The Indwe Estate

At the southern-most tip of Africa, where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet, one finds the ‘Cape of Storms’, or more commonly, Cape Agulhas. On this peninsula lies the Elim ward and Overberg region, where we source the grapes for Indwe Sauvignon Blanc. Indwe is the Xhosa name for the Blue Crane, South Africa’s national bird. It is an endangered species and endemic to South Africa, particularly the Overberg region. The Blue Crane is very special to the amaXhosa and amaZulu, often associated with warriors and royalty.

Owner and Winemaker is Trizanne Barnard. During her productive vinous career, she has seized every possible opportunity to broaden her knowledge and experience, pressing them for every drop of goodness they offered, enriching her life, her work and her wine. With a B.Sc Agric under her belt she stepped into the real world of wine, completing harvests in Western Australia, Alsace, Bordeaux, Rhone and Douro Valley.

Back on home soil, after a year at Klein Constantia she was challenged with setting up a winery in the Helderberg. After four successful years,she decided it was time to venture on my own, creating her own project.

The Indwe Estate

At the southern-most tip of Africa, where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet, one finds the ‘Cape of Storms’, or more commonly, Cape Agulhas. On this peninsula lies the Elim ward and Overberg region, where we source the grapes for Indwe Sauvignon Blanc. Indwe is the Xhosa name for the Blue Crane, South Africa’s national bird. It is an endangered species and endemic to South Africa, particularly the Overberg region. The Blue Crane is very special to the amaXhosa and amaZulu, often associated with warriors and royalty.

Owner and Winemaker is Trizanne Barnard. During her productive vinous career, she has seized every possible opportunity to broaden her knowledge and experience, pressing them for every drop of goodness they offered, enriching her life, her work and her wine. With a B.Sc Agric under her belt she stepped into the real world of wine, completing harvests in Western Australia, Alsace, Bordeaux, Rhone and Douro Valley.

Back on home soil, after a year at Klein Constantia she was challenged with setting up a winery in the Helderberg. After four successful years,she decided it was time to venture on my own, creating her own project.

The Vineyards

The historic mission settlement of Elim on the Agulhas Plain comprises 6 500 hectares of land.　 Half of this land is under agriculture and for the past one hundred years has been cultivated and the remaining　+ 3 000 hectares of Elim ferricrete fynbos is managed by the Moravian Church and the community at the Elim mission station.

Elim was established in 1824 by Moravian missionaries and sacramental wine was required for church services, and the first vineyard planting in this region subsequently occurred over 100 years ago however viticulture didn’t really establish until 1997 when it resumed again.

First Vineyard plantings: 1996 – Lands End. After Lands End, The Berrio planted the next vineyards in 1997.

Producers in Elim:

• The Berrio: 33.7 hectares (planted with 80% of white grape varietals)
• Black Oystercatcher: 18 hectares (planted with 68% of white grape varietals)
• First Sighting: 70 hectares (planted with 55% of white grape varietals)
• Zoetendal: 7.46 hectares (planted with 85% of white grape varietals)

Total hectares of vineyards 129.16 Ha = 319.161 Acres

White grape varietals found on Elim: approximately 80% Sauvignon Blanc, 15% Semillon and the rest is small parcels of Viognier, Nouvelle.