ABOUT US
Our story dates back to 1688, when the first French Huguenots arrived in the Cape of Good Hope, of which one of them was Gideon Malherbe. In 1894 a 7th generation descendent (also named Gideon) bought the farm Running Stream. Today we are the 13th generation of Malherbe’s in South Africa with the 6th generation treasuring this small piece of land.
Our vines are planted in limerich soils on Perold trellises at 270 meters above sea level, on the eastern slopes of the mountain. Drip irrigation is used to control the water intake in our current drought-stricken climate. With the sun rising over the mountain, our grapes are covered by morning shade till much later in the day and at night get cooled down by the Seabreeze from the Indian Ocean. Harvesting is done by hand, in the early morning hours to ensure the
grapes reach the Cellar at optimal temperatures. The grapes are then de-stemmed, crushed and only the free-run juice is used for further wine production. Our wines undergo natural fermentation with minimal interference and is stirred on the fine lees once a week. After 6 months of ageing in Stainless steel tanks, the wine undergoes its first filtration during the mobile bottling run. Each bottle is then waxed and labelled by hand.