Hermanuspietersfontein Wines

The name Hermanuspietersfontein — all 24 letters of it — tells the origin story of Hermanus itself. In 1815, Hermanus Pieters, a Dutch schoolteacher, arrived in Cape Town and trekked by ox-wagon to Caledon. Each summer he herded his sheep and cattle south along what is now the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. People followed, and by 1855 a permanent settlement formed around his fountain — Hermanuspietersfontein — which was eventually shortened to the town we know today as Hermanus.

The modern wine estate took that founding name and the founding date of 1855 as its identity. The farm's vineyards sit not in the better-known Hemel-en-Aarde but in Sondagskloof, a cool-climate ward between Stanford and Elim where temperatures run roughly two degrees cooler than the Walker Bay average. With only 65 hectares under vine, farming mainly Bordeaux varieties, the estate earned Wine of Origin Sondagskloof status — a distinction that reflects genuinely different terroir rather than marketing ambition.

The winemaking pedigree runs deep. Former winemaker Bartho Eksteen won the Diners Club Winemaker of the Year award in 2010 for the Nr. 5 Sauvignon Blanc — a wooded expression that was the first of its kind to receive the honour. It was Eksteen who established the estate's reputation for layered, complex Sauvignon Blancs and bold Bordeaux-style reds. Since 2015, Wilhelm Pienaar has carried the torch, bringing experience from JC Le Roux, Montpellier SupAgro in France, and a tenure as head of red winemaking at Nederburg.

The wine range is memorably named. Kaalvoet Meisie ('Barefoot Girl') is a crisp, entry-level Sauvignon Blanc; Kat is a wooded Sauvignon Blanc that builds on the Nr. 5 legacy; Kleinboet is a structured Bordeaux blend; Skoonma is a Rhone-style Shiraz; and Swartskaap is a powerful Cabernet Franc. At the top, Arnoldus represents the estate's finest expression. Each name evokes a character or personality, giving the range a distinctly South African warmth.

The tasting cellar in Hermanus invites visitors to explore the full lineup in a relaxed setting. The wines are available online through the estate's shop at hpf1855.com, and export markets continue to grow as international buyers discover the Sondagskloof appellation. Each wine in the range tells its own story — from the free-spirited Kaalvoet Meisie to the refined, tradition-honouring Arnoldus — making a tasting here feel more like meeting a cast of characters than working through a wine list.

Hermanuspietersfontein calls itself 'the soul of Sondagskloof' — a claim backed by its BWI-champion farm, its cool-climate terroir, and the simple fact that this estate carries the original name of the town in which it sits.