Babylons Peak
Swartland, South Africa
Babylon's Peak is a boutique private cellar, nestled in the slopes of the Paardeberg Mountain, between Malmesbury and Paarl. The cellar is built on the farm Nooitgedacht, which already belongs to the Basson family since 1919, when great-grandfather Thys Basson bought and farmed the farm, after which grandfather Fanie and father Kobus followed in his footsteps.
In 2003 a dream came true for the fourth generation, Stephan Basson, when he joined the farm and decided to renovate the old cellar, which was in use untill 1948, and started making wine under the Babylon’s Peak label. Three of the four generations made wine – great-grandfather, grandfather and Stephan.
The name Babylon's Peak is derived from a very high granite peak on the farm, which is known to local people as 'Babylonstoren'. Some of the highest vineyards in the Swartland region are found here – about 700m above sea level.
Being a small boutique cellar, they do have the opportunity of selcting and bottling only the best quality wines, thus the reason that their range may differ from year to year. Their aim is not only to be a boutique cellar with excellent wines, but a boutique cellar where wine lovers can go and visit and become friends!
They are quite satisfied with what they've achieved with the Babylon's Peak name since they started in 2003, but this is only the beginning – a motivation for them to become better and bigger in the future! A family business which will be kept in the Basson family in the years to come!
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Stephan Basson
After Stephan finished school in 1997, he joined Elsenburg Agricultural College in Stellenbosch for three years, where he got his degree in Cellar Technology and Winemaking.
In December 2000 he was appointed assistant winemaker at Seidelberg Wine Estate, outside Paarl. Here he worked for two and a half years and learnt a lot by working close together with experienced people in the wine business.
In June 2002, Stephan decided to join his father on their family farm, Nooitgedacht, where he started making his own wine in 2003 under the name Babylon's Peak. Since then, Stephan is responsible for all the vineyard and cellar pratices of all the grapes that are used in this boutique winery, as well as the marketing and distribution of his wines.
From the beginning, Stephan lived out his passion for winemaking and started off very well in the first four years with his Babylon's Peak wines, showing his belief in 'DREAMS, ACHIEVEMENT and TRADITION!'
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