Vergelegen

When I think about historic wine farms, Vergelegen is the first that comes to mind. Set amongst beautiful camphor and oak trees, classic Cape Dutch style buildings house decades of history.

Vergelegen's founder, Willem Adriaan van der Stel (son of Simon van der Stel) claimed this property in the early 1700's when he succeeded his father as Governor of the Cape. He planted vineyards, fruit orchards and oak and camphor trees. It took days to reach the farm on the slopes of the Hottentot Hollands mountains and thus the name "vergelegen" meaning "situated far away". Willem van der Stel was a horticulturist. He published numerous gardening almanacs and helped to develop the VOC's gardens nearby the Castle of Good Hope. Amidst rumours of extravagant spending, corruption and greed, the van der Stel's left South Africa in the early 18th century and the farm was taken over by a number of owners until the early 20th century when Sir Lionel Phillips and Lady Florence Phillips (well-known in the Johannesburg diamond mining industry) took over the now dilapidated farm. They restored it to its rightful grandeur. Presently, the farm is owned by Anglo American and in the early 1990's much work, sweat, tears and money was invested in order to bring the farm to where it is today.

The Cape Dutch style buildings on this estate are set amongst a manicured garden with indigenous plants such as fynbos, as well as the many oak and camphor trees brought in during van der Stel's time. There is a homestead, library, mill house and the old slave lodge. Today, the homestead has been converted into a museum of sorts with original furniture, artwork and photographs depicting the farms history.

On to the wine. There are 3 ranges, the Flagship, the Premium and the Reserve. I'll start with "DNA" from the Reserve range (the bottle immediately drew my attention given its title). This wine is beautiful, theres no other word to describe it. A blend between Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, this wine has hints of berries, chocolate and an after taste of coffee. The tannins are well rounded given the age of the wine (2012). Prior to to this, we compared the Chardonnay from the Reserve and Premium range. The first has a very fruity, light taste reminiscent of its age (2015) yet it has hints of butterscotch that comes with a lengthy French Oak barrel fermentation. The second, is a lighter, "easy drinking wine" as was mentioned during the tasting. This wine is perfect for lazy Sunday afternoons in the South African Sun.

My experience at Vergelegen was magnificent, not only did I learn more about the wine farms history but it allowed me to dream of going back, lying under the camphor trees and listening to the birds chirp away; not forgetting a picnic and fabulous bottle of wine of course!