Ken Forrester Wines
"A vision for sustainable agriculture."
Teresa Forrester & Ken Forrester family winery
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Built in 1689, Scholtzenhof is one of the oldest wine estates in the Cape. Ken Forrester and his wife Teresa took over the completely run-down estate in 1993 and turned it into one of South Africa's best-known wine estates.
The history of the wine estate begins in 1689, when, ten years after the founding of South Africa, Governor Simon van der Stelten granted land to Frederick Boot, a native of Gotha, on which he built the Zandberg wine estate and planted vines. in 1833, another German family called Scholtz moved there, changed the name to Scholtzenhof and cultivated wine and grain for almost 100 years. After that, the ownership changed again and again, and during the apartheid era and the long boycott of the country associated with it, the farm fell into disrepair.
ken and Teresa Forrester bought the farm in 1993. He renovated the vineyard and took care of the vines, she renovated the Cape Dutch-style farmhouse. Her idea was to work sustainably both in the vineyard and in the social sector: „Our vision is to improve the living conditions of our employees by expanding our business and creating as many jobs as possible in a market that urgently needs support. We go one step further: we practice sustainable agriculture without herbicides and pesticides, we cultivate the fields by hand, which is very labour-intensive but also very satisfying, we prune, defoliate and defoliate the grapes by hand and finally harvest by hand. We hope that this extra labour will help to improve the quality of life in our community and we know that no one would want for anything if each community took care of itself. That's our proposal, and that's why every bottle is a victory and a small change - for the better - in someone's life.“
Ken Forrester is regarded as the master of Chenin Blanc, who has helped this grape variety, which was completely underestimated in South Africa for a long time, to achieve great renown. He is also a partner in the „Old Vine Project“, which helps to ensure that old vineyards are preserved and that their owners realise better prices for their grapes when they sell them. Forrester's best wines, such as „FMC“ and „The Gipsy“, come from these old vineyards.
© Photos: Ken Forrester Wines
