The Vergelegen Estate has to rank as one of the most beautiful and historical wine estates in the fairest Cape. Established in 1700, it once stood as an iconic 3,200-hectare property just a stone’s throw away from the icy False Bay and the beach side hamlet of Somerset West. It was Willem Adriaan, the son of the famous Simon van der Stel, who first settled at Vergelegen. Over the centuries, the property has seen various ownership before the estate was sold to the famous industrialist Barlow family in 1941. Roll forward to 1987 when the estate was sold to mining giant, Anglo-American Corporation, being incorporated under their Amfarms division.
Anglo American initially hired Martin Meinert as their winemaker and planted 100 hectares of vines on the property, opening their impressive winery in 1992. Martin Meinert left Vergelegen in 1997 and was replaced by the legendary André van Rensburg in 1998. Andre helped re-establish Vergelegen as one of the great wineries of the Cape, becoming famous for championing Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, singularly and in blends, as well as Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cape Bordeaux blends.
On Andre’s retirement in 2021, Luke O’Cuinneagain was hired from Glenelly Estate to fill the fairly sizable shoes and reputation left behind by André. I have caught up with Luke in London several times in the past months, most recently at Tim Atkin MW’s Best of South Africa Tasting in May 2025. The below notes act as merely a snapshot of the ongoing progress currently being made at the estate.
Vergelegen Sauvignon Blanc 2023, WO Stellenbosch, 13% Abv.
Bright and perfumed, full of white blossom, gooseberries, green apple and white citrus with a gentle savoury, leesy core. Plush, elegant, and seamlessly textural with creamy crystalline flavours of white peach, green apple and spicy mint leaf and dried herbs on the long finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Vergelegen Estate White 2023, WO Stellenbosch, 13.5% Abv.
A delicious blend of 56% Semillon and 44% Sauvignon Blanc displays a delicately savoury earthy aromatics with hints of apple puree, fresh fennel root, smoky dried herbs, butter and lanolin. Wonderfully taut, pure, chiselled and precise on the palate with a liquid minerality, a tight fresh frame, beautiful clarity and a spicy white peach and pithy yellow citrus finish. Lovely focus and intensity. Very serious indeed.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Vergelegen Chardonnay Reserve 2023, WO Stellenbosch, 13.5% Abv.
Partial malolactic fermentation employed using 19% new French oak for circa 10 months. 7% portion aged in stainless steel that is then back blended. Natural and inoculated yeasts used. Aromatic nose with hints of creme brûlée, custard cream, and caramelised citrus with hints of apple puree, dried herbs, grilled nuts and salted pistachios. Seamless and elegant, very fine and textural, this is showing great potential already.
(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Vergelegen Cabernet Sauvignon – Merlot 2022, WO Stellenbosch, 14.5% Abv.
Rich plummy aromatics are packed with black currant, chocolate praline, and a delicately sappy, leafy spice kissed by vanilla pod. The texture is wonderfully plush and creamy, deliciously approachable and generous boasting sweet fleshy tannins and a long, long plush finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Vergelegen Merlot Reserve 2022, WO Stellenbosch, 14.5% Abv.
Quite a classical restrained broody aromatics with subtle hints of red and black currant, dried herbs, and a wet stone minerality. The palate is plush and broad with supple creamy silky tannins revealing a fine accessible freshness and vibrant fruit intensity from a reduced time of 8 months in French oak barrel. Impressive for a single cultivar Merlot.
(Wine Safari Score: 94/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Vergelegen Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2022, WO Stellenbosch, 14.5% Abv.
This warm dry vintage shows attractive aromatics of intense sweet black currant, sappy cedar, graphite and sweet cherry pipe tobacco. Fabulously attractive expression with an earthy savoury palate with some notes of molasses, damson plum, graphite and black currant compote on the finish.
(Wine Safari Score: 92+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Vergelegen Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2021, WO Stellenbosch, 14.5% Abv.
Generally more classical and restrained with an altogether broodier mineral expression, showing black currants, stewed plum, and a saline oyster shell maritime precision. The palate follows with a deliciously vibrant acidity beautifully integrated into a soft textured black cherry fruited intensity. True to the vintage, a wine with plenty focus and class.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Vergelegen Estate Red 2022, WO Stellenbosch, 14.5% Abv.
This blend of 66% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc and 6% Petit Verdot shows a fine complex melange of rich black and earthy red berry fruit flavours, freshly tilled earth, plum compote, and accessible saline cassis and stony graphite intensity. Texturally generous, creamy and soft textured, this is a powerful expression that finishes with a long, stony, restrained minerality. Very impressive.
(Wine Safari Score: 95+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Vergelegen Estate Red 2021, WO Stellenbosch, 14.5% Abv.
Delightfully dense and dark fruited, there is a broody depth to the wine revealed through black fruited mineral aromatics, crushed granite, graphite, with an underlying teasing hint of sweet cedar and sappy sandalwood. Impressively cool, elegant and weightlessly concentrated, the balance is exceptional with a very fine integrated acidity but an incredibly understated complexity. Beautiful.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Vergelegen V 2022, WO Stellenbosch, 14.5% Abv.
A blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Petit Verdot, 13% Merlot, and 12% Cabernet Franc. Cool, dark, and broody with aromatics showing subtle hints of blueberry, black currant, wet earth and damson plum. Sleek and silky, the palate is very fine and pin point pure with satin-like chalky tannins and a powdery, salty cassis finish. A very classy and understated wine with true pedigree.
(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Vergelegen V 2021, WO Stellenbosch, 14.5% Abv.
Cool sleek and restrained with a dusty granitic elegance over some delicate aromatics of blueberry, purple fruits, earthy cassis and a notable iodine intensity. The palate texture is taut and mineral, tightly strung with a spicy mineral intensity, cool stony graphite hints, and a subtle smoky finish. Beautiful balance, purity, and poise.
(Wine Safari Score: 94+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
Vergelegen V 2019, WO Stellenbosch, 14.5% Abv.
A fine, dark, sumptuous earthy black fruited wine with hints of brûléed coffee beans, earthy black currant, tannery leather, black cherry and cedar spice. The power, depth and muscle of the 2019 vintage are laid bare for all to experience. Another very serious offering from the estate.
(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)
The Vergelegen Estate wines are imported into the UK and distributed by Seckford Agencies.