SOUTH AFRICA – Koelenhof Winery and Bottling is the first South African wine producer to make white wine referred to as cinsaut blanc from red grapes and also the first to use a fully automatic pressing cellar that only needs one man to operate.

Business Day reported that the family run bulk wine producer presses 16 000 tons of grapes every year and has 70 local shareholders.

Koelenhof, located 14km outside Stellenbosch in the Western Cape, started bottling wine in 1974, run by the De Vries family.

According to Koelenhof marketing manager Eugene Kinghorn, the winery and bottling company’s greatest achievement over the past 80 years is that it is a leader in the wine-making industry when it comes to services as well as the home to more than 3 000 people in the wine industry.

He added that the winery is inspired and motivated by the sustainability of farmers and workers, and of their produce.

“Our long-term strategy is to really support the wine industry by producing excellent quality wines, thus keeping all our farmers sustainable, as well as really becoming a household name in the local market.

“Apart from the wines that we produce, we also offer numerous services to the smaller wine producers, ranging from wine products, bottling, labelling and storage.

Our big attribute is that we offer these services with humbleness, and we strive to be the best in what we do,” he said.

The company is looking to become the household wine in South Africa in five years to come.

“We recently changed our labels to keep up with the times and trends and we feel that it really has helped us.

We are constantly trying new wines and combinations, so be on the lookout for our new 1679 Bushvine Chenin 2017,” noted Kinghorn.

Koelenhof recently received top honours as South Africa’s Best Value Cellar Overall in WINE Magazine’s Best Value Wine Guide.