Kleinood

The de Villiers families have left deep footprints in the history of the South African wine industry through the centuries, and Kleinood and the Tamboerskloof wines are no exception.

In the year 2000 Gerard de Villiers, a direct descendant of French Huguenot Jacob De Villiers, and his wife, Libby, found the piece of land that stole their hearts – complete with mountains, river and a pristine tract of indigenous forest. They named the farm Kleinood - the Afrikaans word from Dutch and German origin, means something small and precious. This is exactly what Kleinood means to them – a small farm, very dear to their hearts, specialising in the production of only a Syrah based red wine, a small production of Viognier and Syrah Rosé as well as de Boerin extra virgin olive oil.

Before moving to Kleinood, Gerard, Libby and their two children, Spicer and Katharien, lived in the Cape Town suburb Tam- boerskloof for 25 years. Hence, the name of the wines, which is, too, an integral part of the de Villiers family history.

Gerard, an Engineer by profession, devoting his substantial skills and energies to designing cellars for some of the biggest names in the Cape and international wine industry designed the winery, using his experience to design a state of the art winery without losing contact with traditional winemaking methods. Libby designed and created timeless buildings with strong traditional Cape influences. Everything is simply and holistically designed and dedicated to explore and develop the full potential of the farm and their personal skills to produce the best wine Kleinood is capable of.

The distinctive, yet characteristically understated, Tamboerskloof wine labels are hand printed with an antique wooden press on hand made paper, hand torn to size and pasted onto each individual bottle. The front label bears the wine’s name and vintage. The back label states its provenance. The sole insignia depicts a sheep bearing a flag, derived from the official de Vil- liers family crest.

The first Rhône style Syrah was bottled and released in 2002 followed by the 2006 maiden vintage Viognier. Then followed Tamboerskloof Katharien Syrah Rosé in 2011 followed by, the single vineyard block flagship, John Spicer Syrah. The wines have been lauded by critics and wine lovers alike and awarded many prestigious awards both locally and internationally.

As the name so aptly reflects, this is very much a personal and highly individual project where no viticultural or oenological effort is spared to produce wines of excellence. However, primarily, Kleinood is a home where, once again, a de Villiers family has come home to roost.