The Jonker family has farmed this stretch of the Breede River for generations and now focuses on distinctive wines born of what young winemaker Phillip Jonker calls ‘the Creator’s off-cuts’.
Stories of Soil
The Jonker family is the heart and soul of the far corner of the Cape winelands that lies between the lush Breede River Valley and the rocky scrubland of the Little Karoo. In 1912 Klaas Jonker bought a few hundred hectares on the banks of the Breede near the settlement of Bonnievale, named it Weltevrede (‘well satisfied’) and in due course bequeathed a farm in the valley to each of his four sons and four daughters.
Fourth-generation winemaker Phillip Jonker feels keenly the farm’s sense of place and his family’s roots in this rugged landscape.
It has inspired one of the farm’s two nature conservation schemes: the protection of its four-kilometre river frontage to ensure the survival of some of the area’s oldest known specimens of the rare Breede River yellowwood tree and an endangered fish; and, by setting aside some 50 percent of its land as part of the Weltevrede Conservancy, the conservation of pristine renosterveld, a critically endangered plant community within the world-renowned Cape Floral Kingdom.
Similarly, he seeks to make wines that, he says, ‘are a sincere attempt at expressing their origin in these specific soils’. Weltevrede is marked by a quirky geographical profile that shows extreme variation in soil type, even from one row of vines to another.
Samples of the distinctive soil types are displayed in the tasting room, and wines emanating from vines grown on these sites have been named accordingly, including the Place of Rocks Chardonnay (from a slope of broken shale rock), Calcrete Chardonnay (from limestone and mineral-rich calcrete soils) and Poet’s Prayer (from sites with ancient lime deposits).
The Bedrock Black Syrah (still produced but no longer carrying the Weltevrede label) comes from vines whose roots push down to hard grey bedrock.
Passion Projects
Having long since established Weltevrede’s reputation as a Chardonnay specialist, Jonker went one step further and converted old cellar space with the intention of making the farm a dedicated ‘champagne house’.
His award-winning Phillip Jonker Brut, a pure Chardonnay Blanc de Blancs, is called The Ring (his first solo effort, which was disgorged for his wedding to Lindelize), while a second classic combination of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir has been named Entheos (Greek for divine inspiration, fire and passion), names that reflect their maker’s well-known poetic inclination.
Another of Jonker’s personal projects is the excavation of underground concrete tanks that were built in the early 1900s, subsequently hidden beneath a cellar and unearthed.
A candle-lit tour through the cool, hushed labyrinth of tunnels linking the tanks evoking the romance of European Champagne caves was envisaged. After years of hard, manual labour, the Jonker family (industry and business stalwart father Lourens, retired but still ever-present, mother Annamarie and wife Lindelize) saw the dream become reality.
Weltevrede Tours and Tastings
Weltevrede tours and tastings are an informative and evocative experience, combining moody candle-lit exploration and wines poured at chic glass-topped counters in bright alcoves.
The landscaped garden entrance, with its shale-shard wall features and geometrically shaped layout of lavender and roses, and some of the first vines planted on the farm nurtured in pedestal planters, is a fresh-air option to enjoy the wines. In the pipeline is a restaurant, with views across the vista of vines, river and distant hills.
If you decide to stay overnight, you can enjoy the spectacle of sunset over the vineyards from the stoep of either the thatched, century-old cottage Onse Huisie or the renovated farmhouse Belvedere, two of the self-catering accommodation places on the farm.
Head across the magnificent Du Toitskloof Mountains and the vine-clad expanse of the Breede River Valley onto Route 62 , and you’ll experi...