Hoopenburg Wine Estate

About Hoopenburg Wine Estate

The German Schmitz family established Hoopenburg estate which happens to be the only wine estate in the country where bush vines form 100% of the vineyard. Only quality juice is extracted once grapes are hand-picked and there are low yields of 6 tons per hectare. The philosophy of this boutique winery is as follows: "we produce new age wines in an old world style".

Noble cultivars are produced such as Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Shiraz, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Located in one of the Cape's great wine regions, they have released vintages across all three of its ranges: the top-end Integer label, the Hoopenburg estate range and the easy-drinking Guru wines.

The estate encourages environmentally friendly farming and once the grapes have been hand-picked, with whole bunch pressing, hand plunging and extracting the juices, fermentation takes place once wine has age in oak barrels. The Chardonnay and Shiraz blocks have been replaced with organically grown blocks.

The Guru range is an easy accessible wine with ‘did you know' information on the back label. The Guru Merlot 2008 has an intense nose of prunes and black olives, and a medium-bodied palate with soft, round, lingering tannins. Whilst the Hoopenburg Pinot Noir 2009 is an elegant wine with ripe tannins, revealing gorgeous plums and mulberries with an earthy forest floor character, vanilla undertones and hints of spice and pepper.

To view more wine estates in the region see Bottelary Hills Wine Estates or see South Africa Wine Estates for a general overview and links to other wine producing regions.