25 years ago
In the year 2000, the small farm, that was to become Kleinood,
was very different from what it is now.
Although its inherent natural beauty and charm was always there,
it was, sadly, just a run down and neglected little fruit farm in a beautiful valley
against a backdrop of majestic mountains
with a river running through it.
It stole our hearts. We decided to give it our best.
Although Kleinood Farm is not only about wine,
our much lauded flagship,
the Tamboerskloof Syrah,
is and always will be
our pride and joy.
“Good wines are made in the vineyard.”
Driven by our love for Rhône-style wines and ensuring that we understand the terroir of Kleinood through careful analyses of soil types and climatic conditions on the farm, we started planting Shiraz, Mourvèdre and Viognier on meticulously prepared North and West facing slopes.
Whereas Argentinean Shiraz clones are commonly planted in the Cape Winelands, we were able to source Rhône Syrah clones from a laboratory, where budding eyes were generated from scrapings made from the mother plants and then propagated.
It was a slow process teaching us the flexibility and patience the making of fine wines demand.
From the start, each half-hectare block on the farm was and is managed as a separate unit with grapes from each unit nurtured, irrigated and harvested separately.
In addition to this philosophy of farming each vineyard parcel individually, to harvest the best
possible grapes, proprietor Gerard de Villiers, developed the cellar to be a study in simplicity by cleverly combining high-tech with traditional methods.
Here no effort was spared, for the benefit of the end product – always mindful of the cultivar, gentle handling of the grapes, meticulous sorting as well as affording the winemaker the most gentle approach and flexibility possible.
From this delicate balance between science and passion, the Tamboerskloof wines were born – cultivated, nurtured, harvested, pressed, matured and bottled with equal care and precision.
“Winemaking is alchemy. It is wind, rain, sun, and soil mysteriously absorbed by the vine to produce juice filled berries that we, through the fine balance between magic and science, gently coax, to become a thing of beauty in every sense of the word.”
Although the very first Rhône style Tamboerskloof Syrah was bottled in 2002,
the 2003 vintage was the first to be released to the public.
Twenty two years later, we continue to make
the handcrafted Tamboerskloof Syrah in the exact same way.
“Our wines do not reflect what we have done to it,
but express the complexity of their origin.”
To Many More!
