Overgaauw Wine Estate

Overgaauw is one of South African wine's great pioneering estates -- a family farm on the Stellenbosch Kloof Road where four generations of Van Veldens have quietly made history in every bottle. Abraham van Velden founded the 90-hectare property in 1905 and named it after his maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Overgaauw, who had raised him after he was orphaned as a one-year-old. He built the wine cellar in 1909 and began commercial production, initially selling in bulk.

His son David van Velden Senior took the reins in 1945 and proved equally forward-thinking. He introduced Portuguese port varietals -- Tinta Barocca, Tinta Francisca, Cornifesto, Souzao, and Tinta Roriz -- creating South Africa's first Portuguese-method port production. In 1963, he planted Sylvaner, a German white grape variety that to this day makes Overgaauw the only local producer of the varietal. A transformative 1969 trip with fellow winemaker Frans Malan to French chateaux, where they acquired their first barriques from Chateau Latour, fundamentally changed how South African red wine was aged.

In 1973, David's son Braam van Velden -- a Stellenbosch University commerce graduate who had studied viticulture at Germany's Geisenheim Institute -- assumed leadership. That same year Overgaauw became a registered estate, and Braam co-founded the Stellenbosch Wine Route. His innovations soon followed: in 1979, he created Tria Corda, South Africa's first Bordeaux blend, and in 1982 he bottled the country's first single-varietal Merlot. Everyone advised against it, insisting Merlot was merely a blending component that would not sell. Braam disagreed, and the wine's success opened the door for Merlot as a standalone cultivar across the country. In 1984, he co-founded the Cape Winemakers Guild.

Today the estate is led by fourth-generation winemaker David van Velden Junior, who emphasises meticulous vineyard management and minimal cellar intervention. The wine range honours the family's pioneering legacy: Tria Corda remains the flagship Bordeaux blend, the Estate Reserve Merlot continues the 1982 tradition, the Sylvaner is a one-of-a-kind South African white, and the Cape Vintage port -- fortified with three-year-old brandy and matured a minimum of twenty years in bottle -- is a testament to the family's Portuguese connection. The Overgaauw Shed restaurant serves French cuisine, and the estate offers guided cellar tours, history tours, walking tours, and private tutored tastings. It remains family owned, unhurried, and utterly authentic.