Jardin Winery
South Africa
A stellar winery in South Africa receiving numerous awards on the international wine scene
The Jordan Winery is unique to South Africa for two reasons. First of all, it is the only husband and wife team to own and operate a South African winery and, secondly, the farm on which Jordan’s grapes are grown has the amazing aspect that it faces all four directions, North, South East and West, a rarity among vineyard operations.
Gary Jordan and his wife Kathy, spent two years at the famed University of California Davis developing their knowledge of both growing and selling their product. In 1993, they returned to South Africa and began making wines on the three hundred-year-old farm with a related wine history. Gary’s parents, Ted and Sheelagh, had bought the 146 (slightly less than 360 acres) hectare property in 1982, and had replanted the place with classical varietals that were suited to different soils and slopes.
Under the Jordan Winery label, Gary Jordan soon became a stellar name in South African wines and received numerous awards on the international wine scene. In the United States, California’s famed Jordan Winery agreed to sell Gary Jordan’s wines, a fitting tribute to the accomplished South African.
On the business side, Kathy Jordan was the driving force in opening a London restaurant venture earlier this year, named High Timber. High Timber is located on the banks of the River Thames just off the St. Paul’s Cathedral side of the Millennium Bridge (London’s famous wobbly bridge). Kathy and Gary feel the exposure from the new restaurant will help their ongoing winery in the capital considered the number one wine city in the world.
Map of the area
Stellenbosch Region
In many experts’ minds, Stellenbosch is the most recognizable of South Africa’s top wine producing regions. In many ways, it is the Napa Valley of South Africa. Built around the charming town of Stellenbosch (South Africa’s second oldest city), the area contains more than 160 wineries as well as a winemaking tradition that traces its origins back to the late 17th Century. Stellenbosch contains all the prerequisites for growing great grapes; ample rainfall, well-drained soils, mountainous terrain and great soil diversity.
The area is a virtual “who’s who” of large wine estates and the best examples of Cape Dutch architecture that exist within South Africa. More awards have been garnered by Stellenbosch wineries than in any other wine region. There is also a growing legion of contemporary wineries and winemakers who are carving their own niche in the old Stellenbosch historical tradition. Utilizing modern techniques, on both the growing and production sides of the business, their wines are gaining critical acclaim from the international wine community while repeatedly turning heads within South Africa itself.
