Spotswood Wines

On Blaauwklippen Road in Stellenbosch's so-called Golden Triangle, a father-and-son venture has quietly carved out one of South Africa's most distinctive wine stories. In 2007, Bill Spotswood, recently retired from an international confectionery business, and his son Nick, a civil engineer from Polokwane, purchased Down The Road Farm. What they inherited was a young vineyard planted with Chardonnay, Shiraz, Viognier, and a grape variety almost unheard of in South Africa: Durif.

Durif, also known as Petite Sirah in the Americas, is a thick-skinned, deeply coloured red grape originally bred in nineteenth-century France. It thrives in warm climates but had never been commercially bottled in the Cape. The Spotswoods recognised the potential immediately. Their first Durif bottling came in 2011, and it announced itself as something genuinely new in the South African wine landscape — a dark, concentrated red with a flavour profile quite unlike anything the local market had encountered. By 2016, they had produced the country's first-ever Durif Dry Rose, further cementing their reputation as innovators willing to work outside conventional boundaries.

Vinification is handled at Stellenzicht Cellar under the guidance of cellar master Guy Webber, while a small quantity of their Viognier — just 500 bottles annually — is crafted at Kleinood Cellar by winemaker Gunter Schultz. This collaborative approach allows the Spotswoods to draw on specialist expertise while maintaining the distinctive character of their Golden Triangle fruit. The warm Stellenbosch terroir, tempered by cooling breezes from nearby False Bay, produces grapes with excellent concentration and natural ripeness.

The portfolio is deliberately focused. Alongside the flagship Durif and the pioneering Durif Rose, Spotswood produces a Shiraz, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Viognier — six wines in total, each receiving individual attention and care. The estate's French-cuisine restaurant adds a gastronomic dimension to visits, pairing the wines with dishes that complement their Mediterranean-climate character. It is the kind of pairing that rewards exploration rather than habit.

Spotswood Wines remains a small, family-driven operation. There are no grand tasting halls or sprawling event venues — just honest wine made from a unique vineyard on one of Stellenbosch's most storied roads. For visitors seeking something genuinely different in a region crowded with Cabernet and Pinotage, the Spotswood Durif alone is worth the detour. It is a wine that exists almost nowhere else in the country, produced by a family that saw possibility where others saw obscurity, and who proved that even in a region with three centuries of winemaking tradition, there is still room for something new.