The beautiful Elgin Valley is a high inland plateau, completely surrounded
by mountains, just 70km from Cape Town, South Africa. It is rapidly gaining
a reputation for the production of premium quality wines. This is the home
of The Elgin Vintners, publishers of fine wines, a close knit partnership
of six dedicated wine growers from the Elgin Valley.
The Elgin Vintners single biggest advantage is the biodiversity of their
vineyards, spread over a radius of 12km with an unrivalled spectrum of
terroir, soils, aspects, altitudes and meso-climates. Aided by the cool
Elgin Valley climate, they strive for vines that are in perfect balance with an ideal
crop load-to-leaf ratio, yielding grapes that reach physiological and
phenolic ripeness simultaneously. It is the blending of these essential
elements
that contributes to the fine quality of the wines from this region. Paul
Wallace, viticulturist/consultant and partner in Elgin Vintners, has
over 30 years experience in the wine industryoversees the management of all the vineyards within the Elgin Vintners Stable.
Through careful selection
of the
grapes from a variety of unique vineyards, he is able to maximise the
complexity and character for each individual wine.
Total Plantings
Total Plantings amongst the Elgin Vintners partners total approx 101 hectares and include the white varieties Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Viogner and Rhine Riesling. Our first semillon, grown on Eikenhof, was harvested in March 2011. The red varieties include Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Pinot Noir and Shiraz. Recent plantings will soon come into production and give us greater scope in product range, style and volume.
Vinification
Vinification is outsourced by Elgin Vintners to well known winemakers who have been identified for a particular style, flair and affinity with the variety in question. These include Jeff Grier of Villiera (Sauvignon Blanc), Niels Verburg of Luddite (Shiraz and Viognier), Nico Grobler of Eikendal (Merlot Rosé), Kevin Grant (Chardonnay) and Gavin Patterson (Pinot Noir).
Justin Hoy of Highlands Road Estate has vinified the Bordeaux varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot for the 2006, 2007 and 2008 vintages.
Martin Meinert has taken over the reins from the 2009 vintage.
Our total annual production currently stands at approximately 20,000 cases of 6 per year spread over 9 labels within the range.
Tel: +27 (0)21 859 2779 | Fax: +27 (0)86 646 3693 | Email: elginvintner@mweb.co.za
Morningstar Farm, Oudebrug Road, Elgin, Western Cape, South Africa
