Danie Steytler is tied to the soils of Kaapzicht, his family's Bottelary Hills wine estate near Stellenbosch, by a strong spiritual connection to the earth. 'A winemaker can only do as much as God's earth gives him.'
Vintage 35
He and wife Yngvild make no bones about the fact that it's taken blood, sweat and tears over what feels like 'a lifetime' to turn Kaapzicht into a viable wine producer. That it's become so much more - one of the Cape’s finest red wine estates, an international award winner and a successful exporter - is almost secondary to them. It's about love of the land and a belief in self-sufficiency and sustainability through plain, honest hard work.
The story of the farm is captured in a large photograph album that Yngvild put together in 2006 for the farm's 60th anniversary under Steytler custodianship.
Sitting upright on his horse, proud in his military uniform, is Danie's grandfather Major David Charles Steytler. A sheep farmer in Victoria West, he’d sold the family farm to fight in the Second World War. When he returned from Italy at war's end along with his two sons David and George, he decided to buy a farm in the Cape winelands in 1946.
His younger son George Louis ran the farm for him, planting vineyards, making bulk wine for Stellenbosch Farmers’ Winery, increasing production from a couple of hundred tons to over 1 000 tons, and eventually buying the farm from his father. Then known as Rozendai, it was planted mainly to chenin blanc, which was still the case when George called on his older son Danie to help in 1976.
'We have the second-oldest producing chenin blanc vines in the Cape: a one-hectare block planted in 1947.'
Danie, driven by a strong streak of independence, had originally decided to forge his own career path, leaving Stellenbosch to do a diploma in agriculture at a technical college in Pretoria.
'I’ve always been an outdoor kind of person; my favourite getaway is to go paddling on the Orange River. We try and do it at least once a year, usually in April when the evenings are mild.'
The man’s also a three-time Comrades ultra-marathon and four-time Two Oceans marathon runner. He returned to the farm and, based on experience and short courses at Elsenburg Agricultural College and Stellenbosch University, he made a Riesling in 1984. It was the first Kaapzicht wine, named after the picture-postcard view of Table Mountain and Cape Town from the farm’s hillside vineyards.
Korrel toast recipe by Danie Steytler served with butternut soup and paired with Kaapzicht Chenin Blanc....
Traditional lamb shank potjie recipe by Danie Steytler paired with Steytler Pentagon wine....