South Africa · Franschhoek

Boekenhoutskloof Winery (Pty) Ltd

Franschhoek-based Syrah specialist and multi-brand wine group behind The Chocolate Block and Porseleinberg, built from 6,000 bottles to six million across three decades under one winemaker's unbroken hand.

The producer

Boekenhoutskloof is a Franschhoek Valley wine estate and the most commercially ambitious serious wine operation in South Africa. The farm was established in 1776, bought and restored in 1993, and produced its first commercial vintage in 1996, shipping 6,000 bottles. Thirty years on, the group produces over six million bottles combined across all its labels. Marc Kent joined as the estate's first winemaker in 1994, fresh from Elsenburg Agricultural College, on a personal recommendation from Jacques Borman of La Motte. He never left. Today he holds the title Managing Partner and Technical Director and signs off on every blend the house produces, from the cellar's most concentrated single-vineyard Syrah down to the entry-tier Wolftrap.

The house positions itself as a Syrah specialist. Porseleinberg is the cellar's argument for what Swartland Syrah can do at its most serious: whole-bunch fermented in concrete tanks, then twelve months in large 2,500-litre oak foudres with no new wood, producing a wine that reads as dark, mineral, and age-worthy. The Chocolate Block is the wine that built the brand's reach, a Rhone-style blend of Syrah (74%), Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault, and Viognier, made at 4,000 barrels annually, with plush texture, firm acidity, and a smoky, palate-warming finish. Below those two flagships, Porcupine Ridge and Wolftrap run at commercial scale, accounting for roughly 95% of total volume.

Known for

Syrah; Rhone-style blends; multi-tier portfolio from single-vineyard premium to commercial scale

Notable facts

The story

From Recommendation to Co-Owner

Marc Kent was twenty-two years old in 1994, freshly graduated from Elsenburg Agricultural College in Stellenbosch, when Jacques Borman of La Motte picked up the phone and recommended him to the owners of a newly restored Franschhoek farm. The farm had been bought in 1993, the vines were young, and there was no commercial winemaking history to inherit. Kent took the job and made the first vintage in 1996, shipping 6,000 bottles. Over the next eight years he ran the cellar, built the range, and watched The Chocolate Block find buyers well beyond South Africa. In 2004 he sat down with Tim Rands and negotiated an ownership stake, eventually arriving at equal partnership in half the brand. The winemaker who had arrived on a phone call from a Franschhoek neighbour was now co-owner of what South African critic Michael Fridjhon would later call the most important post-apartheid wine business in the country.

From the atlas

Boekenhoutskloof Winery (Pty) Ltd

At A Glance

The Producer

Boekenhoutskloof is a Franschhoek Valley wine estate and the most commercially ambitious serious wine operation in South Africa. The farm, established in 1776 and restored from near-dereliction in 1993, produced its first commercial vintage three years later, shipping 6,000 bottles. Thirty years on, the group produces over six million bottles combined across all its labels.

Marc Kent is the reason. He joined as the estate's first winemaker in 1994, fresh from Elsenburg Agricultural College, and never left. Today he holds the title Managing Partner and Technical Director and signs off on every blend the house produces, from the cellar's most concentrated single-vineyard Syrah down to the entry-tier Wolftrap. That continuity across three decades and six price points is the thread that holds the portfolio together.

The house positions itself as a Syrah specialist. Porseleinberg is the cellar's argument for what Swartland Syrah can do at its most serious. The Chocolate Block is the wine that built the brand's reach, a Rhone-style blend now made at 4,000 barrels annually. Below those two, Porcupine Ridge and Wolftrap run at commercial scale, accounting for roughly 95% of total volume.

Place

The home estate sits in the Franschhoek Valley, a long, narrow mountain basin roughly 75 kilometres east of Cape Town, with granite and sandstone slopes rising on three sides. Franschhoek carries its own Wine of Origin appellation, and the estate Syrah and Semillon are labelled accordingly.

Porseleinberg is a different address. It is a single farm in the Swartland, the inland wheat-and-wine district north of Cape Town that became the centre of South Africa's new-wave natural and minimal-intervention movement in the 2000s and 2010s. The Swartland appellation appears on the Porseleinberg label, separating it physically and legally from the Franschhoek estate wines.

The Chocolate Block draws fruit from across the Western Cape, the broadest South African Wine of Origin designation. That geographic latitude allows the cellar to source Grenache, Cinsault, and Cabernet Sauvignon from wherever each variety performs best in a given year, which is partly why the blend can be made at volume without thinning the fruit.

Soil And Site

The Swartland soils underlying Porseleinberg are predominantly weathered schist, the same iron-rich, low-fertility geology that runs through much of the Paardeberg and Kasteelberg ranges. Low-vigour soils on a warm, wind-swept plateau reduce yields naturally and concentrate flavour in the berry without irrigation. The Franschhoek home estate sits on different geology: granite and sandstone slopes with deeper topsoils at the valley floor and poorer, stonier ground on the upper terraces where older vines are planted.

Story

Marc Kent arrived at Boekenhoutskloof in 1994 on a personal recommendation from Jacques Borman of La Motte, one of the Franschhoek Valley's established estates. He was the farm's first winemaker. The property had been bought and restored the previous year, the vines were young, and the cellar had no commercial history behind it.

The first vintage, 1996, shipped 6,000 bottles. Kent spent the next decade building the range upward and outward simultaneously: Porseleinberg came as the Swartland premium tier, The Chocolate Block occupied the mid-premium slot and proved that a South African Rhone-style blend could find a wide international market, and Porcupine Ridge scaled the group's commercial base.

By 2004, Kent had negotiated an ownership stake, eventually reaching equal partnership with Tim Rands in half the brand. That shift from hired winemaker to co-owner changed the terms of every decision afterward: investment in equipment, in barrel stock, and specifically in staff pay. Kent has stated plainly that ultra-premium wine cannot be made at the expense of worker welfare, and the house pays vineyard workers and cellar hands at rates above South African industry norms.

In 2020, Kent extended the arc beyond South Africa, founding Companhia de Vinhos Invencivel near Pinhao in Portugal's Douro Valley with partner Rita Marques. The Franschhoek estate and its South African portfolio remain the centre of gravity.

Vineyards And Cellar

At Porseleinberg, whole-bunch fermentation takes place in concrete tanks with a submerged cap, a method that retains stem tannin and adds a savouriness and aromatic lift that crushed-berry fermentation alone does not produce. After fermentation, the wine matures for twelve months in large 2,500-litre oak foudres (95%) with a small portion held in concrete eggs (5%). No new wood is used. The foudres are large enough that oak contribution is minimal; what they provide is slow, gentle micro-oxygenation without flavour imprint.

Across the premium range, the cellar does not acidify. This is a deliberate choice in a warm climate where many Cape producers add tartaric acid to lift wines that would otherwise feel heavy. Cold barrel storage and lees ageing preserve freshness without chemical adjustment.

Wines

The range runs across five distinct levels.

Porseleinberg Syrah is 100% Syrah from the single Swartland farm. It is the cellar's most concentrated and age-worthy bottle, with a nose of blackberries, violets, dried herbs, smoked meat, and graphite, and a palate that carries firm tannin and a long, mineral finish. The combination of whole-bunch fermentation and large-foudre ageing without new oak produces a Syrah that stays dark and compact rather than opening into easy fruit.

Boekenhoutskloof Syrah is the estate wine from Franschhoek parcels, positioned below Porseleinberg. It shares the same aromatic register, blackberries and plums alongside violets, dried herbs, smoked meat, and graphite, but at a slightly more accessible weight and without Porseleinberg's single-site concentration.

The Chocolate Block is a Rhone-inspired blend: 74% Syrah with Grenache (11%), Cabernet Sauvignon (8%), Cinsault (6%), and a small percentage of Viognier (1%) co-fermented or added to lift the perfume. The Viognier is the Rhone signal, a technique borrowed from northern Rhone producers who add white grapes to Syrah to add floral lift and soften the colour. The texture is plush and generous, the acidity firm enough to keep the fruit from going heavy, and the finish carries a smoky, palate-warming character.

Porcupine Ridge and Wolftrap are the commercial foundation, accounting for roughly 80% and 15% of group volume respectively. They draw from Cape-wide sources and represent the house at everyday price points.

In The Glass

Portseleinberg rises from the glass with dried violets and smoked meat before the dark fruit arrives: blackberry, graphite, dried herbs. In the mouth it is compact and tightly wound, the whole-bunch tannin making itself felt as a fine-grained grip that runs through the mid-palate and does not soften quickly. The acidity is not aggressive but it is present; the finish is long, mineral, and savoury. It needs time.

The Chocolate Block is the opposite experience in tempo. The nose is generous, ripe Syrah and Grenache with a lifted floral note from the Viognier and a light smokiness from the Cinsault. In the mouth the texture is plush, the fruit warm and enveloping, and the Cabernet Sauvignon component adds a slight graphite spine that prevents the whole thing from becoming purely round. The acidity holds the fruit up without advertising itself. It drinks well young and holds for several years.

The estate Syrah sits between the two: darker and more structured than The Chocolate Block, with the same aromatic vocabulary as Porseleinberg but less single-vineyard concentration.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with The Chocolate Block. It is the wine that shows what Boekenhoutskloof does with Syrah as a structural backbone, how Grenache adds body and warmth, how a small percentage of Viognier lifts the perfume without announcing itself, and how the blend holds together at volume without thinning. The texture is plush and the fruit is generous: this is a warm-climate Rhone blend made with enough acidity to stay lively. It is widely available, priced in the mid-premium range, and gives a clear picture of the cellar's approach before moving to the more demanding and age-dependent Porseleinberg.

Anecdote

Marc Kent was twenty-two years old in 1994, freshly graduated from Elsenburg Agricultural College in Stellenbosch, when Jacques Borman of La Motte picked up the phone and recommended him to the owners of a newly restored Franschhoek farm. The farm had been bought in 1993, the vines were young, and there was no commercial winemaking history to inherit. Kent took the job and made the first vintage in 1996, shipping 6,000 bottles. Over the next eight years he ran the cellar, built the range, and watched The Chocolate Block find buyers well beyond South Africa. In 2004 he sat down with Tim Rands and negotiated an ownership stake, eventually arriving at equal partnership in half the brand. The winemaker who had arrived on a phone call from a Franschhoek neighbour was now co-owner of what South African critic Michael Fridjhon would later call the most important post-apartheid wine business in the country.

Final Word

Boekenhoutskloof built its reputation on the Syrah conviction at the top of the range and the commercial intelligence of The Chocolate Block in the middle. The two tiers exist in genuine dialogue: the premium wines prove the cellar's capability, and the volume wines fund the conditions that make the premium wines possible, including the staff wages and equipment investment that Kent has made central to the operation. Few wine businesses at this scale keep both ends of that equation in balance.

Sources

Open Boekenhoutskloof Winery (Pty) Ltd in the interactive map →