Joubert Tradauw Wine Farm & Deli Alfresco

The Tradouw Valley is one of South Africa's most spectacularly hidden wine regions — a narrow corridor carved through the Langeberg mountains along the R62, the country's longest wine route. The name Tradouw derives from the Khoisan, meaning 'footpath of the women,' and for centuries the valley was little more than a passage between the Overberg and the Klein Karoo. It was in this fertile but overlooked valley, just outside the village of Barrydale, that the Joubert family decided to plant vines and make wine.

The family's connection to the valley runs deep. In 1963, Schalk-Willem Joubert left Wellington to farm in the Tradouw Valley, growing fruit and wine grapes on the rich alluvial soils deposited by the Tradouw River. His son Jacobus recognised the potential for premium cultivars on the farm's cooled slopes and began planting Cabernet Franc in 1982 — one of the earliest plantings of this variety in the region. But it was Jacobus's son, Meyer Joubert, who transformed Tradouw grapes into Tradouw wine.

Meyer studied viticulture at Elsenburg Agricultural College before travelling to California's Napa Valley, where the energy of small-lot, terroir-driven winemaking captured his imagination. Returning to the family farm, he built a fermentation cellar in 1998 from stone quarried from the farm's own rocky soils — a building that is itself an expression of terroir. The first grapes were crushed in 1999, and the inaugural R62 Merlot-Cabernet blend was released after fourteen months in Burgundy oak barrels.

Meyer was the first winemaker to trademark the name R62 as a wine label, inspired by America's Route 66 and the scenic road that runs past the cellar door. The R62 blend has become the estate's calling card — a red built primarily on Merlot and Cabernet Franc with Shiraz adding spice and structure. Alongside it, Meyer produces a Chardonnay, a Pinot Noir, a single-varietal Syrah, and a Cabernet Franc, each reflecting the valley's unique combination of Klein Karoo warmth and mountain-cooled nights.

The estate's Deli Alfresco has become a beloved stop for R62 travellers, serving South African fare paired with estate wines on a shaded terrace overlooking the vineyards and surrounding mountains. A villa on the property offers accommodation for guests who want to linger in the valley.

Joubert-Tradauw remains small, family-run, and deeply rooted in place. The wines carry the Tim Atkin 95-point confidence of serious, site-specific winemaking, yet the atmosphere at the cellar door is unmistakably relaxed — a farm table under the Karoo sky, a glass of R62 in hand, and the ancient footpath of the Khoisan women stretching into the mountains beyond.