Beyerskloof Wine Estate

Beyers Truter, known as the ‘King of Pinotage’ for his pioneering work with the grape at the Kanonkop Estate, bought a small and perfectly situated farm in 1988 and named it Beyerskloof. Beyers Truter and  Simon Halliday (owner of Raisin Social) jointly own Beyerskloof and work together to develop both the quality of the wines and the brand.

While the reputation of his benchmark standard Pinotage continues to grow, his Bordeaux blend is also one of the Cape’s most sought after reds winning Gold at the International Wine and Spirit Competition for the 1998 vintage and another Gold for the 1999 vintage at the International Wine Challenge.

Beyers developed the concept of a "Cape Blend", the idea being that Pinotage as a component , together with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, could produce a classic and typical Fine wine of the Cape.

Beyers himself has been showered with awards, too numerous to name them all. A few highlights include:

Awarded International Winemaker of the year at the 1991 Wine & Spirit Competition held in London

He is the only winemaker ever to twice receive the Pichon Longueville Comtesse de la Lalande trophy for the best blended red wine at the International Wine and Spirit Competition in London. That was in 1994 and 1999.

He was named South African Winemaker of the Year at the 2003 International Wine and Spirit Competition.  To find out more about Beyerskloof visit the Beyerskloof website at http://www.beyerskloof.co.za/

Vineyards & the Cellar

The farm's gravelly soil is similar to that of Bordeaux in France, although not very deep, varying between 300mm and one metre.

Because of the shallow soils almost 5 000 vines per hectare were planted, resulting in better utilization of the small vineyard.

The vines are all planted in a north/south direction, allowing maximum hours of sunlight which is crucial to the forming of the high sugar levels needed for quality wine. The cellar and tasting room received a facelift in 1997, and the warehouse now has the capacity to cellar some 60,000 cases of wine. A new guesthouse was also completed in 1997 from where one can experience some of the most scenic views in the Stellenbosch region. The old cellar still boasts some ancient concrete fermenters that are now used to store about 250 225 litre oak barrels. Bottling is done on site

The Beyerskloof Brand

To find out more about the way the brand was created click here

Wine Awards

Beyers Truter does not make wines to win awards. He makes wines out of an inner compulsion to reflect his personality and philosophy through the careful husbanding of grape from vine to glass. But because the process ends up in such a quality product, the wines have won numerous prizes:

1994 Beyerskloof Cabernet Sauvignon - Awarded the Winiarski Trophy at the International Wine and Spirit Competition for the World's Best Cabernet Sauvignon. It was also South Africa's first wine to receive a five star Decanter Award.

1995 Beyerskloof Cabernet Sauvignon - Received gold at Mondiale in Brussels and at the Singapore International Wine Challenge.

1996 Beyerskloof Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot -Won Double Gold at Veritas 1998.

1995 Beyerskloof Pinotage - Received a four star rating in Wine magazine.

1996 Beyerskloof Pinotage - Named one of the ABSA Top Ten Pinotages in 1996.

1998 Beyerskloof Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot -Won Double Gold at Veritas 2000.

1998 Beyerskloof Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot – Won a Gold Award at the 2002 International Wine & Spirits Competition.

1999 Beyerskloof Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot -Awarded a Gold Medal at the 2002 International Wine Challenge.

1997 Beyerskloof Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot -Awarded a rating of 91 in Wine Spectator

2001 Beyerskloof Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot - Awarded a Regional Trophy in the Decanter World Wine Awards 2006

Wines

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