Reyneke Wines

The Free Bacchus Story

Stellenbosch built its commercial identity on technically polished Cabernet and Merlot, and it does that extremely well. Johan Reyneke started farming in the Polkadraai Hills in 1998 and took the farm to biodynamics, which placed him at a deliberate remove from his own appellation's central proposition.

Reyneke studied at Stellenbosch University, law and then philosophy, with a master's focused on environmental ethics, and worked as a farm labourer before he farmed for himself. The conversion followed from an academic position rather than a commercial one.

In 2008 the farm became the first in South Africa certified biodynamic by Demeter, and it is certified organic by Ecocert as well. The vines — Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, with Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc alongside — grow on decomposed granite, and the farm runs as a closed loop: companion plants among the vines instead of herbicide, compost made on the farm, ducks against snails and Nguni cattle for the humus.

The Reserve wines are made only in exceptional vintages: the Reserve Red is all Syrah, the Reserve White a barrel-aged Sauvignon Blanc that International Wine Review scored 94 for the 2021. The Cornerstone is the most direct statement, and it is about people rather than vines: a red blend named for the farm's workers, tied to a scheme that gives each of them a R500,000 choice after ten years' service — a house, an investment, or tertiary study for the family.

Few of his neighbours farm this way, and not unreasonably: it costs more and yields less. The wines are the argument he has chosen to make in response, which is the only kind that tends to change minds.