The Old Kids on The Block

While some vines are still figuring things out, our three Chenin old-timers have been getting better with age since the ’60s and ’80s. They’ve seen it all - droughts, storms, harvest chaos and the occasional existential crisis in the cellar. Scruffy, stoic and a little stooped, they’ve earned every wrinkle. So when Brandnetel officially joined the Old Vine Project last year, we cracked a smile (and a bottle), for many reasons.

How it Started

The Old Vine Project began back in 2002 with Rosa Kruger  - a viticulturist with a pair of veldskoen and a vision. For years, she chased down plantings that were more than 35 years old, convinced they had stories worth saving. By 2016, thanks to initial funding from the Rupert Foundation, the Old Vine Project was born.

It wasn’t until 2018 that they launched the Certified Heritage Vineyards seal - a first of its kind in the world. With help from SAWIS planting-date records, each certified vine’s age is verified and stamped right on the bottle. The goal is to make caring for these slower-yielding vineyards worthwhile, helping growers protect heritage blocks and encouraging them to “plant to grow old.”

Old but Gold

We’ve worked with

Simonsberg fruit from the very start, but it was only a few years ago that we began to suspect it might qualify for Old Vine status. It showed all the signs: thick trunks, loose canopies and a resilience that can’t be faked. After a bit of digging (and a lot of paperwork), we traced the planting back far enough to qualify. In 2024, the seal became official.

We love celebrating these golden oldies. Like us winemakers, these vines are hardy. They’ve weathered pests, shifting climates and short-lived trends, and still show up every season ready to work. From a sustainability point of view, they’re also pretty self-sufficient. Less pampering, fewer demands - like a trusty old bakkie, they keep trucking on no matter what.

Our Old Vine Line-Up

The past few years have made us feel very proud of our humble grapes. All three of our Chenins - Duwweltjie, Springdoring and Brandnetel - now carry the Old Vine stamp. Siblings not clones, each comes from a different corner of the Cape, with the personality to match.

Duwweltjie brings ripe fruit and citrus from Paarl; Springdoring, Swartland’s finest, leans mineral and restrained; and Brandnetel, our Simonsberg standout, shows white peach, blood orange and a touch of salinity. Even though they’re made the same way - whole bunch pressed, wild fermented in older oak, aged on lees for nine months - they couldn’t be more different. That’s terroir doing the talking, while the old vines hand over the mic.

Order a bottle (or three) today and cheers to the vines that just keep going.

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Duwweltjie 2024

Brandnetel 2024

Springdoring 2024