Fleur du Cap: Award Winning South African Winery
South African wine is hot right now. It's the new trend everyone is following, and its event hotter to travel there and taste South Africa's ‘real' wine (it is highly rumored that they exported the ‘crap' and keep the good stuff for themselves). As a retailer, we've actually found that rumor to be more fact than fiction. It is hard to find good South African wine, especially at the price points that our customers – and us – are looking for. Sure you can find a good Caberent from South Africa for $35-$50 per bottle. But you should be able to find that any where in the world. But bottles for $15 and under, $10 and under – you have to dig a bit deeper.
One producer we have become big fans of is Fleur du Cap. Although they are owned by a bigger conglomerate (Distell), the winery maintains their mantra of home grown wines "inspired by nature." Fleur du cap focuses on the grape and terrior and allows their wines to express the vine and earth. The grapes are grown in the famous Stellenbosch vineyards and made at The Bergkelder, a cellar built into the heart of the mountains. Fleur du cap believes in minimal human intervention, leaving the wine to develop mainly on its own. Very little oak is used, and if so is typically neutral French oak used two or three times.
Recently the wines from this premium producer have been gaining press and popularity with multiple awards for each wine, each vintage. However, most impressively Andrea Freeborough, Fleur du Cap's winemaker, was named South Africa's top woman winemaker in 2010. Following that nod, the winery itself received an even larger honor in 2010 from the International Wine & Spirit Competition (London) being awarded South Africa's producer of the year.
The wines of Fleur du Cap have definitely impressed us by both their quality and hands off approach of letting the wines develop into a accurate representation of the grape and the land. Shockingly though, they have managed to keep the price points of the wine extremely friendly starting just at $9/bottle and topping off at $25. Certainly a line of wines worth exploring at those prices.
Here are some suggestions:
One producer we have become big fans of is Fleur du Cap. Although they are owned by a bigger conglomerate (Distell), the winery maintains their mantra of home grown wines "inspired by nature." Fleur du cap focuses on the grape and terrior and allows their wines to express the vine and earth. The grapes are grown in the famous Stellenbosch vineyards and made at The Bergkelder, a cellar built into the heart of the mountains. Fleur du cap believes in minimal human intervention, leaving the wine to develop mainly on its own. Very little oak is used, and if so is typically neutral French oak used two or three times.
Recently the wines from this premium producer have been gaining press and popularity with multiple awards for each wine, each vintage. However, most impressively Andrea Freeborough, Fleur du Cap's winemaker, was named South Africa's top woman winemaker in 2010. Following that nod, the winery itself received an even larger honor in 2010 from the International Wine & Spirit Competition (London) being awarded South Africa's producer of the year.
The wines of Fleur du Cap have definitely impressed us by both their quality and hands off approach of letting the wines develop into a accurate representation of the grape and the land. Shockingly though, they have managed to keep the price points of the wine extremely friendly starting just at $9/bottle and topping off at $25. Certainly a line of wines worth exploring at those prices.
Here are some suggestions:
- Fleur du Cap Sauvignon Blanc, $11
- Fleur du Cap Selection Sauvignon Blanc, $11
- Fleur du Cap Pinotage – coming in soon (it's actually good!)
