Introduction

The first vintage of wine produced at this specialist red wine cellar on the slopes of the Helderberg Mountain, Stellenbosch, was 1992.

The property known as Grangehurst was purchased by winemaker Jeremy Walker’s parents in 1973. Eddie and Betty Walker emigrated from England to Cape Town, South Africa in 1952. About 21 years later they decided to move to the rural environment of Stellenbosch, and named their small farm “Grangehurst” – after Betty’s childhood home “The Grange” in Birmingham, and “Hurst Close” – the name of the street in London where Eddie lived as a child. Coincidentally, “grange” means ”a country house with farm buildings” and “hurst” means “hillock or on a hill” – a very apt description of Grangehurst.

The year after moving to Grangehurst, Jeremy enrolled at Stellenbosch University to study Viticulture and Oenology. After graduating in 1977, he worked at Bertrams Wines in Devon Valley, Stellenbosch for two vintages. He then spent a vintage in Germany and France before returning to South Africa to complete an MBA degree at Cape Town University. He only returned to winemaking six years later when he helped establish a new wine cellar, Clos Malverne (almost next door to Bertrams in Devon Valley). After six vintages at Clos Malverne, Jeremy decided to set up his own winery.

The family property Grangehurst, although too small to be a viable farm, was suitable for the establishment of a winery. With some prime vineyards in the neighbourhood, Jeremy started sourcing top quality Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinotage and Merlot grapes to crush, ferment and press in the former squash court at Grangehurst.

The first vintage produced at Grangehurst was adjudged the Champion Wine at the South African Young Wine Show - a dream start for this small red wine cellar. From the maiden vintage wines in 1992, the winery developed from a “commercial hobby” into a fully-fledged small winery in 1999, when a production cellar was constructed and the business was converted into a company. Although the cellar was designed for a total capacity of ± 150 tons, the quantity of grapes crushed in recent vintages has been about 55 tons per annum (plus an additional 35 tons for Hidden Valley Wines). Eventually, Grangehurst will crush about 140 tons of grapes per annum and produce about 100,000 bottles of wine under its own label.

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