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Our Breedekloof Neighbors

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Please select from the thumbnails below to view the full size image and accompanying text discussions.

This photo taken from neighbor Rico Suter's glider shows Silkbush Mountain Vineyards, Bowe (to the left and above), Suter (still farther to the left and above, with its large reservoirs most apparent), Marais (upper right hand corner) and Silver Springs (in the lower right hand corner, to the right of the windy gravel road). Note: the blocks above our lower dam had not yet been planted in this photo.

Here is another grand perspective from our backyard. One of our few neighbors, Fanie Griessel, lives in the log cabin with the metal roof. Fanie, a charming and very social old boy, loves dogs, a glass or two, and his cigarettes. When we purchased Silkbush in 2000, Fanie's log cabin was perhaps a third the size it is today. He just keeps expanding its footprint and capacity for guests.

While the Silver Springs property could also be planted as a true mountain vineyard, Fanie Griessel has only run cattle and a few pot belly pigs on it. This photo shows it is quite close to the mountain escarpment to the rear of SILKBUSH.

This is the man himself, Fanie Griessel. He was born in South Africa, then spent a number of years in South Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and then went back to the RSA, with his dearly missed wife.

Chantelle is Fanie's lovely daughter who lives in Cape Town with her husband. They visit Silver Springs every few weeks and adore being in the country.

Here is a dramatic Southwest perspective from high in the mountains. While photos tend to flatten things a bit, one can see our distant neighbors on the valley floor and their rows of Beefwood trees planted as windbreaks. Strong SE winds blow up this valley, but a long knoll just south of us (at Bowe Vineyards) conveniently knocks the gales above our vines. In the distance, and in the South African Fall, most of our plantings looked like brown, barren fields. But after winter rains and months of growing, these fields became very lush and green.

Here is a photo from the Breede River Mountain Bike Race. SILKBUSH's Roos family has been avid mountain bikers for many years and helped organize this bike race that has now become a big annual event. A portion of the race is run over Silkbush Mountain Vineyards and the "Water Station" is always at our campgrounds. It is a very exciting local event.

Three participants in the annual Breede River Mountain Bike Race are in the foreground; the Kingsbury Cottage is at the rear.

As the sign indicates, if racers want water, they must first stop and dismount their bicycle. It is quite a steep grade that follows to the top of our dam, and we don't want any accidents with racers trying to jockey a bike and a bottle of water. Note: the racer in the photo is sponsored by Rainbow Farms, South Africa’s largest processor and marketer of chicken.

Bernard is the Head Veterinarian of Rainbow Farms, a major South African poultry operation. Bernard has a great sense of humor, is highly educated, and loves outdoor sports.

Bernard does need a little assistance from time to time, such as on a very steep concrete ramp to the shooting positions at the Clay Dove Club. But once in position, he shoots trap and skeet with the best of them. And this is just practice for actual hunting trips with his mates. We salute his can-do attitude!

Hennie Du Preez was Chief Winemaker at Du Preez Estate Winery in Rawsonville. His lovely wife had just passed her exams to become a licensed dentist, but this family already has great teeth. Capewine 2002 was a big, three-day international wine marketing festival. It was deemed a success by all, and has been repeated every two years in April, just after the harvest is completed, until 2008, when it was shifted to late September.

Ten years after "retiring" from the family wine business, "Klein" Hennie moved his family to Breedekloof, purchased a farm and became our close neighbor. This photo of our larger than life chum was at the Mountain Bike Race in April 2012.

It really was sad to see in March 2006 what the recent wildfires had done to the hillsides above us, such as the Vredehoek, Marais and other farms. What had been lush green forests and hiking trails looked like a nuclear blast site. A couple of wet winters brought back much of the fynbos (native plants), thankfully.

The block of hard, dry cheese weighted about 10 pounds and we needed to have it cut into eights to give to our South African friends we visited. The sterilized table saw did just the trick!

Rico Suter was born in Switzerland but moved to South Africa about 50 years ago to become a farmer. One son, Bruno, manages the vineyards, another son, Carlo, runs the winery, and the third is an airline pilot in the Middle East! We wish them all the best of luck in this ambitious venture.

Rico keeps his specialized aircraft in its own hanger and maintains it meticulously. Notice the metal lined groove in the floor on which a dolly slides the glider in and out of the hanger. Everything has been carefully planned out.

Believe it or not, this small engine is strong enough to get the aircraft airborne with two passengers aboard! Once airborne, Rico hits a switch and the propeller and engine retract into the body of the glider, and he then searches for updrafts, much like sailors look for the wind.

We took off from and, two hours later, returned to, the Worcester Airport. It has a few powered light planes based there as well, but reportedly Worcester Airport is home to over 40 gliders and an active Glider Club. People come from around the world, but especially Europe, to fly their sailplanes in the Breede River Valley and to destinations farther away.

Few people ever get to see the Sybasberg (Silkbush) Mountain at this short distance and from this elevation. Rico flew his glider very close to the rock wall and we took photos from the rear seat.

Fable Winery is located on our side of the mountains, about 25 minutes north of Silkbush. While a much smaller vineyard than ours, the prior owners (English investment bankers) built a very attractive cellar to process about 200 tons per year into wine. Their early results received international acclaim from top wine journalists and resulted in the winery's purchase by an American, Charles Banks.

Few wineries, especially most smaller ones, have as comfortable and homey an area to entertain guests as does Fable. Other than the exposed steel in the ceiling, this could be the drawing room of an English countryside estate, an effect that was clearly intended by its former offshore owners, the Austin and Scott families.

This 200 ton winery is not set up for large production but rather very high quality instead. The fourteen 12,000 liter fermenters are elevated concrete tanks (behind the brick facade), which permits gravity flow to the barrels some 10 feet below. The stainless steel doors allow clean out of the saturated red grape skins (and lees & pips), which will go into a rolling grape press on the main floor. For most of their red wines, the maturation period is 22 months in barrel. At the rear of the photo is the steel frame "great room" where guests can observe the wine making process without being in the way.

Fable Winery (originally TMV) acquired these French concrete "egg" fermenters. While grape juice can and is fermented in stainless steel, wooden barrels, plastic tubs, concrete tanks, and God knows what else, this one was new to us. There is some sort of theory about spontaneous movement of the fermenting juice, and minimal contact with the grape cap, all within the "perfect egg shape," but we know little else.

Most quality red wine is fermented dry in concrete or steel tanks before it is pumped into oak barrels for maturation (usually over one to two year periods). However, a former American winemaker Andrea Kozlowski is pumping into the new French oak while the wine has a small amount of remaining sugar still fermenting. (This technique is also used by a few top end Napa wine makers we know.)

Henk Du Bruyn and his wife purchased the Lemberg Wine Estatate (<a href="http://www.lemberg.co.za">www.lemberg.co.za</a>) in 2001. They enlarged and renovated the farm, with new cellars, wine tasting facilities, and additional plantings. Cultivars at Lemberg include Pinot Noir, Pinotage, Shiraz, Grenache Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier and Harsevelu.

We visited Lemberg for the first time in April 2014 as Silkbush has been selling a small amount of grapes to the cellar for two seasons. We are quite pleased we went as it is a charming winery, in a beautiful setting, and making quite spectacular wine. The wines include numerous varieties, but the one we considered just spectacular was their 2012 Cape Blend, made from Shiraz, Pinotage, and Pinot Noir.

Neil Rossouw did a wonderful job of showing our American visitors around and tasting us through the full lineup of wines. Behind him is one of many works of art featured in the tasting room; original art is also a priority at Lemberg.

We were introduced to the remarkable Sylvia Linde and her husband, Greg Linde, in 1997 in Marin County, CA. Mutual friends had said we were both in the CA wine industry (they with a beautiful small farm in Geyserville, Alexander Valley) and keen on the potential of South Africa. Greg had also come from Sweden to the US in the 1950's and had a great career in the real estate department of the Southern Pacific Railroad; they have a real caboose on their Sonoma vineyard! Having enjoyed the Cape on numerous trips, Greg and Sylvia decided to buy a farm in South Africa and develop a vineyard, about the time in life most retirees are struggling with golf carts and tee times. It is another SILKBUSH neighbor, Linde Vineyards.

So not only did the Lindes start to plant a 14 Ha hillside vineyard near the colonial town of Tulbagh, they planned and built a glamorous Cape Dutch style home in about six months time. Their lovely home is about 30 minutes north of Silkbush, and we celebrated Thanksgiving there with many other local friends of the Lindes in 2003. Greg is making Cabernet and Merlot in the basement there, as he is in Sonoma, and obtaining winery licenses in both countries! And if they keep holding large parties, they will have little left over to sell!

Greg and Sylvia brought Tom and Jerry Kamm down to see our farm and the Roos's new baby boy in early 2005. The weather wasn't the best but the Kamms were so sufficiently impressed they later became Silkbush stockholders!

Rick and Lois Stuckey, Silkbush investors, made their first trip to South Africa from Chicago with their pretty teenage daughters Jorian and Angela. Rick and Dave were classmates at Stanford GSB in the Sixties, and later Rick caught the wine grape bug while visiting Dave's White Oak Winery after a Stanford alumni reunion.

In our considered opinion, the Mill & Oaks offers the best dinners (outside of loving home-cooking) in the entire Breedekloof region. The Inn is about 17 minutes from Silkbush, on the road to Ceres. Don't miss it when you come to visit. They also have a small lodging capability which is altogether charming but it is located on a highway, not a vineyard.

Dick Wade, of San Antonio, Texas, and Helen Baker, of Tarzana, CA, both SILKBUSH partners, are on the left side of the table. Dick and Helen made excellent suggestions on how to improve the Estate house design, which became over 5,000 square feet, with 4 bedrooms and 4.5 baths. Bob Biggs, touring Stanford Club of Marin chum, can't believe how they serve Barbeque (Braai) in South Africa! (Sadly, Bob Biggs died a couple of years later while on another visit to Africa with his wife. We do miss his spirit and enthusiasm.)

Bergsig (<a href="http://www.bergsig.co.za">www.bergsig.co.za</a>) is a large, family-owned vineyard and winery operation located on R43, about five miles northwest of Silkbush Mountain Vineyards. The Lategan family are delightful neighbors who sell their wines within the country and internationally. In 2006 they opened a really first rate tasting room and restaurant at their winery. Both operations are quite posh and well worth visiting.

On the ground floor of Bergsig, the menu of the day is available as the restaurant is on the second floor. The old copper brandy still is in the background and cut Proteas in full bloom add a splash of color.

Close up of gorgeous Protea at Bergsig...

Bergsig has some of the most beautiful Proteas examples decorating their property just outside the offices and tasting room. "Prop" Lategan may have gotten his nick-name years ago because of his love of flying small airplanes, but in his retirement years his avocation is raising these beautiful plants.

Not a Protea, this lovely flower's precise name is Stelitzia Reginae. But Bird of Paradise really fits! It is also grown in California.

Lovely, just lovely.

Most Proteas grow wild in the Western Cape, often in remote areas, although many are harvested before they bloom and then exported overseas to the flower markets of the world. When the grandfather was a younger man, he became a top flight airplane pilot, hence the nickname, Prop. He still flies a Cessna, but growing these spectacular flowers is Prop's main joy today.

This local (former cooperative) winery presently crushes some 13-15,000 tons of grapes per year for its approximately 40 members. This winery is better off than many others because Wabooms members are delivering roughly 50% red grapes and obtaining a high quality reputation. Initially we delivered there a substantial portion of our production to be acknowledged as supportive members of the local farming community, because it is set up to process large quantities of red grapes, and because the winery is very handy to our vineyard. However, their wine making has continued to make serious strides in quality and our pride in being a member has increased significantly. At present, Wabooms sells about 98% of its wine in bulk to other wineries, wholesalers, and exporters, but its future may be in relationships with US and BRIC importers specializing in export quality, branded wines.

Here is Bennie Wannenberg, former SILKBUSH winemaker, and GM/Cellarmaster for Waboomsriver Winery, behind the counter at the Clay Dove Club opening in 2012. Besides being very talented with large quantities of wine, Bennie is one very hard worker.

Slanghoek Cellar (<a href="http://www.slanghoek.co.za">www.slanghoek.co.za</a>) is a huge cooperative winery on the western side of the Breede River Valley specializing mostly in white wines. (Their NLH dessert wine is exceptional.) Here Nicolaas Rust, Senior Winemaker, explains how some 25,000+ metric tons of grapes becomes over 14 million liters of wine in a very short period of time. The co-op is owned by 25 large farming families.

Stanley Louw, the sixth generation to own this farm and winery"http://www.jasonshill.com">www.jasonshill.com)

In the rural parts of South Africa, many of the school children ("learners") wear uniforms through high school. In our area, the children of all races typically attend elementary school together in the farm country. When they reach high school age, some children drop out of the education system and others go into the towns like Worcester and Paarl, either driven by their parents daily or they board in dormitories during the week.

Most of the local farm workers dress up on Sunday and go to church. However, very few can afford cars so usually the farm owner or his foreman will drive everyone into town in a truck, or in this case, in a small wagon behind a tractor. All of these people are Cape Coloureds, the predominant genetic mixture of folk in the Western Cape, a "cafe au lait" of former San and Khoi people intermarrying and breeding with former Malay slaves, early settlers, and sailors from the Dutch East Indies Company, commencing in 1652. The dominant language is Afrikaans, which is also the language of the Dutch settlers.

The Calabash is a nearby open air "bushpub", quite popular with both local farming families on weekends as well as visitors from Cape Town touring the Winelands and crossing the historic Bainskloof Pass just to the west. In this photo, see parents drinking local wines and eating a Sunday brunch while the youngsters frolic in the swimming pool under watchful eyes. English and Afrikaans is spoken interchangeably by most. Built as a cattle shed in 1899 at the Eastern base of the winding Bainskloof Pass, it is now owned and operated by Willie Lategan. If you are up for a good time, don't miss it.

Of the more than 1,000 blockhouses built during the Anglo Boer War, few have survived, and two are located on the river south of the small town of Wolseley. They were built in 1901 by the British to protect the railway bridges from Boer attacks. The stone is local while the remaining materials were imported from Britain. Originally, the blockhouses could house 20 men with water, munitions, and supplies stored on the lower floor. The "living" area was the middle floor and was accessible by a retractable ladder and the top floor was the look-out deck. They were very effective barriers and few saw any action. Be sure to visit the Blockhouse on your next Silkbush excursion.

Our neighbor Waverly Hills Winery is a relatively new producer, located near the Mill & Oaks on the R46 highway, between Ceres and Tulbagh. Waverley is strictly an organic wine operation (which frequently can be very challenging) and offers a nice restaurant that caters social functions for up to 50 people, and as larger weddings too.

Virtually across the road from the Mill and Oaks lies another terrific SILKBUSH neighbor, White Bridge Farms, which is a commercial citrus farm that also has a few rustic self-catering cabins along with a bed and breakfast unit adjacent to the family home. One of our stockholders, Helen Baker, stayed there in 2005 and really loved it. www.whitebridge.co.za
(<a href="http://www.whitebridge.co.za">www.whitebridge.co.za</a>)

Graham Beck Wines (GBW) grahambeckwines.com (<a href="http://www.grahambeckwines.com">www.grahambeckwines.com</a>) owns a substantial winery in Franschhoek Valley in addition to this large and impressive winery on "our side" of the mountains in the Breede River Valley.

In the Robertson area, Cellarmaster Pieter Ferreira makes wonderful wine from a large 156 Ha planting surrounding the winery. Pieter also makes excellent sparkling (favored by US President Obama) as well as still wines and naturally has started exporting to the US.

Karoo Desert National Park and Botanic Garden, while not as famous as Kirstenbosch Garden in Cape Town, is a lovely place to visit while touring the Breede River Valley. Located just north of the N-1 highway, across from the city of Worcester, the large hillside botanical garden contains countless species of succulent plants and flowers from the large Karoo Desert of South Africa.

The posted signs said these tall, white plants were wild African grapes. Certainly far different from the grape vines we grow. The Dutch settlers, starting in 1652, planted European grape vines exclusively, and now grow most of the wines familiar to Americans, but also a few others, such as the local hybrid, Pinotage. (We will have to research what can be done with the native African grape.)

Absolutely one of the fascinating aspects of the Western Cape is the widely varied micro-climates and settings all within a few miles of each other. Worcester is about 1.5 hours from the seashore, and all around it are lush, irrigated vineyards. But from this perspective, we could be in the desert of the American Southwest, which the Great Karoo desert, just a hour or so to the east, resembles.

The changing colors, from minute to minute, late in the day, can just take your breath away. Simply marvelous. Due to the steepness of the valley walls, sunset never lasts very long. But depending upon the cloud patterns, sunset can be very impressive and seldom the same from one evening to the next. Our Breedekloof neighbors share our impressive vistas and we know you will enjoy every moment of your touring.

At one time, all roads may have lead to Rome, but on the SILKBUSH website, almost all sunsets are seen from our vineyards. Traveling about the Western Cape is always great fun and as you can see, there is now shortage of scenic beauty and kind people.

However, there is no place like home, especially at sundown. Do come down and visit us; we'll have a spectacular sunset and a cool "sundowner" waiting ...

SOUTH AFRICA VINEYARD OFFICE: PO Box 91, Breerivier 685, Western Cape, RSA
Tel: (27) 083-629-1735 or email: [email protected]
Kingsbury Cottage Guest House Rental Information: Tel: (27) 083-629-1710 or email: [email protected]
USA OFFICE: Public Relations, Social Media & Marketing: Lisa O’Connor Email: [email protected]