Klein Goederust Wine Farm

In the heart of the Franschhoek Valley, on a ten-hectare property with a cellar dating back to 1905, Klein Goederust is making wine and making history. In 2019, Paul Siguqa — the son of a Cape Winelands farm labourer — acquired the estate, making it the first and only one hundred percent black-owned wine farm in the Franschhoek Valley. It is a story that carries the weight of South Africa's past and the promise of its future.

Paul grew up on a local wine farm where his mother, Nomaroma Siguqa, worked as a labourer for most of her life. She was a woman who knew wine — not from books or courses, but from decades of proximity to the vines and the cellar, from a lifetime of watching grapes become something greater. When Paul left the farm to study business, Nomaroma's quiet expertise and her dream that the family might one day own land of their own stayed with him. In 2019, after years in the corporate world, Paul returned to Franschhoek and made that dream real.

The farm he chose carries its own history. Klein Goederust — 'small grace' in Afrikaans — has been producing wine since the early twentieth century, and its cellar, built in 1905, is one of the oldest surviving structures in the valley. Paul has preserved the cellar and its character, modernising the winemaking while honouring the building's heritage.

The wines are made by Rodney Zimba, Paul's childhood friend, who brings a deft hand and a personal connection to every bottle. The range is deliberately small and carefully crafted: a vibrant Chenin Blanc, a gently oaked Chardonnay matured for ten months in French barrels, a peppery Shiraz that evokes the fynbos of the surrounding mountains, a smooth Cabernet-Merlot blend, and a luscious Noble Late Harvest. But the wine that carries the estate's soul is the Nomaroma Methode Cap Classique — a traditional method sparkling wine named in honour of Paul's mother. It is a sell-out success every vintage, a wine that celebrates Nomaroma's lifetime of quiet knowledge and the family's journey from farm labourers to farm owners.

The tasting room and restaurant sit beneath the Franschhoek mountains, offering visitors wine flights, light meals, and a story that stays with you long after the last sip. Klein Goederust is also a stop on the Franschhoek Wine Tram, making it easy to include on a valley tour. The atmosphere is warm, unpretentious, and deeply personal — this is not a corporate estate but a family home, and visitors are treated as guests at the Siguqa family table.

What makes Klein Goederust exceptional is not just the quality of its wines, though the Nomaroma MCC alone justifies the visit. It is the fact that in a valley founded by French Huguenots more than three centuries ago, a black South African family has claimed its place — not as an exception, but as an example of what the country's wine industry can become when it opens its doors to everyone.