Oak Valley

Oak Valley Estate is an iconic fifth generation family farm, founded by Sir Antonie Viljoen in 1898, situated in cool climate Elgin. The founder played a pioneering role when he planted some of the first vines in the valley soon after he bought the farm in 1898.

The Elgin valley was only classified as an official wine region in 1990, almost 100 years later, thanks again to the viticultural trials done by the Rawbone-Viljoen family, among other pioneers. Elgin is South Africa’s most important apple growing region, and today Elgin still has only about 850 hectares of vineyards. Oak Valley has always been a diversified business with our biggest department being fruit, followed by cut flowers and our winery. 

The first wines were released under the Oak Valley brand in 2003 and since then our portfolio has become focused on Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. These wines are classically styled and beautifully crafted. 
We are convinced that Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are the varietals that are best suited to tell the Oak Valley story.

Our unique combination of a very cool climate, structured clay soils, above average rainfall, cloud cover and elevation give us extended growing season and expressive grapes with good natural acidity. Our flagship range, named Groenlandberg after the dramatic mountain that act as our boundary, are Estate blends of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Since our Estate is fairly big, we have the unique ability to farm with vineyards on different sites at different aspects and altitudes.

These provide us with interesting components at blending time. These two wines are blends of the different Estate vineyards that we farm on the Estate and therefore tell our story as a whole. Our Tabula Rasa range consists of single vineyard, single clone bottlings in tiny amounts that enable us to get to know our vineyards and clones better.

We currently have 4 clones of Chardonnay and 6 clones of Pinot Noir planted on the Estate and with this range we are getting to know the subtle differences between them and what they contribute to our blends. We are dedicated to this stunning piece of land and making sure that we preserve and protect it for the next generation.

Our winemaking philosophy is centred around focus and detail and making sure our wines remain an honest reflection of our land.