Newlands Shop: Cnr Main Street and Kildare Avenue, Newlands.Cape Town, Western Cape
Kloof Street Shop: Cnr Park Road and Kloof Street, Gardens.Cape Town, Western Cape
The history of Neethlingshof Estate spans more than 300 years. In 1692, Willem Barend Lubbe, a German settler, began farming the site he had been granted by Governor of the Cape Simon van der Stel on the Bottelary Hills overlooking False Bay. He named the farm De Wolwedans, “The Dance of Wolves”, having mistaken for wolves the packs of jackals roaming the countryside.
The farm then changed hands, becoming the property of the Marais family, who built the wine cellar and the manor house in 1802 and 1814 respectively. Their son-in-law, Marthinus Neethling, earned himself the name, “Lord Neethling”(now the name of the estate’s limited-edition, specialist connoisseur label) for the importance and authority he wielded. It was during his time that the farm was renamed Neethlingshof.
The Neethlings’ daughter married Jacobus Louw and the farm remained in the Louw family for the next 100 years.
In 1963, well-known politician Jannie Momberg bought the estate, while Gys van der Westhuizen, who had farmed for the Louw family since 1950, continued to run the farm for the Mombergs. In 1973, Schalk van der Westhuizen, now at Alto, took over from his father as manager and winemaker, building the outstanding quality reputation for the estate. Today, award-winning winemaker De Wet Viljoen, a protégé of renowned viticulturist Prof Eben Archer, is winemaker.
Neethlingshof’s Weisser Riesling Noble Late Harvest has been awarded the South African National Champion Noble Late Harvest trophy for eight consecutive years - a record in the wine industry! The winery is also the recipient of many SA National Wine Show Veritas double gold and gold medals, four and four-and-a-half star ratings in the John Platter South African Wine Guide and judged Best South African Wine Producer on the International Wine & Spirit Competition in London in 2002. Its Pinotages are regularly featured on the annual ABSA Top Ten list. The Lord Neetling Laurentius 1999 received gold at the 2005 International Wine Competition in London. The Laurentius 2001 received a double trophy win at the 2005 Fairbairn Capital Wine Trophy Show for best red wine and Bordeaux blend entered into the competition
Neethlingshof is flanked by the Bottelary Hills and PapegaaibergMountain just outside the town of Stellenbosch.Of its 273 hectares, 165 hectares are under vine. There are many natural advantages contributing to the production of the fine, characterful wines here. These include a variety of high potential soils derived from decomposed granite, gentle slopes and valleys offering a choice of aspects, the cooling effect of the nearby Atlantic Ocean on the vineyards during the ripening season, and varied altitudes, ranging from 85m and 250m above sea-level.
The estate itself is well worth a visit. Driving up the imposing stone pine avenue, a beautiful vista unfolds, complete with pristine CapeDutch buildings, rolling green vineyards and a cosy cellar where the full range of wines may be tasted and purchased.
WINEMAKER PROFILE
De Wet Viljoen might be young but he’s got loads of enthusiasm and impressive credentials that more than qualify him for the enviable job. Having grown up on a wine farm near Worcester he learned a lot about wine growing and making, simply by osmosis. But, being the youngest of five children, he was not about to inherit the family farm, so enrolled atStellenboschUniversityfor a BScin microbiology. The lure of winemaking was too great and on graduating, he stayed on for a second degree inoenology and viticulture. During his studies, he also found time to represent the university’s first rugby team.
Before joining Neethlingshof, he was viticulturist/winemaker at Wamakersvallei Winery in Wellington, notching up Veritas double golds and a trophy for the best Cabernet Sauvignon on the International Wine & Spirit Competition in London, as well as selectionfor the ABSA Top Ten Pinotage list.
In his typically understated way, Viljoen describes all this as merely ‘growing up with his wine’, a pursuit he honed while working two harvests at Kendall-Jackson cellar, La Crema in the Russian River Valley along the Sonoma Coast, where his exposure was to artisanal winemaking on a commercial scale. “We worked at a very intense level at Le Crema, handpicking in small bins, hand-sorting and cold-soaking,” he says, “despite an annual harvest of 6 000 tons. It taught me that you don’t have to compromise when you work on a large scale.”
