Durbanville Hills

Durbanville Hills cellar sits proudly atop a series of rolling hills that cascade down to Table Bay. This geography is the heart of what makes our wines so unique.

The area is officially considered one of the Cape’s two coolest wine regions, with sea breezes from False Bay and Table Bay, and afternoon mists that bathe the slopes – conditions ideal for the slow ripening of grapes with full-flavored and intense character.

The Durbanville Hills range boasts finely crafted, yet easy-drinking wines suitable for any occasion. The Hills range – Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz, Pinotage are the most approachable and widely enjoyed.

Environmentally, waste water is a major problem for wineries and poses a significant environmental risk. The Durbanville Hills Winery is one of the first cellars in the Western Cape to recover and purify waste water. The cellar commissioned an environmentally friendly effluent water treatment plant in an effort to recover and purify waste water for irrigation purposes. The now-clean water, holds no risk to the environment and is pumped to an irrigation dam to supply water for cultivation. South Africa is one of only two countries in the world to run an independently audited program that promotes the sustainable production of wine. The Durbanville Hills Winery adheres very closely to the Integrated Production of Wines’ (IPW) environmentally-friendly principles.

Since the implementation of IPW, producers have begun to see substantial cuts in costs, particularly from reduced usage of fungicides, herbicides and pesticides, as well as water.

Through the Durbanville Hills Share Purchase Trust, the Durbanville Hills Winery is improving the quality of life of its employees and their families. The trust includes employees of eight of the nine producer farms that make up the Durbanville Hills Winery, and the cellar employees. Together they hold a 5% BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) equity stake in the company, and a seat on the company’s board of directors. The trust was first established in 2000. An active annual fund-raising program has been developed with the funds raised going into the trust. The money is used in many ways to help the previously disadvantaged community of the area. In an attempt to increase the quality of education for the children of the farm workers, the facilities have been improved at the under-resourced rural primary schools. Equipment for classrooms, such as computers, as well as equipment for organized sport is donated, and each year a minimum of one promising student is sponsored to attend senior school.

For adults, life skills programs are offered on the farms, which are undertaken in conjunction with a non-profit organization that offers the programs in the workers’ native languages. The farmers provide the facilities for the programs and allow time off to attend. The trust also contributes to the costs of a full-time facilitator who travels to each of the farms. The programs include self-awareness, literacy, crafts and music, and a basic introduction to computers.

Durbanville Hills winemaker Martin Moore’s early years were spent as cellarmaster at wineries working with vineyard owners in Durbanville. Always impressed with the quality and potential of the grapes of this area, he joined Durbanville Hills in 1998. When asked about wines, he answers that it is the hills that decide if a wine will be released under the Durbanville Hills label. Only the best, the most unique wines will go into the bottle. The vineyards in the area have a richness not easily equaled anywhere else. Martin aims to make wines that are full and fruity — drinkable upon release, but have maturation potential for a minimum of 5 – 8 years. His ideal white wines are so- called “fatter” wines. The Sauvignon Blanc should taste even better after a year. He experiments with sediment contact in white wines and different types of wood for maturation, and strives for the complexity of the wood to be in perfect balance with the wine.

ACCOLADES:

ROBERT PARKER’S WINE ADVOCATE, SEPTEMBER 2008
2008 Sauvignon Blanc, 86 Points
2006 Pinotage, 87 Points

WINE ENTHUSIAST, SEPTEMBER 2008
2007 Sauvignon Blanc, 87 Points

VINES MAGAZINE – 2008 BUYING GUIDE
2005 Shiraz wines – 3 ½ stars BEST BUY.