For Boplaas Family Vineyards, a relatively recent and successful foray into whisky has brought international acclaim. Their journey to world class quality, however, evolved over generations through a portfolio of outstanding wines and brandy.
In the past year alone, Boplaas 20 YO Brandy was singled out as the best overall at the Michelangelo International Wine & Spirits Competition. Its 12 YO grain whisky, crafted with a rum cask finish, was named best SA entrant at the World Whisky Awards. And the Boplaas 20 YO Colheita Cape Tawny was UK Master of Wine Tim Atkin’s highest rated South African port.
Right up there, too, have been the cellar’s table wines – bearing the golden thread that characterises its terroir and experience. The Boplaas Ring of Rocks 2022, a red blend of traditional Portuguese and French varieties, received Double Gold at Veritas – South Africa’s oldest championship for wines – along with the Boplaas Merlot 2023 and Touriga Nacional 2024, which each received Gold.
The power of Portuguese
While Boplaas has become a master of diverse varieties, the quality it achieves with traditional Portuguese varieties is particularly significant. The Calitzdorp area that is the farm’s home, is ideal for growing Portuguese varieties due to the drier climate and lower rainfall.
The first plantings, however, were purely coincidental. The story begins in the late 1970s, Boplaas patriarch, Danie Nel, returned from a visit to the Swartland with his Chevy El Camino crammed with bottles of that region’s excellent Shiraz. His neighbours’ enthusiastic enjoyment of the wine got Oupa Danie thinking. Why buy the wine from elsewhere when he could plant the vineyards and sell in his own backyard? He placed an order for vines and they duly arrived.
It was only discovered some time later that the “shiraz” was, in fact, Tinta Barocca. The mistake was forgiven as soon as the Nels realised how well the grapes thrived. In pursuit of greater understanding of this newcomer to the region, a trip to Portugal eventually led to many others. The Nels befriended many of the Douro’s top port producers and learnt amongst other things the art of crafting fine ports too.
Breaking the mould
While Klein Karoo may not be first to mind when it comes to wines, Boplaas wines have come a long way in establishing its reputation for excellence.
Boplaas Alvarinho, for example, is a variety primarily grown in north-west Portugal. This mineral driven white wine spends 4-6 months on the lees in stainless steel tanks. The Wine Society in UK so enjoyed this wine that it selected it to be part of the esteemed organisation’s 150th anniversary celebration.
The Boplaas Verdelho is an early white Portuguese variety that’s harvested mid to end January. Its resilience and hardiness have put the grape on the radar of many of the world’s leading producers in the search for varieties well adapted to global warming. As a wine, the Boplaas expression is an aromatic, lighter bodied white wine.
The grape that started it all
The Boplaas Tinta Barocca was the first Portuguese variety planted on the farm. Also aromatic, the medium-bodied wine shows ripe plum, juicy raspberries and bright spice with an undercurrent of cocoa powder that is typical of Tinta. Soft tannins make it exceptionally appealing.
Boplaas Touriga Nacional received Gold at Veritas for the 2024 vintage and four stars in Platter’s South African wine guide.
“It is rightfully regarded as a royal variety of Portuguese vines,” says winemaker Margaux Nel, who did a Masters in Viticulture at Stellenbosch University on the effects of the Klein Karoo terroir on Touriga as a red table wine. “The hardy Touriga Nacional with its small dark berried bunches, penchant for low yields and fulsome tannins, enables the crafting of powerfully elegant wines possessing incredible longevity,” she says.
Portuguese varieties are also part of the farm’s flagship Ring of Rocks blend, which is part of the Family Reserve range. The Ring of Rocks is named in honour of the ancient agrarians who built stone circles as an early attempt to track the changing seasons and crop cycles.
Lion of the Klein Karoo
Another flagship is the Gamka Red. First peoples of the region named the river, which originates in the Great Karoo, after the African lion. Over centuries, the water course carved its way through the mighty Swartberg Mountains and, when in flood, roars through ravines. The Gamka has been the life-blood of the Klein Karoo since the Nel Family settled here in the mid 1800s.
A blend of Touriga Nacional, Tinta Barocca and Shiraz, this wine showcases the very best of the Cape’s rare Portuguese varieties, in a wine with class, elegance and longevity.
On a less formal front, the Boplaas Moscato Frizzante is a wine that may be described as being on the more playful, relaxed side of the spectrum. “It’s a real brunch kind of wine,” says Margaux. The wine has a light sparkle and hint of sweetness that emanates from the muscat grape from which it is made. It has a floral character on the nose and is a great refresher when served ice cold. The grapes do well in the Klein Karoo region, making the wine a stalwart of the Boplaas wine list.
Boplaas wine are available for purchase and door-to-door delivery, from boplaas.co.za.