The Haut Espoir Winery is now entering its fourth year of production, and we are proud that our wines continue to be enjoyed.   Recent awards include the listing of the Haut Espoir Chardonnay Reserve 2005 in the Diners Club Top Ten, along with a 4-star Platter rating for the same wine.   Our winemaker, Nikey van Zyl, was awarded third place in the Diners Club Winemaker of the Year 2006. 

The first red wines from the farm’s grapes were released at the end of 2006 – our Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 and Shiraz 2004, and there is a red blend coming out soon, which is as yet unnamed. 

Our 2007 harvest started on the 23rd of January, when we brought in the Sauvignon Blanc in a searing heatwave, and once the Sauvignon was in the rest of the cultivars came in a very orderly fashion, not rushing Nikey too much and staggering nicely until our late picking of Semillon, which we left on the vines until  23rd of May, which we plan to use for a white sticky.
Tonnages have been increased to accommodate the demand, especially for the Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon.

Now that we have reached a relatively consistent production level, and as we slowly reach our targeted capacity, we have opened a tasting room, which is open to the public during the week from 11 until 5.  Please feel free to come and enjoy our magnificent views and taste our range of wines.   Weekends are open only by appointment.

After the busy harvest in February and March, when we brought in just over 35 tonnes, the focus switched to the “official” opening of Haut Espoir at the media launch on 26 May. More than 20 wine journalists were invited to a presentation about Haut Espoir, a structured tasting of our bottled wines and barrel tasting of our shiraz and cabernet. A superb lunch was provided by Camil and Ingrid Haas of Klein Oliphants Hoek, pairing seven different dishes with the wines. Press releases and samples of our wines were also sent to more than 70 other journalists. To date a number of Haut Espoir articles have been published – encouraging press profile and getting our name better known!

Five major recent achievements have been awards for our Chardonnay and Semillon. We are very proud to have achieved these from the first wines we have produced: