Come with me to South Africa, on a little road trip through the winelands.
Heading north out of Cape Town (where vines stretch from Wynberg almost to Cape Point) with Table Mountain in the rear-view mirror, we soon pass the Durbanville Hills on our left. If the traffic is light we will hit the outskirts of Bellville pretty quickly and start to see the sun-baked landscape and craggy foothills of the DuToits Kloof mountain range ahead.
Paarl is coming up on the left, the edges of Stellenbosch just appearing on the right (the town curves all the way round to Somerset West). Just beyond Stellenbosch is the picturesque Banhoek Pass, gateway to the Huguenot valley of Franschhoek.
We’re hanging a left here off the motorway, and everywhere around you are the signs that you’re not just in wine country, but also serious agricultural endeavour. The Berg river meanders across the open plain, grain silos and orchards punctuate the landscape, and less than an hour after departure we are approaching the town of Wellington.
It was named in 1840 by the then-British governor at the Cape, to honour the 1st Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley who triumphed at the Battle of Waterloo. But the cultural influences in Wellington extend far beyond the British colonial period to encompass Dutch, French and the first peoples of South Africa. English is a minority language here with Afrikaans most spoken, followed by Xhosa. Alongside the obvious prosperity is also deep despair and poverty, with informal settlements and sprawling townships, and regional unemployment at 25% With South Africa’s fraught Apartheid past and complex rainbow-nation present, international visitors look for signs of transformation, signals that historic wrongs and grievances are being scrutinised and addressed.
And at the Bosman Family Wine estate just outside Wellington, is where we pause to see just how this modern vision of a new South Africa (and a new wine industry) is evolving. The Lelienfontein farm has been in the Bosman family for 200 years, the land having been in Huguenot hands since 1699. For 8th generation Petrus Bosman, the CEO and current custodian of the farm, the family motto of Faith, Hope and Love has profound meaning not just for the family but for the community.
“We believe in the future of South Africa and its wine industry. We must invest in people and their potential, from the nursery to the vineyards to the cellar. We have lived together, worked together and cared for each other on this farm for centuries, passing on values and skills from one generation to another, over and over again. For us, creating opportunities for advancement … is not simply a good idea, it is a way of life,” he says.
The cuttings nursery propagates and supplies healthy root stock to producers across the country. That in turn is part of closing the production circle, ensuring sufficient work for everyone on the farm all year round.
On the pillars of responsible, sustainable and profitable Fairtrade winemaking and viticulture stands Bosman Adama, the business in which farm workers have a 26% stake – the largest land reform transaction in the history of the South African wine industry.
Fairtrade accreditation requires that workers have access to decent housing, education, healthcare as well as fair wages and working conditions. A social premium added to every bottle sold is paid to the Adama Foundation, a fund administered by farm workers to improve conditions in their community. The projects so far encompass two community centres, housing, education, transport, social clubs and a dedicated healthcare worker on site.
But what of the wines, you say? The winemaking is overseen by Corlea Fourie and the head winemaker, Natasha Williams. The portfolio is broad, from the uncomplicated Generation 8 wines targeting a younger demographic, via the Adama white and red blends to a sweet, passito-style Primitivo from sun-dried grapes (a nod to Wellington’s place at the centre of South Africa’s dried-fruit industry and also to the Italian prisoners of war who worked in the vineyards during the Second World War). There are also classic cool-climate wines (Chardonnay Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir) from a site in the Overberg.
The stellar Single Vineyard range has Optenhorst (on the ridge), an old-vines Chenin full of warm stone fruit and toasted almonds; Fides (Faith) a textural and fragrant skin-contact natural Grenache Blanc; and Twyfeling (Doubt) an unusual single-cultivar Cinsaut with immense power and structure (absolutely no doubt here).
Fine wines, made with integrity and pride as well as faith, hope and love. I think that’s a full house!
Bosman Family Vineyards
Lelienfontein
Hexberg Road
Wellington, 7654
Cellar Door open Monday to Friday 9-5 and Saturday 10-4
© Linda Galloway 2023