Kanonkop Wine Estate

Kanonkop Wine Estate began in 1929 when Paul Oliver Sauer, a member of the South African parliament, took ownership of 85 hectares of land on the slopes of the Simonsberg Mountain. The property was originally part of the Uitkyk farm, which had been in the Sauer family since the early 20th century. Paul Sauer had studied under Abraham Izak Perold, the developer of the Pinotage grape, and planted some of the first Pinotage vineyards on the property in the early 1940s. For several decades, the estate sold its fruit in bulk to large corporate wineries. The transition to estate bottling occurred in 1973 under the direction of Sauer's son-in-law, Jannie Krige, and winemaker Jan Boland Coetzee. Today, the fourth generation family estate is managed by brothers Paul and Johann Krige.

The estate holdings include 125 hectares total, with 95 hectares under vine on the primary property, supplemented by the 2022 acquisition of the neighboring Laibach property, now known as Ladybird Vineyards. The primary vineyards sit on the lower slopes of the Simonsberg at elevations between 60 and 365 meters. Soils are composed of ancient decomposed granite, specifically Hutton and Clovelly types, which provide the drainage and mineral structure characteristic of the Simonsberg-Stellenbosch ward. Pinotage accounts for half of the plantings, much of which is maintained as dry-farmed bush vines, including a specific block dating back to 1953. Winemaking utilizes traditional open-top concrete fermenters where the cap is manually punched down every two hours to facilitate extraction and temperature control.

Kanonkop is frequently described as the South African equivalent to a Bordeaux First Growth. Its flagship wine, the Paul Sauer, is a Cabernet Sauvignon-led Bordeaux blend that received the first 100-point score for a South African wine from critic Tim Atkin for its 2015 vintage. Other significant bottlings include the Black Label Pinotage, sourced from the 1953 vineyard, and the Kadette range, which serves as the second label. The estate has received significant international recognition, including multiple International Winemaker of the Year trophies at the International Wine and Spirit Competition. The name of the estate refers to the signal cannons used in the 17th century to alert farmers to the arrival of ships in Table Bay.