To some, it would just be a round hill – nothing to see here, move on.
To us, it’s somewhere between our North Star and the centre of our Universe. It is extraordinary and exceptional all at once. Let me tell you why we believe this is the perfect place to make wine.
As with the rest of Cape Winelands, our geologic story began a staggering 600 million years ago – a timeline that’s hard to comprehend. The breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana allowed the formation of the cold South Atlantic and the warmer Indian Ocean currents which meet under the tip of Africa, creating a collision of two bodies of water with global climatic consequences. The generally cooling impact of this collision is fundamental to the Winelands’ existence, without which it would be too hot and arid for vines to survive, let alone prosper.
The formation of the Cape Fold Belt through continental interactions led to our beautiful mountainous geography, geologically characterised by the Malmesbury Group, Cape Granite, and Table Mountain Group rocks. On Rondekop, we have a mixture of granite and Table Mountain Sandstone. A combination of slopes (anywhere from gentle to very steep) and intensely rocky soil profiles create an ideal place for vineyards. The well-drained soils push the vines to develop vast root structures as they search for deep-level moisture. A theory I have is that these ancient soils have taken time for vignerons to understand, and possibly irrigation systems led to excessive amounts of water, creating the adverse effects of over-vigorous vines. We have certainly learned through time, experience, and technology (such as pressure bombs) that irrigation is something we generally do not use after the formative years of the vine. Nature has provided Rondekop with ideal soil profiles to grow perfect grapes.
Rondekop rises to 410m at its summit, which gives it a few precious extra centigrade of coolness. However, the impact of the surrounding amphitheatre of mountains plays a vital role in reducing temperature and sunlight hours. With sunrises and sunsets blocked by mountain ridges, our sunlight hours are reduced by up to three hours daily. Combined with cooling Katabatic winds the cooler and heavier air on the mountaintops begins to fall after sunset causing a cool breeze to flow through the valley at night. During the day the reverse effect plays out: as the mountain rock faces warm up in the sunshine an anabatic breeze is created which drags warm air into the valley.
The various temperature control features give rise to a vast diurnal temperature difference, as wide as twenty degrees Celsius in summer. Rondekop lies in the centre of this. The day’s warmth develops the sugars and fruit expression of the grapes, and the cool nights allow for acids to build. The wines produced have a delicate balance between fruit and acidity, with generally fine-grained tannins. To our minds, the wines convey an elegant symbiotic connection with their place of origin – Rondekop.
Over time, we have always felt the inspiration of what we think is a spiritual and mystical place. The stone axes we have found over the years speak to an age 100,000 years ago when ancient humans probably used the top of Rondekop as a lookout – making Stone Axe an obvious name for our Syrah, which comes from vineyard blocks on the summit of the round hill.
Our natural surroundings are impressive and – perhaps in a primal way – ensure that everything we do is closely connected and in sync with Nature. We practice Regenerative Farming, focusing on soil health and the overall health of the farm’s biome. We have created many fynbos and indigenous areas surrounding the vineyards and run through them in the case of ‘fynbos’ corridors. Such areas provide a natural home for predator insects and guinea fowl, which prey on some of the pests that cause harm to our vines. Our recent accreditation as a Conservation Champion by the World Wildlife Fund was a proud moment and served as a signpost reinforcing that we are on the right path.
Our Generation Three project (now nearing completion after eight years) where we fought against the leaf roll virus by removing 70% of our vineyards shows our level of conviction in what we know Rondekop has to offer—something quite special and unique. Something that we are, in fact, custodians of — an extraordinary Place.
When designing the new vineyards, we combined over sixty years of growing experience with the knowledge gained through winemaking. We remapped our soils in greater granularity and took advantage of the infinite sunlight aspect offered by our 360° planting surface. At the same time, we adopted many better trellising methods, primarily to combat winds on the southern side of Rondekop, which can be damaging. We have also planted different blocks of the same cultivar in various aspects to promote complexity in our wines; for example, we have planted nine blocks of Chardonnay. Rondekop has offered us some fascinating viticultural complexity, and we are excited to accept its challenges.
We have learned to use the wild yeasts that occur on our grapes for natural fermentations—with healthy vineyards come healthy yeasts, and our artisan winemaking approach works in lockstep with our precision viticulture. We know that great wines do not come from a recipe; they are interpretations, translations, if you like, of a Place called Rondekop and how Nature and humans interact with it.
We are proud to release our latest Rondekop series of wines. The Rondekop Rhodium 2021, the Rondekop Per Se 2021, and the Rondekop Stone Axe 2022 are amongst our best wines ever made. They are the result of many years of carefully listening to Nature’s prompts, helped in many ways by a deep conviction that our beautiful round hill — Rondekop — is indeed an extraordinary place for making exceptional wines.
