Swartland Heritage shines though its wines

Written by Clifford Roberts; Photography Johan Viljoen

National Heritage Day was recently celebrated on the 24th of September 2024. It aims to recognise South Africa’s cultural wealth and wine is certainly part of this treasure. The Swartland is home to the largest collection of old vines in the country, but arguably also comprises the most wineries that adhere to the oldest wisdoms in winemaking. As such, Heritage Day brings the Swartland into sharp focus for winelovers every year.

Heritage represents the collective identity passed down from generation to generation. It serves as a bridge between the past and present, preserving the essence of a people’s history while shaping their future.

World-renowned terroir

The Swartland region has a reputation for being deeply connected to its terroir and winemaking traditions. Originally known for wheat farming, Swartland’s transformation into a world-renowned wine region began when pioneering winemakers recognized its potential for producing high-quality, artisanal wines. The region’s rugged, dry climate and varied soils—ranging from granite to shale—provide an ideal environment for growing resilient grape varieties such as Chenin Blanc, Shiraz, and Grenache. Winemakers in Swartland have embraced minimal intervention, allowing the natural character of the land to shine through, resulting in wines that express the true essence of the terroir.

The Swartland’s wine heritage is further shaped by a strong sense of community and collaboration among winemakers, who prioritize sustainability and innovation. The region has become synonymous with a new wave of South African winemaking, where the focus is on preserving the land while producing wines that reflect its authenticity and diversity. It has gained international acclaim for its bold, unorthodox approach to wine production, which is very much in the tradition of the world’s earliest winemakers.

Lammershoek in the Paardeberg, one of the first farms proclaimed in the Swartland

A legacy of excellence

Its wine heritage is therefore not only a celebration of the region’s unique geography but also a testament to the passion and creativity of its winemakers, dedicated to a legacy of excellence.

Notably, local winemakers were among the first to recognise the importance of preserving them. Furthermore, fascinating traces of the past include cannons on the Paardeberg, which are relics of a signal system operated by the Dutch East India Company in the 18th century. Also in the area, at Aurora, is a memorial to an experiment by Thomas Maclear that helped prove the earth was indeed round. Beacons located in the Swartland were aligned with one on Table Mountain to make the point.

Sheree Northnagel, winemaker at Riebeek Valley Wine Co in Riebeek Kasteel

Milestones and awards

Heritage of the Swartland can also be traced through its milestones, such as prominent awards and recognition.

Of anecdotal interest regarding the long-running Young Wine Awards, in an August 2022 blog for Winemag titled “Adi Badenhorst, Jan Smuts and wine trophies”, wine writer Tim James concludes with this reminder: “Guess who is named as the winner of both the 1956 and 1957 General Smuts Trophies? None other than one DF Malan, Smuts’s political enemy, from 1948 to 1954 Prime Minister of South Africa. Not to mention that both of them were Swartland boys from Riebeek West – Malan from Allesverloren wine farm.”

Among other winners of the Young Wine Show’s General Smuts trophy was Riebeek Cellars (now the Riebeek Valley Wine Co), receiving it in 2011 for a wooded viognier.

Other prominent milestones included the late Danie Malan of Allesverloren, who in 1998 became the region’s first winemaker to be named Diners Club Winemaker of the Year. He remains the Swartland’s only winemaker to have done so.

The historic Allesverloren farm in Riebeek West dates back to 1706.

Callie Louw of Porseleinberg and Jolene Janse van Rensburg of the Swartland Wine & Olive Route sharing a laugh and a glass of wine with the ladies of Swartland Tourism at the 2024 Swartland Agricultural Show in Moorreesburg.

Porseleinberg, which has a near-cult following, is one of the most consistent wines to receive five-star ratings from the Platter’s South African wine guide. In 2020, UK-based Master of Wine Tim Atkin, rated the Porseleinberg 2018 Syrah an almost unheard-of score of 100 points and declared it in his South Africa Report as Red Wine of the Year.

Similarly, Mullineux is another wine brand that has consistently wowed wine judges. By 2023 the winery had received over 50 five-star ratings from Platter’s, as well as being named the guide’s Winery of the Year an unprecedented five times in 2023, 2020, 2019, 2016 and 2014.

In addition, winemaker Andrea Mullineux was named Wine Enthusiast’s 2016 International Winemaker of the Year and in 2016, both she and winemaker husband Chris were Tim Atkin’s South African Winemakers of the Year.

These milestones are added to many more that have made the Swartland what it is today – a region of international prominence, built on a respect for the essence and history of wine.

• The Swartland Wine and Olive Route is a member organisation comprising the biggest representation of wine and olive producers of the Swartland region.

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Kalmoesfontein farm house, Paardeberg

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