We are excited to introduce the award-winning wines of DELHEIM ESTATE from Stellenbosch, South Africa to our portfolio.
High on the slopes of the Simonsberg Mountain, 50 km from Cape Town, lies the family-owned Delheim estate. Here the Sperling family has been making wines of character for many decades.
The late Michael Hans “Spatz” Sperling, was the Patriarch and also a South African wine industry legend. His wife Vera still resides on the farm.
The history of winemaking at Delheim dates back to 1938 when German emigré Hans Otto Hohsenhein bought a piece of unproductive scrub land high up in the foothills of the Simonsberg Mountains for himself and his wife Deli. DELHEIM comes from the German for “Deli’s home.
When the Hohsenheins’ 19 year-old nephew Spatz Sperling arrived from Germany in 1951 the estate improved radically. Spatz provided a fresh impetus and new ideas, and in 1957 the Hohsenheins handed control over to Spatz on a profit-sharing basis.
Spatz began winning numerous awards and having established himself as a serious winemaker, he embarked on a series of pioneering initiatives in the South African wine industry in the decades that followed, for example creating the first “wine route” in 1971. The Stellenbosch Wine Route then had only three members and today it boasts more than 200.
Today the vineyards under the control of the estate cover 170 hectares on a wide variety of terroirs and are now directed by Victor and Nora Sperling, Spatz’s son and daughter-in-law. Delheim supports its community of estate workers with schools, healthcare, transport and housing. The winemakers make use of sustainable and organic methods in their vineyards to protect the environment and their wines.
We look forward to you trying their wine.