessary resting time and warm, sunny summers bring high humidity due to the sea breeze and the protective mountain range - this combination creates 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".

The Bloemendal boutique winery

In any case, we were more than satisfied, if not downright enthusiastic about the Suider Terras Sauvignon Blanc, a Sauvignon Blanc that has been to 10 years storable white winewhose grapes are harvested from 37-year-old vines on the northern slopes of the Kanonenberg. Once fermentation begins, this wine is racked into new barrels where it continues to ferment for up to 11 months before bottling. The Waterlily Shiraz, hand-picked from 16-year-old vines on the central slope, is even aged for 18 months 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 for these wines with you, as well as the aromatic Waterlily Sauvignon Blanc and the salmon-coloured Shiraz Rosé with its rosy undertone.