Bottelary Hills
The Grier clan broke new ground on land with no previous viticultural history, pioneering Cap Classique production, keeping quality wines affordable and creating their own tradition of easy, unpretentious hospitality.
Family Legacy
Although best known for its pioneering bottle-fermented Cap Classique sparkling wines. Villiera also produces serious Chenin Blancs, a classic red blend, some fine dessert specialities and a selection of palate- and pocket-friendly wines. This attractive farm is, moreover, home to the laid-back and friendly Grier clan.
Jeff, quietly passionate about wine, is the cellarmaster, renowned for his positive contribution to the industry, not only in the quality of his winemaking, but in his mentoring and leadership roles over the years as a qualified Cape Wine Master and member of the Cape Winemakers Guild. He’s now assisted by young Nathan Valentine on the reds and whites.
Cousin Simon is the farm manager, viticulturist and conservationist. On the business side, Jeff’s sister Cathy, a graduate of Pure Leith cookery school in London, looks after marketing, sales and exports while her husband, Englishman Julian Brewer, has been roped in for the ‘invaluable but unenviable’ role of logistics manager for an enterprise that moves nearly 130 000 cases of wine around the world annually (including special bottlings for Woolworths in South Africa and Marks & Spencer in Britain).
Continuing the family wine legacy is next-generation winemaker Xander Grier (son of a third cousin David), with a focus on the MCC portfolio as well as speciality reserve wines, including the Stand Alone label for parcels from old vines and their Walker Bay property.
All are involved in community projects: advising a neighbouring emerging wine farmer, providing infrastructure for after-school facilities for farm workers’ children, and donating land and expertise for an agricultural endeavour by nearby township residents.
You may find yourself chatting to any one of the Griers during your visit. Draw them out, for they will be characteristically modest about their achievements in transforming what was an inauspicious flatland farm between Stellenbosch and Paarl in 1983 into a top wine property.
Sparkling Wines
The terroir is not conventionally superior in viticultural terms, but low fertility from mostly sandy and clay, gravel soils results in naturally small yields that benefit fruit intensity - and helped Jeff realise his dream of making sparkling wine à la Champagne, with the encouragement of Jean-Louis Denois, a Champenoise advisor who soon became a family friend.
In the 1980s, Jeff was one of the pioneers in establishing guidelines for the local production and quality of authentically bottle-fermented sparkling wine.
This led to the officially sanctioned designation ‘Cap Classique’ for South Africa’s leading sparkling wines, which international law prohibited from being called Champagne, even though traditional champenoise methods were used to produce them.
The various stages in the production of Cap Classique can be followed in Villiera’s large cellar that dates from the mid-20th century. Original concrete and fiberglass tanks squat alongside the latest in stainless steel, and a wooden ‘skywalk’ takes you into the hub of the production cellar.
From there you can watch the push-button gyropalette that has replaced the laborious traditional manual riddling process and, through the window onto the disgorging line, catch the excitement of dégorgement.
Besides the Tradition Brut NV and Brut Rosé NV (which has the novel addition of Pinotage), Villiera makes the Monro Brut, a classic Chardonnay/Pinot Noir blend that, disgorged after five years on the lees, is a particularly special cuvée.
Champagne devotees, frustrated by allergies should look out for the Brut Natural, a pure Chardonnay, bone-dry Cap Classique made only with yeast found naturally on the grape skin. The rising demand for low-alcohol wines was answered by the Starlight Brut.
Down to Earth
Doing things nature’s way is integral to the Griers’ philosophy of wine growing, more recently reflected in their eminently appealing red and white blend under the Down the Earth label.
Besides tending Villiera’s 260 hectares of vineyard planted to some 13 different varieties, viticulturist Simon is an avid conservator. A large tract of farmland has been restored to indigenous vegetation, encouraging the return of wildlife, and the proliferation of small buck species induced him to collaborate with a game expert on a fenced-off haven for larger buck.
Ducks and guinea fowl do the work of chemical pesticides, and Simon has even provided nesting boxes for the resident Cape eagle-owls that may be seen in the massive oaks outside the tasting room - or happily roosting outside the boxes!
After tasting the wines and exploring the cellar, make yourself at home on the oak-shaped patio with whatever provisions you’ve brought along (feel free to ask for crockery and cutlery) or relax on the grass under a giant fig tree next to the vines.
Stellenbosch is arguably the wine capital of South Africa. Winemaking dates back to its settlement in the 17th century and remains the lifeb...