South Africa’s Finest Wines Importer since 1978

SOUTH-AFRICA

Allée Bleue

Altijdgedacht

Badenhorst

Boplaas

Constantia Glenn

Dalla Cia

De Kaapse Leeuw

De Toren

Douglas Green

Ernie Els

Fairview

Guardian Peak

Julien Schaal

La Motte

L’Ormarins

Meerlust

Morgenster

Oude Kaap

Raats

Rust en Vrede

Schoone Gevel

Somerbosch

Spice Route

Tweejongegezellen

Vergelegen

Vergenoegd

Warwick

Villafonte

tN

o only

ARGENTINA

Cobos

Dominio del Plata

CALIFORNIA

Paul Hobbs

CHILI

Montgras

SPANJE

Cava Masachs

Tarantellastraat 20 - 1070 Anderlecht - 0475/667705 - kaapwijn.deleeuw@skynet.be

Check for retailers on : www.kaapwijn.be

South Africa is a fantastic country: with its diversity of cultures and landscapes, it has become more and more known to the inter-national traveler. During one of their distant voyages, now more than 30 years ago, the De Leeuw family ended up in the beautiful Cape Province. And as often happens, “love at fi rst sight” became the solid foundation of present-day success. In Europe, Kaapwijn Import De Leeuw has the fi nest portfolio of South African wines. With over 30 major pres-tigious wineries from every wine region they are undeniably the specialist of South African wine! Since a few years there has been an ex-pansion towards other “new wine countries”. First Montgras from Chili was brought in, and then followed Argentina (Cobos winery and Dominio Del Plata) and with Paul Hobbs from California the icing was put on the cake.

Manager Peter De Leeuw, together with a whole team of collaborators, is the driving force behind this success story. With almost 2 ship containers per week, a distribution to wholesale, Inbev-breweries and 200 wine merchants, Kaapwijn functions as an acquisi-tion platform for the professional wine trade at home and abroad. Through a fl exible ap-proach, Kaapwijn ensures that the wine merchants can order mixed pallets from a gamma of over 300 wines. But what's even more important: the love for the wine has re-mained and within the fi rm one is proud that, no matter the price category, one can fi nd a fantastic price/quality everywhere. During the World Cup some more South African wine will defi nitely be drunk: we hereby propose you 4 top wines from different wine regions.

Graham Beck – RobertsonIt's not everyday that your wine is chosen

by one of the world's most famous men to celebrate history in the making. Graham Beck Wines has achieved this honour not once, but twice! In 1994 Graham Beck Brut NV was chosen as the celebratory drink at the inau-guration of South Africa's fi rst democratically elected President, Nelson Mandela. More re-cently, after declaring his intention to run for President in February this year, Barack Obama took his wife, Michelle, to one of their favou-rite restaurants in Chicago. The sommelier re-commended two glasses of Graham Beck Brut NV – an eminently suitable African fi zz for an African American presidential candidate! The Obamas were so impressed with this bubbly that they ordered six bottles for the 4th ofNovember. The corks were then ceremoniously popped to celebrate the election of the 44th American president before Barack Obama ad-dressed the world at Grant Park.

"I am honoured that the Obamas chose our non-vintage Brut to toast their historic win," says Graham Beck's cellarmaster, Pieter Ferreira who, coincidently, was in Chicago at the time as part of his three-week market tour of the United States. "I always hope people choose to celebrate important milestones with our Graham Beck Cap Classique wines, and this is certainly a momentous occasion," com-ments an elated Pieter. From Madiba magic to Obama mania, Graham Beck Brut has been the bubbly to beat!

The vineyards are located on four diverse farms in the Western Cape province of South

Africa, enabling the Robertson and Fran-schhoek Cellars to have access to grape varie-tals grown in the climatic conditions and soils to which they are best suited. Marco Ventrella oversees the 4 farms, however each farm is individually tended for by the respective Vine-yard Manager.

The two farms in the Firgrove area in Stel-lenbosch's Helderberg district, provide most of the premium red varietals to the Graham Beck range. The Stellenbosch region is univer-sally recognised as South Africa's premier wine region due to its excellent terroir suited to the growing of a variety of premium red cultivars.

An extensive renewal programme has re-sulted in premier red and white varietals on all our farms. Great care has been taken to match the obliging micro-climates and rich variety of soils with the most suitable varie-tal. This ensures their winemakers have access to optimum quality fruit from which to make their specifi c wines.

They believe that only superior quality fruit produces world class wines. Graham Beck Wines is fortunate to have three unique and diverse regions and terroirs from which to source their grapes – Robertson, Franschhoek and Stellenbosch near Stellenbosch. Since its inception, Graham Beck Wines has been on the forefront of technological advances when it comes to applying the very best viticultural practices to ensure their fruit is nothing less than the best. Their viticulturist Marco Ven-trella and his team make extensive use of GIS (Geographical Information Systems), infra red

Kaapwijn Import de LeeuwA Success StoryGraham Beck Cellars - Franschhoek

La Motte Vineyards - FranschhoekLa Motte Vineyards - Franschhoek

satellite imagery, soil mapping, advanced ir-rigation techniques and other cutting edge technology to ensure their vineyards remain healthy and deliver fruit which is of a consis-tently high standard. In addition to this, the team spends countless hours in the vineyards getting to know each and every vine and how best to unlock its ultimate potential. If all good wines start in the vineyard, theirs have an exceptionally good head start!

Graham Beck Wines is now entering its third generation as a family winery. It was es-tablished in 1983 when entrepreneur Graham Beck purchased Madeba farm outside the Western Cape town of Robertson with a fervent ambition to establish a world-class winery in this region. The success of the Ro-bertson winery has been extended to the second Graham Beck cellar in Franschhoek.

Rust en Vrede - StellenboschRust en Vrede Wine Estate and Restaurant

have achieved an unprecedented Top 100 Wine and Top 100 Restaurant in the world award. In 2000 Rust en Vrede was named for the fi rst time as one of the Top 100 wines in the world. Subsequently, their wine achieved this a further three times; more than any other South African wine. During 2006 and the greater part of 2007 they renovated and res-tored the original cellar to its former glory. This building dates back to 1782 and carries Natio-nal Monument status. In November 2007 they opened Rust en Vrede Restaurant with chef David Higgs at the helm. "When David and I teamed up, says the Proprietor Jean Engel-brecht, we both knew from the outset exactly what we wanted to create and achieve. Being named as one of the World's Top 100 Restaurants, and accomplishing this within fi fteen months of fi rst opening our doors is an endorsement of David's vision, and bears testament to both his and his teams' culinary ability and meticulous attention to detail. Our research included visits to some of the world's fi nest restaurants and equipped ourselves by ascertaining how things are done in Europe and North America".

"To me, pursues the owner, Rust en Vrede is very special; it being the place where I grew up and still live today. Accolades such as these are not achieved without sacrifi ce, determi-nation and commitment. Over decades many people have contributed to our success: most notably my parents and family, Kevin Arnold

(winemaker, 1986 - 1997), Louis Strydom (wi-nemaker, 1998 - 2004, and today heads up production at Engelbrecht Els Wines), Coenie Snyman (winemaker, 2006 - present), and of course David Higgs. I thank my colleagues who have always been willing to go the extra mile and I thank our patrons without whom this remarkable feat and achievement would not have been possible"

La Motte wine estate - FranschhoekSituated in the beautiful Franschhoek Valley

in South Africa's Cape winelands, the La Motte estate is home to some of South Africa's fi nest wines, recognized internationally for their ex-ceptional quality. They produce award-win-ning white, red and organic wines, as well as a Méthode Cap Classique Brut which was launched at the end of 2009 to much acclaim. La Motte is owned by Hanneli Rupert-Koege-lenberg and run by her husband, Hein Koege-lenberg, businessman and winemaker, who is CEO of the La Motte wine estate.

Having recently rebuilt their wine tasting facilities, the new tasting room has become a tourism drawcard on the Franschhoek wine route. They offer a variety of wines and vin-tages to taste as well as expert guidance on wine and food pairings, and the spacious venue has, amongst other things, a view into the working cellar. Visitors will also notice the striking original Pierneef linocuts on display in the tasting room, the association between La Motte and Pierneef is a long-standing one, with the winery even producing a premium range of wines called the Pierneef range which is a tribute to the late South African artist Jacob Hendrik Pierneef (1886-1957). He was famous for his mastership in portraying the unadorned beauty of the South African landscape and its architecture and each of the Pierneef new releases refl ects a different piece of Pierneef art on its label. Hein and Hanneli also own an extensive private collection of his works, wich include the pieces on show on the walls of the La Motte wine tasting room.

In September 2010 La Motte will launch further estate facilities, the development of which has been underway since 2009. These facilities will include the La Motte restaurant, museum, farm shop and mountain meander, as well as a highly anticipated top-tier red wine. The restaurant will be open daily and will feature cuisine that will be unique to La Motte and speak directly to her South African

Winelands roots. The restaurant's head chef, Chris Erasmus, has just been appointed and comes to La Motte with a strong international resume, innovative ideas, and much passion.

Vergelegen - StellenboschVergelegen, meaning "situated far away",

was granted to the Governor of the Cape in 1700. This historic property is now a show-piece of South Africa's wine renaissance. Visitors to Vergelegen can experience the pastoral tranquility of the extensive gardens and absorb the history of Cape cultural heri-tage from the displays in the Homestead and Library. Whilst there, lunch à la carte at the Vergelegen Restaurant, al fresco on the Rose Terrace (November-April), or take a luxurious picnic in the magical setting of the ancient camphorwood forest (November-April), ac-companied in each setting by Vergelegen's internationally acknowledged wines.

Rust en Vrede restaurant - StellenboschLa Motte boardroom - Franschhoek

Vergelegen homestead - Stellenboschcontact info : Kaapwijn Import , Tarantellas-

traat 20 - 1070 Anderlechtcell: +32475667705 kaapwijn.deleeuw@

kaapwijn.be + www.kaapwijn.be

Rust en Vrede restaurant - Stellenbosch

DW • 87