The Stables Wine Estate Media Release

 No: Stables0601

17 Sept 2006

The Stables Wine Estate welcomes new viticulturalist

Durban - The Stables Wine Estate has scooped the services of a top viticulturalist who will assist winemakers Tiny and Judy van Niekerk in producing critically acclaimed wines from KwaZulu-Natal.

Diederik le Grange joined the team mid year and is enthusiastic about the short and long term prospects for the estate, on the Rosetta Road outside Nottingham Road. 

“The chance to make wine in KZN is an exciting prospect," said le Grange. "We are like pioneers setting the standard. Because KZN is a new winegrowing area, it has a certain mysteriousness, so we are only now discovering the character and quality of the wines that this region can produce."

"The immediate aim is to get to know the vines and become familiar with the climate," he added. "This area in particular will require different viticultural practices to suit the Midlands climate. Again, this will add to the uniqueness of the wine.”

After graduating from the University of Stellenbosch le Grange gained experience in various top South African vineyards, as well as well known vineyards in France, New Zealand, The United States, Uruguay, Australia and New Zealand.

"I believe that the key to producing a great wine lies in investing quality time in the vineyard, and not necessarily owning the newest winery equipment," says le Grange. "Ideally, I prefer to interfere as little as possible in the winemaking process – simple methods and maintaining high hygiene standards gives the wine the best potential to let its terroir influence come forward", he says.

"We see it as a reflection of our success that we have been able to get a viticulturalist of Diederik's calibre to join the team at The Stables," said Judy van Niekerk. "He very much holds our ethos on winemaking - let the fruit speak for itself. We do not filter our wines and we bottle straight from the barrel for example to let the wine and fruit develop in its own direction with as little interference as possible".

ENDS

Russell Peach/
Gameplan Media