This industrial-chic winery, with its cathedral-like cellar set beneath its eponymous mountain peak, serves up some of the Cape’s finest red wines in surrounds filled with art and music.
Modern Masterpiece
A month after a Pretoria businessman and property developer Nic van Huysteen had bought two fruit and wine farms in the mountain-ringed valley of Tulbagh in 2002, a fire raged through the orchards and vineyards.
Serendipitously, as it turns out, the replanting and building plans were brought forward and out of the ashes rose a state-of-the-art cellar, a modern cathedral to wine in red brick, cement and stone.
Starting with a clean slate and armed with thorough soil analyses, the winery’s young viticulturist and winemaker Dewaldt Heyns was able to exploit specific sites for particular varieties.
Mountainside benches of gravel on clay against the Saronsberg and the banks of shale above the nearby Klein Berg River are planted to classic red varieties.
Shiraz stars, thriving in the shale and coping with the summer heat. It is also a passion with Heyns (going into his third decade as cellarmaster here and now a member of the prestigious Cape Winemakers Guild), and appears as acclaimed single-varietal wines or with Mourvèdre, Grenache and Viognier in the award-winning Full Circle Rhône-style blend.
Of the Bordeaux varieties planted, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot do particularly well, adding lustre to the Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated Seismic red blend, as well as a blend formerly called Provenance.
The Provenance name, now reserved for another of Saronsberg’s Shirazes, reflects the vintner’s philosophy of keeping things simple in the cellar to allow the fruit to express itself. Seismic refers to the earthquake, a rare occurrence in the Western Cape that devastated the historic Cape Dutch village of Tulbagh in 1969.
Works of Art
Having driven through Tulbagh - now restored - and out into the hot, dry, somewhat harsh summer landscape, you’ll welcome the green of vines, oaks and lawns beside the dam in front of Saronsberg cellar.
still is the cool, cavernous tasting room. Floor-to-ceiling steel-paned windows, moss-green velvet armchairs by a central open hearth, and heavy wooden tables juxtaposed with Philippe Starck chairs add up to an unexpectedly rich aesthetic experience.
Strains of Georgian chant or the mellifluous sounds of an instrumental compilation may greet you, and one of those close to the winemaking process - including possibly Heyns himself - will be in attendance.
If not, ring for attention; there’s a convenient bell on the grand slate-and-granite counter. While you wait, enjoy the modern art and sculpture by leading South African artists displayed here and on the bright, airy mezzanine level.
The farm’s owner is an avid art collector and among the pieces exhibited is the original artwork for the Provenance label, which was commissioned from Paul du Toit. Among the sculptor Angus Taylor’s works set among the vineyards around the winery, is Saronsberg’s signature ‘lady of the lake’: the ‘From earth from water’ figure of local stone depicting nature’s fertility.
The tasting room looks into the fermentation cellar on one side and the dimly lit barrel maturation room on the other. Heyns will be happy to show you around if he isn't busy, but book a tour in advance if you are interested in the finer details of winemaking.
He assisted in the design of the winery, ensuring that the gentle, gravity-fed movement of grapes and wines for premium quality was accommodated. He still delights on being hands-on in the cellar, although the appointment of an assistant now frees him up to spend more time in the vineyards too.
Grapes are picked and sorted by hand, and small custom-made stainless-steel tanks allow for separate vinification of each one-hectare vineyard block. Thus their individual soil type, clone and variety provide a palette of flavours and styles for blending, as well as distinctive single-varietal bottlings.
Serious wine lovers should enquire about any future releases or ‘experimental’ wines that Heyns may have tucked away. Some have become permanent fixtures, like the Brut MCC sparkling wine, Shiraz Rosé, Earth in Motion white blend and a particularly zesty Sauvignon Blanc from old vines. Others, like the single-varietal Grenache and Mourvèdre reds and Roussanne white, are only available at the tasting room.
Conveniently, given the Tulbagh Valley’s location on the outer edges of the Cape winelands, Saronsberg now has 16 self-catering Vineyard Cottages, charmingly re-modelled from old staff accommodation, set among the vines with mountain views.
Head across the magnificent Du Toitskloof Mountains and the vine-clad expanse of the Breede River Valley onto Route 62 , and you’ll experi...