South Africa · Stellenbosch

Longridge Winery

Longridge Winery farms the Helderberg in Stellenbosch wine country with biodynamic methods, an ecological farm system and cellar work led by Jasper Raats.

The producer

Longridge Winery sits on the southern slopes of the Helderberg in Stellenbosch wine country. Jasper Raats is a shareholder, cellar master and managing director, and began consulting at the estate in 2011. The wines focus on varieties suited to the climate and soils, including Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinotage, with Driefontein offering a varietal Syrah. The estate uses biodynamic vineyard methods, ducks to help control insects, cattle manure for compost and solar panels for farm efficiency. In the cellar, Longridge uses less sulphur dioxide and avoids commercial yeast, enzymes, fining agents, stabilizing agents and filtration. Driefontein brings cinnamon, black cherry, spice and charcuterie aromas, rounded tannins and enough balance for further ageing.

Known for

Helderberg wines shaped by biodynamic farming and low-intervention cellar work, with Driefontein Syrah as the clearest varietal bottle and Skebenga as the leading Cape red blend.

Notable facts

The story

Jasper Raats' first vintage in full control

Jasper Raats began consulting at Longridge in 2011, arriving while the estate still had unfinished wines from the previous seasons. He completed the 2010 reds and 2011 whites, then began adjusting the styles as he took control of the cellar. The handover became complete with the 2012 vintage, the first Longridge harvest made entirely under his direction. By the time of a 2015 visit, the fruit programme had narrowed from grapes bought elsewhere in Stellenbosch to Longridge's own grapes and a neighbour's, all described by Raats as Helderberg fruit.

From the atlas

Longridge Winery

At A Glance

Longridge Winery is a wine estate in Stellenbosch wine country, on the southern slopes of the Helderberg in South Africa's Western Cape. Its stated core includes Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinotage, while Driefontein provides a varietal Syrah lead. Biodynamic vineyard work, farm-made compost and a cellar without commercial yeast or filtration shape the way the wines arrive in the bottle.

The Producer

Jasper Raats is a shareholder, cellar master and managing director of Longridge Wine Estate. He began consulting there in 2011, and the 2012 vintage was his first made entirely under his control. Longridge's grape choices follow the estate's climate and soils, with Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc, also known as Steen, alongside Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinotage. Driefontein adds Syrah as a single-variety red.

The combination of vineyard control and cellar responsibility is visible in the way Longridge presents its wines. The estate works with a defined group of varieties, farms its own ecological system, and keeps cellar additions limited. A bottle from Longridge therefore carries both a Helderberg setting and a clear set of production decisions.

Place

Longridge sits in Stellenbosch wine country on the Helderberg's southern slopes, with working vineyards surrounding the Cape-style Manor@Longridge homestead. During a 2015 visit, Raats described the estate's fruit programme as coming only from Longridge and a neighbour, all from the Helderberg, after earlier purchases from other parts of Stellenbosch.

That local sourcing changes how the wines read. The estate's named varieties are not presented as a broad survey of Stellenbosch, but as grapes selected for one climate and soil system. Driefontein places Syrah inside that setting, while Skebenga uses a Cape red blend to bring several varieties together.

Soil And Site

Decomposed-granite topsoil lies over clay at roughly one metre beneath the Longridge vines. The clay layer has been associated with fine tannins in the estate's red wines, giving a physical explanation for the rounded feel reported in Driefontein rather than leaving tannin as a vague tasting adjective.

The southern Helderberg slopes also place the vineyards inside a working farm rather than an isolated cellar site. Vines share the property with herbs, vegetables, ducks and cattle, so the farming system reaches from the soil beneath the vines to the animals moving through the rows.

Story

Longridge's modern direction took shape through a change in both cellar control and fruit sourcing. Raats arrived as a consultant in 2011, then moved the estate toward wines made from a smaller, more local fruit base. By the period covered by the 2015 visit, Longridge was using its own grapes and a neighbour's, all described as Helderberg fruit.

The shift placed the estate's wines inside a tighter geographic frame. Its range still covers white and red varieties, but the fruit is connected to the same southern Helderberg setting, while the cellar leaves the winemaking choices visible through low additions and limited processing.

Vineyards And Cellar

Longridge uses biodynamic viticultural methods and keeps its vines, herbs and vegetables free from artificial pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers. Free-roaming ducks move through the vineyard to help control insects and other pests. Cattle provide manure that becomes compost, returning material from the farm back to the soil around the vines.

Solar panels reduce the farm's carbon footprint and improve operating efficiency. In the cellar, Longridge uses less sulphur dioxide and avoids commercial yeast, enzymes, fining agents, stabilizing agents and filtration. The wines therefore move from vineyard to bottle without the listed adjustments, leaving fruit, acidity, tannin and ageing choices to carry the shape of the finished wine.

Wines

Longridge's named range moves across white varieties, red varieties and blends. Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc form the stated white-wine core, while Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinotage belong to the estate's principal red planting choices. The range also includes Olindo Verdelho 2022, a white bottle built around Verdelho.

Driefontein is a single-vineyard Syrah and the most fully described red in the range. Cinnamon, black cherry, spice and charcuterie sit alongside rounded tannins, while 20 percent new French oak adds a defined cellar note. The wine carries enough shape and balance for further ageing, with a five-to-eight-year cellaring recommendation.

Skebenga takes a different route as a red blend of Cinsault, Pinotage and Pinot Noir in the retailer-documented 2020 release. Its 16-month élevage places the blend in a more developed, cellar-shaped register. The Pinotage proportion varies by vintage, with 20 percent recorded for the 2020 release and at least 30 percent for the 2023 release, so the vintage is part of the blend's meaning.

In The Glass

Driefontein opens with cinnamon and black cherry, followed by darker spice and the savoury scent of charcuterie. On the palate, the fruit broadens through rounded tannins, while the clay beneath the decomposed granite gives the tannins their fine-grained feel. New French oak sits alongside the fruit instead of replacing it, and the finish keeps enough shape and balance for the wine to develop in bottle.

The rest of the range changes the frame. Skebenga is a red blend whose Cinsault, Pinotage and Pinot Noir components are brought together through 16 months of élevage, while Olindo Verdelho 2022 provides a white expression from a separate grape. The range therefore moves from a dark, oak-framed Syrah to a blended Cape red and a white Verdelho, with grape and cellar method setting the direction in each bottle.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Driefontein Syrah. It is a single-vineyard red from Longridge's Helderberg setting, made from one grape and given enough French oak to frame the wine without hiding its savoury fruit. Cinnamon, black cherry, spice and charcuterie make the aroma easy to place, while rounded tannins and a balanced, age-worthy finish connect the glass to the granite-over-clay site.

Driefontein is the right first bottle because it brings together Longridge's place, red-grape focus, farming context and cellar choices in one pour. It also gives a clear sense of how the estate handles Syrah before moving to the blended character of Skebenga or the white-wine direction of Olindo Verdelho.

Anecdote

Jasper Raats began consulting at Longridge in 2011, arriving while the estate still had unfinished wines from the previous seasons. He completed the 2010 reds and 2011 whites, then began adjusting the styles as he took control of the cellar. The handover became complete with the 2012 vintage, the first Longridge harvest made entirely under his direction. By the time of a 2015 visit, the fruit programme had narrowed from grapes bought elsewhere in Stellenbosch to Longridge's own grapes and a neighbour's, all described by Raats as Helderberg fruit.

Final Word

Longridge connects a Helderberg vineyard system to a cellar that uses fewer additions and avoids filtration. Ducks patrol the rows, cattle supply compost, solar panels support the farm, and the red wines carry the soil conversation through tannin and ageing. Driefontein puts that chain into the glass first: Syrah, granite over clay, savoury fruit, rounded tannins and a finish built to last beyond the opening pour.

Sources

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