What does a cow have to do with wine? Wines that moooove you!
#spijkerbessie #proudlystellenbosch #stellenboschwineroute #capewinelands #capclassique #borls #sawine #ladywinemaker #winetasting #passionatewinemaker #harvest2024
2024 seems to be the year of lady winemakers.
Annelie Viljoen is the brain behind Spijkerbessie Wine. But nothing would happen without the full support of her family. Her husband is her main advisor and her 3 teenage boys, pack, label and deliver wines to outlets etc.
She grew up in Stellenbosch and her father, Bennie Schloms, was a most passionate soil scientist and taught her how important terroir is. She met her husband De Wet Viljoen at the University of Stellenbosch when they were both studying Viticulture and Oenology.
Viticulture is Annelie's passion, and the concept of being outside among the vines appealed to her far more than being stuck inside a cold wine cellar.
She has worked in the industry for many years - as a lecturer at the Elsenburg Agricultural Training Institute, and as a grape buyer for Distell’s Zonnebloem, Fleur du Cap, and Nederburg ranges. This is where she learned that the producer-grape buyer relationship is one of the most important in our industry.
Since 2017, she has been worked as the viticulturist and grape buyer for the world-famous Kanonkop Estate’s extremely popular Kadette brand.
Juggling her day job, winemaking, and raising three teenage boys is a serious challenge but she loves every minute of it, and there is no greater reward than seeing people enjoy her wines!
Now she is making her own wines under the brand name of Spijker and we are so proud to be able to offer these wines in the UK.
Annelie dropped in to see us and brought her full range of wines for us to taste. It was one of those afternoons which happen all too rarely when you meet someone who you click with immediately - so we spent a couple of hours tasting wines, chatting and laughing!
She kindly left us samples to try and we have over the past few days been able to try each varietal with different food etc.
Decision made! - we are adding her Borls Cap Classique and Spijker Pinotage to the range we already stock in the UK.