Cloof
Darling, South Africa
Cloof Estate was established as a fully-fledged winery thanks to Johan van der Berg, who grew up on a sheep farm in the Karoo before moving to Cape Town to practice Law. Looking forward to his retirement years he was looking for a place to farm sheep near Cape Town.
When he took possession of the 1,395ha farm in July 1994, it included about 60 hectares of well-established vineyards, which were expanded by a further 100 hectares by 2001. He built a cellar in time for the 1998 harvest and installed Frikkie Botes as winemaker. The majority of the cellar's production was sold in bulk, but a small quantity of wine was aged in barrel for bottling under the Cloof label. Early success came in the form of the 1999 Cloof Pinotage being crowned the SA Champion in 2001.
There are easier ways of making wine, but we believe that – under local conditions – bush vines are not only necessary, but also integral to the unique style and quality of Cloof wines.
Cloof vineyards is situated on the eastern slopes of Dassenberg, surrounded by wheat fields and about 70km north of Cape Town. The baking heat of summer is tempered by a prevailing south-easterly wind which protects the fruit from rot, and at night cloaks the vineyards in chilly, flavour-preserving air blown in from the Atlantic Ocean. The bush vines provide a canopy which shades the grapes from direct sunlight. The smaller crop results in smaller berries with thicker skins, and much more concentrated flavours.
It is this intensity that gives life to the Cloof wines. The fruit ripens to a syrupy sweetness with flavours intensely concentrated because of the tiny crop that the vineyards supply.
Cloof vineyards are neither irrigated nor trellised (hence the Bush Vines descriptive). The vineyards experience adversity, but they do so with character, offering up a yield which the team at Cloof are immensely proud of.
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Christopher van Dieren
Born of a Belgian father and a German mother, Christopher van Dieren studied winemaking from 1984 in Bordeaux. He emigrated to South Africa in 1990, and worked for several wineries in the Stellenbosch region, culminating in Slaley, where he made South Africa’s first-ever five-star Shiraz, the Slaley 1998.
He took over winemaking responsibilities at Cloof a week before the start of the 2002 vintage. Christopher’s European heritage has been an important influence on the style of the wines produced from Cloof’s intensely concentrated fruit.
His regimen ensures that only optimally ripe fruit is harvested, and that barrel-ageing (always in French oak) supports, rather than overwhelms, the fruit. His handling of Pinotage is particularly good, in that he not only eliminates the negatives sometimes associated with the variety, but also makes wonderfully enjoyable wines.
His first Pinotage made here, the 2002 Cloof Pinotage, has won two gold medals in 2004.
Largely a white wine and rosé drinker himself, Christopher prefers making red wines. He regards the fruit quality he’s working with at Cloof as being superior to anything he’s experienced anywhere else in the world.
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