If you were to try your best to dream up the most beautiful wine farm in the Cape, no holds barred, you’d still fall sort of the breathtaking reality of Waterkloof farm in the Upper Blaauwkilppen Valley. Hundreds of mature trees, some centuries old, are dwarfed by blue tinted mountains so high and so impossibly close they might just fall on you. The kloof itself stretches back deep into the wilderness, its permanent stream babbling along through the property, bringing life to the remarkable gardens. I have seen grown men cry on Waterkloof, but mostly they just stand there and say: “bliksem…”.
As if the beauty wasn’t enough, just add a few hectares of dry farmed bushvine Chenin and voilà: paradise. The soils are deep red brown with plenty of gravel. The wines grown here show huge promise, tending to natural power and richness, showing flavours of stone fruit and flowers. We hope to be able to make a single origin wine from these parcels in the future once we better understand the place. Until then the wines make a stellar contribution to Cartology.