Bosman Family Vineyards is synonymous for growing vines and making wine for many years. It is the level of commitment and desire that has seen the farm flourish over the last two hundred years.
Situated beneath the Limiet Mountains near Wellington, eight generations have worked the land, and this vineyard is just steeped in history and tradition.
Lelienfontein, home of Bosman Family Vineyards was originally issued to French Huguenot, Philip de Royan in 1699. The history of this farm dates back to 1707 and is rich with stories that cover eight generations of Bosmans. The first generation of the Bosman family arrived on the farm in 1798.
Not only does the family owns this farm, but the family also have property in Hemel-en-Aarde on the Karwyderskraal road. It is here where they’ve developed a vine nursery and are cultivating more than a hundred clones to create plant material for the propagation of high quality vines.
As you drive up to the farm you are greeted with lush gardens along the side towards a 260 year old cellar, with a view that is as pretty as a picture.
The tasting room is conducted in the old wine cellar, preserving much of the original features of the cellar. On the one side you have a lovely fireplace, perfect for the cold winter days and the other side a long wooden table where you can sit and enjoy all their award-winning wines.
Adjacent to this is the farm museum. There is a rusted iron gate that bears the family crest adorned with the words ‘Fides spes et amor’, meaning ‘Faith, hope and love’.
They have a great selection of wines to taste from. For R80 you get to taste 5 wines. The wine tasting experience includes: a visit to the old cellar, the barrel cellar, and the modern cellar with its lookout point over the entire wine making process.
We tasted the following wines:
BOSMAN FAMILY VINEYARD ~ GENERATION 8 CHENIN BLANC 2018
The wine is kept on its lees and stirred to produce a wine with an intense, luscious palate and complex integrated nose. Delicate nuances of pear and peach are balanced on the palate with a dry lingering finish. Medium to full-bodied style with a long, clean, crisp aftertaste.
This wine is a tribute to the eighth generation of the Bosman family, who continues to run the farm with incredible commitment to the land, the quality of wine and its dedicated people.
BOSMAN FAMILY VINEYARD ~ GENERATION 8 ROSÉ 2018
Multiple-batch picking to ensure the right analysis regarding moderate alcohol and fresh acidity. Enough skin contact to ensure the wine is the perfect hue. After pressing the wine is treated as a premium white wine to secure as much as possible of the fresh flavours of the wine. Notes of strawberries and cranberries with a fresh finish.
These grapes are sourced from their vineyards in Wellington as well as in the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde valley which contains more than 47 cultivars.
BOSMAN FAMILY VINEYARD ~ OPTENHORST CHENIN BLANC 2016
This barrel-fermented and matured wine has been carefully crafted from grapes harvested from a single vineyard of old bush vines planted on the farm Optenhorst in 1952. 6 months of oak age in small, older fill barrels offsets the natural, bright acidity with some weight on the midpalate. Greeted by a nose of almond brittle, apricots, peach and grapefruit rind, this wine shows an equally complex melange of flavours on the palate, tied together with a subtle minerality and focussed, linear acidity.
The Optenhorst Chenin Blanc was planted in 1952, making it the third oldest Chenin vineyard in the country and officially an Old Vine wine. The name Optenhorst quite fittingly means ‘a place of sanctuary on top of a hill’ and this is exactly what you experience when you are standing amid these old vines that have been tended by the hands of three generations.
BOSMAN FAMILY VINEYARD ~ PINOT NOIR 2017
Rich, bright fresh berries, a slight earthiness and subtle spicy notes. Medium to full bodied palate with a soft tannin which contributes to a ?ne structure. A nicely balanced wine with a lingering ?nish.
100% Pinot Noir from the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. In 2000 the family acquired a vineyard in the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley which would supplement their offering with cool climate grapes.
BOSMAN FAMILY VINEYARD ~ PINOT NOIR RESERVE 2017
Clear and vibrant with an intense plum heart and a ruby rim. A complex nose with a combination of dark plums and blueberries with luscious hints of fruitcake. The oak lends more tertiary flavours but the core remains fruity with the generosity we have come to rely on from the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde. A gentle opulence on the palate, lovely fine tannins and a generous finish.
The Lelienfontein Estate produced wine until 1957, when the family turned their focus to their vine nursery. In 2007, the Bosmans returned to winemaking and released the first wines from the renovated 260-year-old cellar.
BOSMAN FAMILY VINEYARD ~ TWYFELING CINSAUT 2017
Luscious and concentrated although of medium body. A bold wine with an elegant structure. Lovely fresh berry flabours with hints of tobacco, spice and savouriness. Deep plum red centre with a purple rim.
Cinsaut was one of the cornerstone varieties in the Bovlei valley. One almost finds it unbelievable that the plough and shovel of the farm Twyfeling, were once used by a proud woman who worked the land alone, without her husband by her side. The only testament to her presence is the beautiful homestead she commissioned and the detail in the key to her cellar. This wine is a toast to rediscovering what the old farmers deemed fit.
BOSMAN FAMILY VINEYARD ~ NERO D’AVOLA 2016
This wine has lovely, fresh berry aromas, hints of violet and lavender followed by a hint of sweet spice. A generous palate with a luscious concentration of fruit, a good tannin structure and a lingering finish. The wine spent 18 months in a combination of new French oak as well an 2nd, 3rd and 4th fill barrels.
Nero d’Avola, meaning “Black of Avola” in Italian, is a red wine grape cultivar named after the town of Avola in the far south of Sicily, a Mediterranean island that lies just off the coast of Italy’s boot-shaped south. This indigenous grape varietal is also the most widely planted in Sicily, a location whose hot, dry climate and positioning in the Mediterranean Sea renders its growing conditions very similar to those in the Cape.
BOSMAN FAMILY VINEYARD ~ PINOT GRIS 2018
This Pinot Grigio is a light-bodied wine with a crisp, refreshing palate with subtropical and stone fruit flavours. On the nose you get pear and pineapple with subtle savoury and herbal notes.
Pinot Gris is the white, well-travelled off-spring of the black Pinot Noir grape. The English translation of the French ‘Gris’ is grey, and refers to the greyish-blue hue of the grapes.
To ensure personal attention and a customised experience, wine tastings are by appointment only. Contact Bosman Family Vineyards: Tel: +27 21 873 3170
Categories: Bosman Family Vineyard, Region, Wellington
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