Haskell Vineyards and Dombeya Lifestyle Range

Haskell Vineyards and Dombeya Lifestyle Range

Haskell Vineyards graces the slopes of the Helderberg mountain range in Stellenbosch, an area known as the “Golden Triangle”, widely recognized as one of South Africa’s finest wine-growing sub-regions and home to many of South Africa’s top wines. The original farm Dombeya (referring to the many Wild Pear trees on the property) was once a citrus farm. In 2002, American Property Tycoon Preston Haskell IV immediately saw the potential of Dombeya Farm at auction and renaming the farm Haskell Vineyards, the central focus became the creation of unique, terroir-driven wines that would be recognized amongst the finest of their style produced in South Africa.

Passionate about making wine and with exceptionally high standards, Haskell Vineyards was quickly put on the map, competing at the Tri-Nations Challenge held in Sydney, Australia in 2009, effortlessly scooping up awards for ‘Best Shiraz’, ‘Best Red Wine’ and ‘Best Wine of Show’ with Haskell Pillars Syrah 2007, pitted against the best South African, Australian and New Zealand entrants. Striving for perfection, the farm achieved ‘Best Upcoming Vineyard’ by Wine Magazine, and the then winemaker, Rianie Strydom, was the first woman to be given membership of the distinguished Cape Winemakers Guild. Haskell Vineyards continues on its evolutionary journey, with Rudolph Steenkamp taking the reigns as Winemaker and Vineyard Manager, committed to a minimalistic winemaking style, guiding the winery along the next necessary steps of organic and biodiverse farming.

Initially it was envisaged that Dombeya would be a second label to the Haskell range, but the winemaker rightly maintained that Dombeya was strong enough to stand its own ground and thus the two labels operate as separate entities. Dombeya wines are crafted with attention to detail which reflects their passion for the region, outstanding value for money, and have been listed in many top restaurants. Continuing Rianie’s approach of passion and hard work, Rudolph has exciting and innovative plans for the wines, and with the idea of creating wine true to terroir expression one has to return to the simplest form of viticulture; farming the soil and not the vine. It is therefore of the utmost importance to Haskell Vineyards to move towards organic farming methods in keeping with our philosophy and commitment to the excellence of Haskell wines.