Darling Cellars
South Africa
About
At Darling Cellars our wines are all about location, location, location, and our old, un-irrigated bush vines. In one word: terroir. We don’t make our wines; we grow them. Darling is on the West Coast, 80 km’s north of Cape Town. With unique growing conditions, the dry land farmed vineyards ensure deep-rooted vines produce wines with optimal concentration of colour, flavour and tannin structure. 96% of our vineyards are un-irrigated bush vines, yields are very low and the quality proportionately high.
Certifications
Winemaker
Pieter-Niel Rossouw
Born in Bonnievale, went so school there till 1996. Started studying at Elsenburg Agriculture College in 1997 and qualified as winemaker in 1999. Firsts contact with wine was when I fermented Cinsaut juice in a 2lt Coke plastic bottle in my mother’s fridge with a closed lid. It was the first of many explosions, controlled and some uncontrolled, in my winemaking career.
With my love of the ocean, I have past many times through Darling on my way to Yzerfontein. The old bush vines and soils always made me wonder how the wines would be. Then came the opportunity to make wine at Wellington Wines from grapes from Darling. These wines were always different. The colour, fruit and tannins were always softer, more intense and unique. While enjoying a freshly caught snoek of crayfish, a Darling Sauvignon Blanc of Chenin Blanc would always be somewhere in the same area.
Darling is well known for their Sauvignon Blanc and Shiraz, but for me the very old Bush vine Chenin Blanc and Cinsaut is very special.
Photo: Winemakers at Darling Cellar: Pieter-Niel Rossouw, Maggie Immelman, Reon Richter and Anthony Meduna.
Viticulturist
