Soon after he bought his 2ha farm in the Polkadraai Hills, renowned South African winemaker Bruwer Raats got talking to another well-known producer on the Helderberg, widely considered one of Stellenbosch’s most prestigious sub-regions. His interlocutor was incredulous. ‘You’re kidding me, right? If the Simonsberg is the head of Stellenbosch and the Helderberg its heart, then the Polkadraai Hills are its arse.’
That conversation took place just 20 years ago. At the time, full-bodied reds were the dominant style in Stellenbosch, preferably based on or made entirely from Cabernet Sauvignon. South Africa was still in its ‘bigger is better’ phase, although new-wave winemakers were beginning to do other things.
Raats saw the potential of the Polkadraai Hills. ‘You can’t make powerful wines on granite,’ he says, referring to the sub-region’s dominant
