In Dutch, the name means “solitude”, and is a reference to the property’s isolation from Cape Town when the farm was named in 1693 – a time when a journey of 60 km required a good horse if the rider wanted to arrive within a day.

A shortage of grain, fresh fruit and vegetables in the Cape obliged the governor of the Cape, Simon van der Stel, to allocate small farms to officials and soldiers of the Dutch East India Company.

The soldiers and sailors mostly came from the German states, and normally had a 5-year contract after which they could either return home to their families or apply for a farm to be granted to them and become free burghers in the Cape of Good Hope.

This 100% Grenache Noir from Agter-Paarl is crafted from dryland bush vines planted in 2012. The wine is made with minimal intervention, with hand-picked grapes, cold maceration, and fermentation in open top vessels. It undergoes malolactic fermentation in barrel and matures for 11 months in older French oak barrels. The result is a structured, elegant wine with aging potential of 3-5 years, showcasing the character of decomposed shale soils and a low-yielding vineyard.