Waterkloof Wines UK – a short history
After searching for a new vineyard site that could produce outstanding wine with a distinct sense of origin, Paul Boutinot found Waterkloof in 1993. It took ten years to find the perfect vineyards at the Waterkloof in South Africa overlooking False Bay. We recently published an article on the best red wine from South Africa and the Waterkloof Circle of Life Red was featured in the top 3.
Schappenberg, which is Afrikaans for ‘Sheep Mountain’, is almost in the highlands’ centre. Its highest point is 300 meters above sea level, only 4 kilometres from the False Bay coast. It is a hill previously used by old Dutch colonial governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel for grazing sheep, but it was also his lookout point for identifying ships visiting Cape Town. These days it is covered in vines, and producing Waterkloof wines.
Even though grapes were planted on Waterkloof since the early 1970s, producing fine wine began when the farm was replanted in the mid-1990s. Paul Boutinot took over Waterkloof shortly before the 2004 harvest, but the first vintage bottled under the Waterkloof name came from the 2005 harvest.
Werner Engelbrecht and Christiaan Loots joined Paul after his initial visit. They used experience from Cellarmaster in the Old World to find which varieties of vines, roots, and trellises would work best on the farm. A significant planting effort was completed by 2008, and today, the vineyard covers 53 hectares of the 100-hectare farm that they share.
Half of the farm was designated for conservation. This includes rare plants, animals, and plants. This conservation half was given a commendable status from the World Wildlife Fund’s Biodiversity Initiative. To learn more about Waterkloof’s conservation efforts, click here
Similarly, the winemakers a range of organic and biodynamic wines while visiting vineyards. He then decided to make the Waterkloof farm fully organic, which he achieved in 2008
In 2009, a state-of-the-art gravity cellar was created. This new cellar had tasting rooms with fine dining. Now, the internationally known Waterkloof wines can be found worldwide.
South African Wines sells a number of popular Waterkloof Wines, the most popular one being the South African Chenin Blanc. The aptly named Seriously Cool Chenin Blanc is wildly popular in both South Africa and the UK.
One of our other most popular Waterkloof wines is the South African White Wine Blend called the Waterkloof Circle of Life White. It is not often a white wine blend is as delicious as this so always make sure you have one in your collection.
If red wines are more your thing, check out the Waterkloof Red Wine Blend, Circle of life. This Red wine is a firm favorite amongst South Africans and anyone else who appreciates the South African wine experience.
At South African Wines we have an ever increasing range of wines, and we will, continue to grow the range in order to satisfy the demand not only for Waterkloof Wines, but also South African Wines in general.
You may also be interested in the blogs and wines on our other websites www.veganwineonline.co.uk and www.auswinesonline.co.uk
Waterkloof Wines UK – A Boutinot brand mainly for the UK market
We visited here in January 2017, it was HOT, but the views were worth it