Excelsior Wine Estate

When Koos de Wet rode into the Robertson Valley in 1859 to establish a new farm, he was continuing a family tradition that had begun when his ancestor Jacobus de Wet stepped ashore in Cape Town as an official of the Dutch East India Company in 1697. Jacobus bought land in Stellenbosch and earned the distinction of being one of the earliest winemakers in the southern hemisphere. A century and a half later, his descendant would channel the Breede River, plant the Robertson Valley's first vineyards, and name his venture Excelsior — "ever upward."

Koos divided the farm between his sons, who planted vines and raised horses. In the days before the automobile, Excelsior became known as a source of the finest hackney carriage horses in the region. The family eventually turned from hackneys to championship thoroughbred racehorses, and Excelsior built a reputation as one of South Africa's most distinguished stud farms. When the third-generation owner, Jacobus Stephanus (known as Kowie), inherited the estate, he added ostrich breeding during the feather boom before pivoting back to horses and vines — a decision that saved the farm from the insolvency that claimed many of its neighbours.

Today, Excelsior is managed by Freddie and Peter de Wet, the fourth and fifth generation of the family on this land. The equine tradition continues alongside 220 hectares of vines planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, Petit Verdot, and Malbec. The Paddock Shiraz — named after the well-drained, lime-rich paddock land where the De Wets once raised their horses — is a signature wine that links the estate's two great passions.

The tasting room sits on the water's edge of the farm dam, where visitors can taste the full range and even craft their own blend — bottling, corking, sealing, and labelling a personal creation to take home. A French-inspired restaurant serves cuisine that complements the estate wines, and guesthouse accommodation allows overnight stays on this historic property.

Excelsior exports to more than 20 countries and holds the distinction of being South Africa's top wine exporter to the United States. Yet for all its international reach, the heart of the estate remains in Robertson, where five generations of De Wets have worked the same land, raised horses, and made wine. It is an unbroken lineage of winemaking that ranks among the longest in the country — a family story written in the soil of the Breede River Valley.