- Bosman Family Vineyards was recently named Tim Atkin MW's Viticulturist of the Year, though, on closer inspection, this eighth-generation Wellington farm is so much more.
- The farm Lelienfontein in Wellington has been in the Bosman family since 1810. Here, they have been grafting a third of South Africa's vines since 1956, and in 2006, eighth-generation Petrus Bosman renovated the 270-year-old cellar to start making wine (again).
- Today, the business includes the original vine nursery, a few originally Huguenot farms in the Wellington Bovlei, (one in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley and one in the Karoo), 19 wines (at last count) and this is all 26% owned by the Adama Trust, named for the Appollis family, who have lived and worked alongside the Bosmans here for many generations, and now stretches to include 450 workers and a 3000-strong communit living on the farms. Which, alongside an all-female winemaking team, important vine research, and the first planting and bottling of the Italian grape, Nero d'Avola, in Africa, makes for an impressive story of transformation.
Did you know that 80% of vine cuttings in South Africa come from Wellington? Of that, the Bosman Adama vine nursery supplies one-third of South African grafted vine cuttings.
The Bosmans have been cultivating vines and making wine on the Lelienfontein farm in Wellington since 1810, deciding to focus exclusively on the vine nursery (propagating vine cuttings for the industry at a time when farms were still attempting this specialised field themselves) in 1962. Eighth-generation Petrus Bosman had always dreamed of completing the circle and making wine under the Bosman brand, and in 2006, he realized that dream. Fresh out of university, they renovated the 270- year-old cellar on the original property and started producing wine with the help of winemaker Corlea Fourie.
Given its many moving parts and people, it seems almost impossible to ascertain the true extent of the operation. The four Bosman children and their families are all installed on the farm in various key roles, from Petrus as Managing Director to Pieter Daniel, as farmer; Jannie, the nursery specialist; and Antonia, managing the Leeurivier Karoo Farm with her family. Not to mention the 450 workers that now own 26% of the operation via the Adama Trust (so named for Adam Appollis, whose family has worked alongside the Bosmans for multiple generations) since 2007. There are over 3000 people across multiple generations now benefitting and living on the farm, sending their children to high school and college, running crèches, and receiving housing and healthcare. There are also two Adama apartment blocks in Wellington. So many stories. Diego Appollis, who grew up on one of the Bosman Adama farms, now plays for the Sharks rugby team. The three women who run their winemaking endeavours include longtime winemaker, now cellarmaster Corlea Fourie and winemakers Maryke Botha and Maria Gant, who oversee their six wine ranges and 19 wines (at last count). Unsurprisingly, their inclusive business model made their Fairtrade certification in 2008 a dead cert.
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