What are single-vineyard wines and why should you care?

If you frequently browse the wine section of your local liquor store or if you spend time on an online wine shop, you might have come across selected wines that are labelled as “single-vineyard” wines.

If you don’t know what this means, you’ve come to the right place. deKaap Vineyards is an esteemed producer of single-vineyard wines, which makes places us in a prime position to shed some light on the topic. 

‘Single-vineyard’ is a term used in the wine industry referencing that the wine in the bottle comes from a single vineyard site.  This means the particular vineyard, and the grapes grown there, have been isolated from all other vineyards due to its superiority.

Typically, wines the are made from a single vineyard offer better quality than those wines made from various different vineyards. The reasons for this are obvious. Only having to care for one vineyard means a grower can take extra steps to ensure the proper development of grapes. But even further to this, it means a producer has full control over the quality of the base ingredients going into their vino.

Terroir is, of course, a crucial component of growing quality grapes for wine production. Wine farmers often want as much control as possible over the terroir their grapes are grown in as this plays into the character of the final product and the impression it will leave drinkers with. Single-vineyard wines offer them a way of establishing that control over the grapes used in the winemaking process.

deKaap Vineyards produces two single-vineyard wines, both made by Lourens van der Westhuizen. They are our Edel Rouge and Blanc de Noir – both can be purchased on our online store. These single-vineyard wines are made with minimal interference throughout vinification, which translates into a high-end wine that wine lovers will adore.