La Luandiére Wines

La Brune is one of South Africa's most focused and purposeful wine projects — a husband-and-wife operation in the Elgin Valley dedicated entirely to two grapes: Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. For winemaker Nico Grobler and his wife Christelle, the decision to plant their flag in Elgin was driven by a single conviction: this cool-climate valley, just eight miles from the Atlantic Ocean and forty miles southeast of Cape Town, is the closest thing South Africa has to Burgundy.

Nico's journey to La Brune began during his years as winemaker at Eikendal in Stellenbosch, where he built a reputation as one of the Cape's most technically accomplished young winemakers. But it was repeated visits to Burgundy — and in particular a close friendship with winemaker Bruno Lorenzon in Mercurey — that shifted his ambitions. In 2011, Nico launched La Brune as a side project, sourcing Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from cool-climate sites while still working full-time at Eikendal. A decade later, he and Christelle made the leap: they moved their family to Elgin, acquired a forty-acre property on Viljoenshoop Road, and planted what is now the highest-density Pinot Noir vineyard in South Africa at 10,000 vines per hectare.

The winemaking is unashamedly Burgundian in philosophy. Native yeasts drive fermentation. Whole-cluster inclusion adds structure and savour to the Pinot Noir. Ageing is done predominantly in used French oak to preserve purity of fruit and site expression. The wines are fresh, taut, and more Old World in character than most South African Pinot and Chardonnay — savoury and earthy rather than overtly fruity.

The portfolio is structured in two tiers. The Valley range — The Valley Chardonnay and The Valley Pinot Noir — blends fruit from multiple vineyards throughout the Elgin Valley, emphasising clone diversity and site blending. These are the accessible entry point, offering serious quality at a moderate price. The single-vineyard La Brune Chardonnay and La Brune Pinot Noir represent the top of the range, with the Pinot drawn from the estate's own high-density vineyard and the Chardonnay from a selection of the valley's finest parcels.

There is no tasting room, no restaurant, no manicured visitor experience. La Brune is a working farm where Nico and Christelle do everything themselves, from pruning to bottling. Visits are possible by arrangement — email and allow 48 hours for a reply — and offer a rare chance to taste with a winemaker whose ambition is to place Elgin Pinot Noir and Chardonnay on the world stage alongside the best of Burgundy.