For Friesland Wines, that place is a 36-hectare family farm on the slopes of the Bottelary Hills in Stellenbosch – a relatively small corner of one of South Africa’s most celebrated wine regions, and the place from which every bottle bearing the Friesland name begins its journey.
The family land has been home to the Steenkamp family for generations. The Friesland name itself reaches even further back, paying tribute to the family’s Dutch ancestry and the early Steenkamp settlers who arrived at the Cape in the late 1600s. Today, that history is firmly rooted in Stellenbosch soil.
A sense of place
The Bottelary Hills form a distinctive part of the Stellenbosch landscape. Here, rolling slopes, varied soils and the influence of cooling maritime air create conditions particularly well suited to the cultivation of quality wine grapes.
Friesland’s vineyards occupy slopes within this landscape, where aspect, elevation and exposure all play their part in shaping the fruit from one season to the next. It is a place particularly close to our identity as a producer. While Friesland makes both white and red wines, our range has increasingly come to reflect the strength of Stellenbosch as a red-wine region, with Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinotage and Shiraz forming an important part of what we do.
For us, origin is more than a name printed on a label. Our wines are certified Wine of Origin Stellenbosch, and we want the character and reputation of the region to remain an integral part of the Friesland story.
Small by design
In an industry where scale can often dominate the conversation, Friesland remains deliberately small.
Our annual production is limited, allowing us to concentrate on a focused range of wines rather than pursuing volume for its own sake. It is an approach that suits both the size of the farm and the kind of wines we want to make. The philosophy is straightforward: work with good fruit, allow the vineyards and varieties to express themselves, and make wines that we are comfortable putting the Friesland name on.
Being small also allows each wine to have its own place within the range – from the freshness of Sauvignon Blanc and the distinctly South African character of Pinotage, through to Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines, culminating in our flagship M-Klas Cabernet Sauvignon.
From Bottelary Hills to the world
Perhaps one of the most interesting contrasts in the Friesland story is how far the wines travel from such a small starting point.
From these 36 hectares in Stellenbosch, bottles of Friesland have made their way well beyond South Africa. Over the years our wines have been enjoyed in markets across Europe, Africa and the Caribbean, as well as further afield. There is something satisfying about that thought.
A vineyard on a hillside in Stellenbosch. A relatively small production. A family name with roots stretching back centuries. And bottles from that same farm eventually being opened at tables thousands of kilometres away. Yet regardless of where a bottle of Friesland is eventually poured, its story always starts in the same place.
On 36 hectares, in one small corner of Stellenbosch.
