Boplaas Family Vineyards has once again joined the podium of national winners at the prestigious SA Terroir Awards, with its 2024 Boplaas Block 1932 Hanepoot named a National Winner at the 21st edition of the competition.
The award celebrates a wine with an extraordinary history. The grapes for the Boplaas Block 1932 Hanepoot come from a tiny, low-yielding single vineyard planted by Tom Brink in 1932, along the banks of the Gamka River in Calitzdorp. Today, less than a third of a hectare of this historic vineyard remains.
“This is one of those vineyards that tells a story of resilience, heritage and terroir,” says Margaux Nel of Boplaas Family Vineyards. “It has survived almost a century of droughts and floods, and continues to produce exceptional fruit. To have the 2024 vintage recognised as a national winner is incredibly special.”
The vineyard is planted on sandy soils beside the Gamka River and has endured some of the Klein Karoo’s most extreme conditions. It survived the devastating drought of 2016–2020, the massive flood of 2000, and was again tested by flooding in 2026.
Originally planted as bush vines, the vineyard was later converted to a low trellised Perold system. Its tiny remaining footprint makes every vintage of the 1932 Block Hanepoot exceptionally limited.
In the glass, the 2024 vintage displays a bright lemon-yellow colour with a lime-tinged rim. The expressive bouquet bursts with ripe Hanepoot aromas of pineapple, lemon rind, litchi and winter melon, complemented by jasmine, honeysuckle and subtle spice. The palate is lusciously sweet yet vibrant, layered with sultana, honey, litchi, melon, fig leaf and citrus marmalade, with fresh acidity providing balance and a lingering finish of citrus rind and gentle minerality.
The award adds another chapter to Boplaas’s strong record at the SA Terroir Awards. The estate has previously claimed the National Winner title with its Boplaas Cape Vintage Reserve 2008.
The recognition further underlines Boplaas’s reputation for producing distinctive fortified wines from the Klein Karoo, while showcasing the remarkable potential of historic vineyards and the region’s unique terroir.
For more information, contact the Boplaas team via email at admin@boplaas.co.za or phone at 044 213 3326, or visit their website: boplaas.co.za.