Crafting Contemporary Classics
South African wines so often tread the line between the old world and the new and for Zonnebloem’s range of award winning wines, this balance between classic and contemporary is ever present. Zonnebloem stands for craftsmanship in all its forms. It is at the heart of the winemaking process, from the estates that produce our grapes who use the earth as their canvas to create the fruit which lends our wines their rich, distinctive character; to the winemakers who use the skills they have learned and developed over decades to create wines that possess the potential to become modern classics.
A CULTURE OF EXCELLENCE
Zonnebloem’s illustrious history goes back to 1692 when the farm, which would later become Zonnebloem, was first established in Simondium. In 1856 the original farm was divided between the sons of Petrus Malherbe. His son Willem named his portion Zonnebloem. The farm was later bought by the Furter family and in 1940 Marie Furter, South Africa’s first female winemaker, took home three trophies at the prestigious Cape Wine Show, a feat she repeated a further three times. In 1943 the farm was passed to the De Villiers family who applied their family crest to the wine. John De Villiers continued to win acclaim locally and abroad, which culminated in Zonnebloem’s Cabernet Sauvignon being selected as an official wine for the British Royal Family’s visit in 1947. In 1963, winemaking was taken over by Distell, who applied modern methods and techniques to take Zonnebloem to new heights.