The story reads like something Mark Twain might have written: in 1883, a 12-year-old Kentucky boy runs away from home and travels around the US, surviving by his wits. Having raised money by gambling, he studies medicine and qualifies as a doctor. Then he sails to South Africa, accompanying Queen Victoria’s horses and mules being shipped to local shores in 1899; the South African War has begun.
Eventually, this peripatetic soul, Dr William Charles Winshaw, settles down in Stellenbosch and becomes a grape farmer, producing grape juice. One thing leads to another (why wouldn’t it for this former gold rush participant and Texas Ranger?) and after a brief period of insolvency in 1921, he reinvents himself and establishes Stellenbosch Farmers’ Winery in 1925.
Anyone who loves wine knows this is the company that gave us Chateau Libertas, Tassenberg, Nederburg, Zonnebloem and Lieberstein, among so many others.
The first bottling of Winshaw wine might have only been in 2017, but brothers JP and Pierre Winshaw have grown grapes on the family property for years. They are keen to respect and honour the family legacy.
“Our dad, John, bought the vineyards in 1970 and the family’s been here ever since,” says viticulturist Pierre. They were content to farm grapes and raise free-range chicken and cattle — until there was an oversupply of wine grapes in 2009 and a big dip in prices paid.
Given that the farm is a stone’s throw from Meerlust on Baden Powell Drive, it stands to reason that Bordeaux-style blends of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, malbec and merlot work for them, but so do white grapes. They have chenin blanc and chardonnay, but one of the most interesting to emerge from a recent tasting is pinot gris.
Pinot gris is the “ladies who lunch” or “book club girls” favourite, especially in Italian guise as pinot grigio. Part of its appeal is that it is light, crisp, fresh and generally inoffensive with its subtle pear and apple flavours. But that would be damning it with faint praise because when treated properly, and even aged, it shows remarkably well.
It was part of our learning curve because we were learning how to make wine too
— Pierre Winshaw
At a recent Winshaw Vineyards new vintage launch at the home farm, it was a trio of pinot gris that caught my eye. “We first planted it in 2009, and when we initially delivered the grapes in 2012 the winemakers at Distell didn’t know what we were bringing them, because the skins are reddish,” says Pierre. “So we decided to experiment and play with it ourselves. It was part of our learning curve because we were learning how to make wine too.”
From the 2025 vintage come two expressions of the grape, The Runaway and The Queen’s Horses — names which respect their heritage and their great-grandfather’s history. But served alongside was a pinot gris under their previous label, Usana, from 2015.
As part of their initial experimentation they picked fruit at different times so that the acidity and ripeness levels in the grapes varied. JP admits how well this humble little white aged and caught them by surprise. “We had no idea that it would show so well.” And it did. Textural, creamy and broad with real interest, the 2015 nonetheless still boasted good, lively acidity and dryness with ample life left in it.
What separates the two new wines is that The Runaway is whole-bunch-pressed and naturally fermented in stainless steel tanks and older oak vessels. The Queen’s Horses gets the same treatment initially, but then spends five months on the lees (spent yeast cells) and a further eight months ageing in older barrels before the choicest barrels are selected, blended and then aged for two more months.
On the red side, three new wines were released: Bill Winshaw 2022, Charles Winshaw 2022 and a 2024 malbec. Bill is a cabernet franc-driven blend with 29% cabernet sauvignon and 14% merlot. Charles mixes 50% cabernet sauvignon with 25% each of cabernet franc and merlot; it also has more new oak.
The malbec, a grape commonly associated with Argentina, has been hived off from the blends because the brothers were intrigued by it. “When we began making Usana wines, before rebranding to Winshaw, it was part of the blend. We decided to bottle the malbec on its own after a few years and have been pleasantly surprised.” South Africa boasts very few solo examples and Winshaw’s is rated 93, or 4½ stars.
Likening it to olives in that it presents a decent crop one year and very little the next, Pierre says it makes life interesting. Argentinians love malbec partly because it pairs so well with beef. And with the Winshaw brothers serving home-grown brisket burgers, hanger and bavette steaks both at their café on the farm and frozen to take home for a braai, it’s easy to see why they say they struggle to stay ahead of demand.
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