For well over 100 years, the Nieuwoudt family has farmed one of the most remote parts of South Africa, turning it into an internationally acclaimed wine brand, Cederberg Wines.
What began as a sheep and tobacco farm in the Cederberg mountains has become one of the country’s top wine estates, with bottles now exported to several countries around the world.
The Nieuwoudt family first arrived in South Africa in the early 1700s, before descendants moved into the Cederberg region in 1767.
In 1893, the present branch of the family settled on the farm Dwarsrivier, where six generations have now lived and worked.
The 5,500-hectare farm lies within the Cederberg Wilderness Area. However, only 74 hectares are planted with vines.
According to owner and winemaker David Nieuwoudt, the farm’s isolation initially made the idea of wine farming seem absurd.
“So the first Nieuwoudts actually came up in the Cederberg mountains in 1767. My grandfather farmed with tobacco and sheep for about 70 years,” he said.
The family later diversified into fruit farming during the 1950s after recognising that the area’s altitude and cold winters suited apples and pears.
Sitting around 1,100 metres above sea level, the farm experiences large swings between daytime and night-time temperatures, something Nieuwoudt believes became crucial to the quality of the wines later produced there.
The move into wine came almost by accident. One version of the story says a friend working for the farm suggested the family plant table grapes after seeing how well fruit performed in the region.
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