The Piekenierskloof gets its name from the Dutch soldiers known as the 'piqneniers' (piekenmen), who were sent to the 'Groote Clooff' during the Second Khoi-Dutch War in 1673 to protect convoys crossing this mountain pass. A rugged wilderness with naked rock formations. The gnarled bushvines of this region include Grenache noir vines that are said to have been planted on the Piekenierskloof plateau as early as the early 1700s. Legend has it that during his exile on the island of St Helena in the early 1800s, Napoleon Bonaparte drank a sweet wine that came from these Grenache noir vines. A unique terroir of dry farming at an elevation of 550-750 m above sea level and the cold, harsh sea influence of the west coast shape these individual wines.
