Havana Hills, Tygerberg

The grey dome of Elephant's Mountain, near Cape Town, owes its name to the ghosts of 40 pachyderms that dwelled there 300 years ago. Today a winery perches benignly on the shoulders of this great rock: Havana Hills.The cellar is the latest venture of Kobus du Plessis - a plastics and packaging entrepreneur.

 

Feeding on the nutritious soils below the ochre cellar are 50 hectares of vineyards: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay which have just yielded their first crop.

Which is why winemaker Nico Vermeulen (formerly Winecorp, L'Ormarins and Simonsig) is rather chuffed. He's finally had a chance to sample the potential of these virgin soils.

But how can this be when three vintages of Havana Hills have already made their way onto the shelves? Since 1999 Vermeulen and Du Plessis have been honing their skills with grapes bought in from Durbanville and Malmesbury in anticipation of their new plantings coming on stream.

In the meantime the wines are showing some success: their Reserve Shiraz 1999 and 2000 were both awarded double gold medals at last year's Veritas awards while the Havana Hills Du Plessis Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 1999 was judged 41/2 Stars by WINE magazine. The Du Plessis Reserve Shiraz 1999 and 2000, Havana Hills Shiraz 2000 and the Du Plessis Reserve Cabernet/Merlot 2000 all rated 4 Stars, again in WINE magazine.

The winery offers one of the Cape's most extraordinary vistas: clockwise from north is the summit of Elephant's Mountain, then Paarl Rock, the Franschhoek valley, Stellenbosch's towering peaks, Durbanville in the foreground, the Helderberg, False Bay and the peninsula, Table Mountain and Cape Town's city centre, Table Bay and Robben Island, and finally Melkbosstrand.