From the atlas
Lammershoek Winery
At A Glance
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| Location | Paardeberg, Swartland, Western Cape |
| Founded | Land grant 1714; first vines 1719 |
| Grapes | Chenin Blanc, Pinotage, Cinsault, Mediterranean reds |
| Farming | Dry-land bush vines; organic conversion completed 2010 to 2015 |
| Winemaker | Schalk Opperman (from 2015 harvest) |
| Viticulture | Marius Kotze (from 2018) |
| Range | Heritage Reserve, Mysteries, Innocents |
| Entry Bottle | The Innocent Pinotage |
The Producer
Lammershoek sits on the Paardeberg, a granite mountain that rises from the flat wheat and wine country of the Swartland in South Africa's Western Cape. The farm property dates to a 1714 land grant; the first vines went into the ground in 1719. What makes the address concrete today is eighty hectares of dry-land bush vines in decomposed sandstone, granite and clay, farmed without irrigation and focused on Chenin Blanc, Pinotage, Cinsault and a loose family of Mediterranean red varieties.
The cellar works with a low-intervention logic that has been in place since Craig Hawkins converted the farming to organic between 2010 and 2015. Schalk Opperman has been head winemaker since the 2015 harvest. Marius Kotze has run viticulture since 2018. Current owners Andreas and Sonja Abold have relocated from Europe to the farm and manage it directly. Three tiers of wine move from the Heritage Reserve range at the top through Mysteries to the Innocents at the approachable end.
Place
The Paardeberg is a granite intrusion that stands apart from the wider Swartland plain. Its soils are decomposed sandstone, granite and clay, giving root systems a reasonably deep, free-draining medium that stresses the vines just enough. The Swartland is warm, dry and windswept, and the Paardeberg sits within the Swartland Wine of Origin district. What the mountain provides that the flat inland does not is significant diurnal variation: daytime heat ripens the grapes fully, and the drop in temperature at night slows the final days of ripening and holds acidity in the fruit. That acidity is what keeps the wines from feeling heavy despite the warmth, and it is why the Pinotage and Chenin Blanc from these old dry-land vines can carry freshness alongside weight.
Soil And Site
The Lammershoek parcels grow in a mix of decomposed sandstone, granite and clay. Dry-land farming is the baseline across the estate: no irrigation, bush vine training. The oldest Pinotage blocks were planted forty-two years ago; the oldest Chenin Blanc blocks are at least as old. Bush vines spread their root systems laterally and deeply into the rock-mixed soils, drawing moisture from the subsoil through the dry summer months. Yields stay low without intervention. The combination of lean, well-drained soils and unirrigated vines concentrates flavour in the fruit without forcing ripeness.
Story
The Paardeberg farm has changed hands several times since Adriaan van Jaarsveld and Cornelia Nel received the land grant in 1714. The viticulture goes back to 1719, making it one of the older continuously farmed wine properties in the Cape. By the end of the twentieth century the estate needed rebuilding. Austrian couple Paul and Anna Kretzel acquired it in 1995 and put the vineyards and cellar back in working order.
The farming shifted again when Craig Hawkins joined as winemaker in 2010. Hawkins was part of the Swartland Revolution, a loose movement of producers in the region who were pushing toward minimal intervention in vineyard and cellar. At Lammershoek he converted the farming to organic over his five-year tenure and shaped the low-intervention cellar approach that Opperman has continued. When Hawkins left in 2015, the conversion held.
A German-led consortium including former footballer Franz Beckenbauer had acquired the property in 2013 while Hawkins was still there. The famous name did not last as a farming force. Andreas and Sonja Abold subsequently took ownership, moved to the Paardeberg, and have run the estate directly since. The farming philosophy Hawkins established and the cellar direction Opperman has developed sit underneath what the Abolds are building today.
Vineyards And Cellar
All vines are trained as bush vines and farmed without irrigation on their granite and sandstone soils. The organic conversion Hawkins completed between 2010 and 2015 removed synthetic inputs from the farming; viticulturist Marius Kotze has continued that approach since 2018.
In the cellar, the approach divides by grape. Half the Chenin Blanc goes through natural fermentation in old wood, picking up texture and complexity from the ambient yeasts and the porous surface of the older barrels without accumulating oak flavour. The other half takes a different path not fully specified in current material. The Chardonnay component in at least one blend is aged in one hundred percent new wood, which adds a contrasting richness to Chenin-led blends.
The Innocent Pinotage shows the concrete-vessel logic most clearly. Grapes from twenty-one and forty-two-year-old dry-land bush vines ferment in open concrete tanks using a mix of whole-bunch clusters and de-stemmed crushed berries. The wine stays in those same concrete tanks for ten months before bottling. Concrete maintains a stable temperature, allows a micro-exchange with oxygen through its porous walls, and adds no flavour of its own. The result in the glass is a Pinotage that reads as fruit-forward rather than oak-marked.
Wines
The range runs across three tiers with distinct jobs.
Heritage Reserve is the top level, built from the oldest parcels and the most careful cellar selection. It includes the Reserve Blanc, a Chenin-led white with old-vine depth; the Reserve Chenin Blanc; the Reserve Rouge, a red blend; and the Reserve Syrah. These wines carry more weight, more cellar complexity and longer potential than the tiers below. The Reserve Chenin draws from old-vine parcels and natural fermentation in old wood, giving it texture alongside the grape's characteristic acidity. The Reserve Syrah and Reserve Rouge bring in the Mediterranean variety character from the Paardeberg parcels: darker fruit, firmer tannin, and the kind of savouriness that comes from warm-climate farming on lean, dry soils.
Mysteries is the mid-range tier. Its exact composition is less fully documented than the Reserve or Innocents ranges, but it sits between the entry wines and the top selection in both origin and cellar work.
Innocents is the most approachable tier, anchored by The Innocent Pinotage. These wines are made for drinking without ceremony: lower in tannin, higher in immediate fruit, and fermented and aged in ways that emphasise freshness over complexity.
In The Glass
The Innocent Pinotage opens with cherry and raspberry that read as clean and direct rather than jammy. The palate follows the nose closely: a juicy mid-palate with bright acidity. Concrete fermentation and ageing contribute to the clean fruit character. There is no oak to interrupt the fruit line, and the tannin from whole-bunch fermentation is fine enough to stay in the background. The finish is fresh and short, not austere.
The Heritage Reserve wines move in a different direction. The Reserve Chenin Blanc carries old-vine weight alongside Chenin's natural acidity: a richer, more textured white than the Innocents tier, with the kind of grip that comes from natural fermentation in old wood. The Reserve Rouge and Reserve Syrah bring darker fruit, firmer and more present tannin, and a savouriness that the Mediterranean varieties add to Syrah-led blends on these granite soils. They need time or food in a way the Innocents wines do not.
A Bottle To Understand It
Start with The Innocent Pinotage. It is made from twenty-one and forty-two-year-old dry-land bush vines on the Paardeberg, fermented in open concrete tanks with a mix of whole-bunch and crushed-berry fruit, and aged ten months in those same concrete tanks before bottling. The nose gives cherry and raspberry without sweetness or extraction. The palate is juicy, the acidity bright, the tannin soft enough to disappear. It is not a complicated wine; it is a legible one. It shows what Lammershoek grows, what the cellar does with it when it works without oak, and what Pinotage can taste like when the winemaking gets out of the way of the fruit. Begin here, then move to the Reserve Chenin to see what the same low-intervention logic produces when it has older wood and longer time.
Anecdote
In 2013, a consortium of German businessmen acquired Lammershoek. One of the names in that consortium was Franz Beckenbauer, the former West Germany captain who had lifted the World Cup twice, once as a player in 1974 and once as a manager in 1990. For a brief period, one of the most recognisable names in football history appeared on the ownership register of an eighty-hectare organic farm in the South African granite country. Beckenbauer was not farming the vines himself, and the consortium's involvement proved temporary. Andreas and Sonja Abold eventually took ownership, relocated from Europe to the Paardeberg, and have run the estate hands-on since. The famous name is gone from the register. The Abolds are the ones checking the vines.
Final Word
Lammershoek is a Paardeberg estate with three centuries of vineyard history and a cellar approach that has been low-intervention since Craig Hawkins converted the farming to organic a decade ago. The Heritage Reserve range shows what old-vine Chenin Blanc and Syrah-led blends can do from these dry granite soils. The Innocent Pinotage is where to begin: concrete-fermented, fruit-forward and honest about what it is.
Sources
- http://www.wineanorak.com/southafrica/part11_lammershoek.htm
- https://www.winewithseth.com/winewiki/lammershoek/
- https://winemag.co.za/wine/opinion/tim-james-renewal-and-stability-comes-to-lammershoek/
- https://winemag.co.za/wine/review/lammershoek-new-releases/
- https://winemag.co.za/wine/review/lammershoek-the-innocent-pinotage-2017/