Kloovenburg

In South Africa's Swartland, Pieter du Toit and his family run a really smart operation centred on 130ha of mainly Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. The best 20% of these grapes go into these hand-crafted Kloovenburg wines and they also run 30 hectares of olive groves to produce their award-winning oil.

Kloovenburg, the “place in the ravine”, was planted with grapes as early as the mid-18th century, but it had to wait for the two generations of Du Toits to transform these into significant wines. The vineyards stretch along the lower contours of Kasteel Mountain, where the north-easterly slopes have proved ideal for Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, with the south-westerly and easterly slopes favouring Shiraz.