from: http://www.ewine.co.za

Kanonkop Estate
Stellenbosch, South Africa

Kanonkop is a fourth generation family estate, which
was originally purchased by JW Sauer, a cabinet member
in the parliament of the Union of South Africa. His
son Paul Oliver Sauer, also a cabinet minister, took
over the reins from his father and in 1968 was joined
by Springbok rugby great Jan Boland Coetzee.

Mary Sauer, daughter of Paul Sauer, inherited the Estate.
She married Jannie Krige, a rugby administrator at the
University of Stellenbosch, who took early retirement and
together with Coetzee made the first estate bottled wines
in 1973.

Beyers Truter joined the estate in 1980 with the departure
of Coetzee, and together with Johann and Paul, sons of Mary
and Jannie, continued the traditions developed on this highly
prized estate. More recently Beeslaar,
who joined the team in 2002, has taken over from Beyers and
continues the good work passed down from generation to generation.

Kanonkop Estate is situated on the lower slopes of the Simonsberg
Mountain in the Stellenbosch Region of the Cape.

It is between Stellenbosch and Paarl on the R44 and falls in a
ward called Simonsberg, more commonly known as the red wine bowl
of South Africa. It has earned a reputation both at home and
abroad as an area producing the best wines in the country.

The Estate is situated on 125 hectares, of which 100 hectares
are planted to vine.

Besides the solid foundation on which the estate’s winemaking
principles are based, it is also blessed with ideal soils, cool
sea breezes and long summer days, creating the perfect climate
for growing grapes.

The soils are predominantly red decomposed granite and Hutton,
with a high clay content, both of which have a very good water
retention capacity.

A small portion of about seven percent of the total area under
vine is planted on Pinedene type soils, which become very wet in
winter, but dry out in summer, necessitating supplementary irrigation.

The Estate has an ideal micro-climate for red wine production,
with cooling breezes from the False Bay coast in the late afternoons
during summer, significantly moderating warm inland temperatures.
Being a Mediterranean climate, the majority of the 605 mm of rainfall
is in winter.