He turned to his farm labourers who for long years throughout the colonial history of this part of the world have been little better off than medieval serfs. The gist of the message was this. 96 Chardonnay was a South African champion. True to his word, Alan donated nine and a half hectares of land to his workers, almost a quarter of the farm in total and added another two hectares after a 95 Cabernet also garnered an award. Working now on their own vineyards as well as Nelson s, the new landowners first liquid harvest appeared under the label of New Beginnings in 1998.
Morning comes as something of a shock.
It carries us down Michell s Pass to Ceres and on into the Koue Bokkeveld, north towards the badlands of the Karoo. Through grape and grain country and undulating expanses of dry summer grass as the clouds paint shifting shadows on the hills. The horizon s rhythm is broken only by the hulking ruins of a windmill and occasionally a motley scattering of farms. The dirt roads that lead off to them bear signs for Verloren Vallei and Swaarmoed. The scrubby khaki ground cover tells the rest.