Gedeelte Wines – St. Helena Bay, South Africa

Gedeelte Wines is a unique wine farm situated in the St Helena Bay region on South Africa’s West Coast. The vineyards are planted in the flattened sea sands filled with limestone 4km’s from the cold Atlantic. The farm Brakkuil was established in the early 1800’s whilst the first grapes (Barbarossa and Palomino) were planted here in 1978. The original wine cellar is still in use today and was built in 1948 after the end of World War II. In 2002, farm owner Wimpie Bouwer (father to now winemaker John Bouwer) planted 6ha of the first Sauvignon Blanc vines which today is used to produce a unique Sauvignon Blanc matured under veil. Brakkuil farm’s soil/terroir is largely sea sand with limestone at the bottom which allows us to gain low PH levels in our wines. It is important for them to create something unique. A trend that dates back to when traditional winemaking began. Because of this ther craft wine by understanding the culture of the grape and follow a one-on-one interaction from the vineyard all the way through to the bottling process.

This Palomino is produced using the grapes from a traditional Spanish varietal planted on Brakkuil farm back in 1978. The vineyard at the foot of “Klein Tafelberg” (small Table Mountain) is comprised of limestone rich coastal soil – adding hugely to the Palomino’s subtle notes of natural sea salt minerality. During harvesting, the grapes are pressed and their juices inserted into tanks until primary fermentation has been successfully executed. The young wine moves over into French Oak barrels where the wine will be racked and left to mature under its own natural veil – a truly unique South African take on this classic Sherry grape.