After a delightful breakfast we went to our next visit to the ‘’Rietvallei.’’ This is one of the largest family companies in South Africa. The owners of the ‘’Rietvallei,’’ the Burger family, owns the company for six generations. This is the third oldest company in the district.

The Burger family posses a special vineyard with Muscadelle grapes. They brought this type of grape in 1864 and planted this in the 19th century. In the 20th century the grapes were very popular so now the 95 year old ‘bushwines’ (grape trees that grow wild) have a very low harvest.


When we arrived, they had several wines presented for us, a few of the basic series, the special select cepage- and the blending wines. All varied in harvest year; 2006, 2008 and 2009.

After that we went to the Gamedrive at Leopard rock (Karoo - Northern part of South Africa). This showed us how harsh a landscape can be although the animals make the scenery quite charming.

Paul Cluwer (Walker Bay) lead us into the end of this wonderful South-Africa trip, his love for wines from the Bourgogne resulted in a Pinot Noir and a Seven Flags Cru. These wines were matured in Burgundy tonneliers which give the wines a full body and nice aroma.

The Seven Flags Pinot Noir is the wine they are most proud of, with intense red cherries and a light toasted style give the wine length and a juicy taste.

With a 24 hour candied peel stew, mashed potatoes and carrots (don’t forget it is wintertime here) the wine literally melted away on our tongue, it has been a true pleasure.




Baie groet from magnificent South-Africa!
Noël Vanwittenbergh