The home of Val de Vie Wines is located on the Val de Vie Estate a few kilometres outside Paarl, on the road to Franschhoek. Top quality wines, polo and an upmarket residential development comprise modern Val de Vie. This site was formerly an old, historic farm.

The historic wine cellar produced its first wine in 1825 and this same cellar, modernised and filled with new French oak barrels, builds on its early 19th century winemaking tradition in the 21st century.

 

Today, it is the production centre of Val de Vie Wines - the most comprehensive selection of Rhône varietal wines available in South Africa. The first wines were produced and bottled on the modern Val de Vie Estate in 2006.

 

This Cape Wine Estate is known for the excellence of its wines as attested to by the many gold medals its wines have won in just a few years.

The ultra-premium brand, Black Label, offers discerning connoisseurs the opportunity to enjoy outstanding quality.

A dedicated team in the vineyard, cellar and tasting room ensure the hallmark of excellence from world class viticultural and oenological practices to professional, friendly service in the elegantly appointed tasting room.

ABOUT THE WINE: Val de Vie Wines has its own vineyards. This means we can grow those Rhône varietals best suited to their terroir whilst sourcing in excellent quality grapes of the other Rhône varietals within a 200 km radius. Thereby, enabling us to produce and sell only the very best wines.

From 2003 onwards, the team undertook extensive terroir studies of Val de Vie which included climate mapping and soil analyses. The decision to focus on Rhône-specific varietals was a result of these studies.

 

There are 13 permitted Châteauneuf-du-Pape varietals and 22 varietals in the Rhône Valley. Val de Vie will eventually grow 15 of these varietals. This will enable the wine maker to use the unique characteristics of each varietal to produce outstanding Rhône-style wines.

 

The cellar sources the best grapes from specially selected vineyards. We follow a simplistic barrel approach. Wood must not dominate the wines. The fruit must be allowed to express itself, thus the oak simply provides the basis for the wine to evolve.

 

Barrels are 500 L in size and a greater percentage of older barrels are used.

Every wine is crafted individually to respect its characteristics.

 

 

Val de Vie is producing the following Rhône varietal wines, namely: Whites: are Clairette Blanche, Grenache blanc, Viognier, Marsanne, Roussanne and Ugni blanc.

 

The Reds: are Petite Sirah, Cinsaut, Carignan, Grenache noir, Mourvedre and Syrah or Shiraz.

 

The Rhône Valley in southern France is formed by the Rhône River flowing from its source in the Swiss Alps through Geneva and turning due south into neighboring France, from where it flows in an almost straight line into the Mediterranean. It is sunny, yet not as hot as Provence, stony with several different soil types that make it ideal for the cultivation of these varietals.

 

One may ask: “Why Rhône varietals on a South African estate?” The answer lies in the terroir. The original farm on which Val de Vie is situated, contains the same rocky or stony formations that are found in the Rhône Valley, hence the first name of the farm on which Val de Vie is now situated.  The original name meant rock spine or stony spine. Thus, these French varietals are eminently at home on Val de Vie.