A vineyard between heaven & earth

Cradled amid the hills of the Hemel-en-Aarde (Heaven and Earth) valley,
Bouchard Finlayson is widely acclaimed as one of South Africa’s leading boutique wine cellars.

With a terroir defined by both ancient soils and a cool maritime climate, the vineyards of Bouchard Finlayson are famous for producing award-winning
Pinot Noir, elegant Chardonnay and terroir-driven Sauvignon Blanc, while inspired blends showcase the depth of skill and innovation in our winemaking team.

The Bouchard Finlayson cellar is conveniently located a scenic 90 minutes’ drive from Cape Town, close to the world-famous whale-watching centre of Hermanus.

Handpicked harvest

At Bouchard Finlayson we believe that great wine begins in the vineyard. And after a year of careful cultivation, the vineyard and cellar team take enormous care when bringing in the harvest. All harvesting on the estate is done by hand by our highly skilled vineyard workers, who select only those grape bunches that have achieved optimum phenolic ripeness. With vineyard rows ripening at different times, this requires multiple harvests in each vineyard to pick each bunch at the perfect moment. It is labour intensive and time consuming, but we believe the end result is well worth the extra effort.

Inspired by Burgundy

Since the first vines were planted in 1989, the estate has followed the Burgundian tradition of high-density viticulture. Across most of the estate each hectare is planted with 8000 individual vines, planted in five-row blocks spaced just one metre from the adjacent row. This high-density approach stimulates healthy competition between the vines, improving colour, concentration and tannins in the grapes. In the warm climate of South Africa, greater leaf cover means that less of the vineyard soil is exposed to direct sunlight, creating a cooler microclimate within each vineyard.