Swartland
The Cape's new-wave heartland
- Soil
- Granite, schist and shale on warm, dry, unirrigated hills.
- Style
- Old-vine, dry-farmed Chenin Blanc and Rhône-style Syrah/blends — textural, savoury, mineral.
- Top sites
- Around the Paardeberg, Riebeek and Malmesbury; bush-vine country.
- Vintages
- 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021
- Producers
- Porseleinberg
Tip · The Swartland Revolution (led by Eben Sadie) turned a bulk-wine backwater into the Cape's most exciting region — old dry-farmed bush vines, minimal intervention, Rhône varieties.
Value pick
Mullineux 'Kloof Street' Old Vine Chenin · ~$20
Textural, mineral, dry-farmed old-vine Chenin from a Swartland star — world-class white at an everyday price.
Collector pick
Sadie Family 'Columella' · ~$150 · 2020
Eben Sadie's Syrah-led flagship — the wine that defines the Swartland and South Africa's most collected red.