Stone Row Chenin
Chenin Blanc · 2023
Old bush vines on the top two rows, where the granite comes through the topsoil. Fermented in concrete, no oak, no malolactic.
R320
In stock
Nietvoorbij slopes / Est. 1974
One slope. Three wines. Fifty-one vintages.
Everything we bottle grows on one south-facing shoulder of decomposed granite, between 340 and 380 metres. We have never bought in fruit and we have never planted a second site.
Fifty-one vintages from the same nine hectares. Four thousand eight hundred cases a year, most of it sold at the cellar door to people who drove up the pass to get it.
The slope from above Nine hectares, four blocks, one aspect — February, before the first pick
02 / The range
We make three wines.
That is the whole list.
Two blocks of Chenin, one of Cinsault, one of Cabernet. When a vintage doesn't earn its label it goes into the estate blend and we say so on the tasting sheet.
Old Bush Cinsault
Cinsault · 2022
Planted 1968, dry-farmed, whole-bunch. Picked early for the acid. The lightest red we make and the one the cellar staff drink.
R485
41 cases left
Vale Cabernet
Cabernet Sauvignon · 2021
The bottom block, deeper soil, later ripening. Thirty months in old oak. We hold it two years before release and it will take ten more.
R690
Allocation only
Case of six — 10% off · Case of twelve — 15% off · Courier nationwide, R120 per case
03 / The slope
Nine hectares,
drawn in section.
Four blocks between 340 and 380 metres, all facing south. The granite is 40 cm down at the top row and better than two metres at the bottom, which is the whole difference between the Chenin and the Cabernet.
1974
First planting · 2.1 ha
Anneke Roussouw buys nine hectares of failed apple orchard because the granite is close to the surface and nobody else wants it. She plants Chenin on the top rows first.
1991
The cellar is cut · 380 m
Two hundred metres of tunnel driven into the hillside by hand and by borrowed machine. It holds 11 °C all year without a compressor, which is why we have never bought one.
2019
Dry-farmed · Irrigation removed
We pulled the drip lines out of every block. Yields fell by a third and stayed there. The wines got better and we stopped apologising for the price.
9 haUnder vine, one site
51Vintages, unbroken
4,800Cases a year
380 mHighest row
04 / The tasting room
Sit down.
We pour in order.
Twelve seats at one long yellowwood table, three sittings a day. Book ahead between December and February or you will be standing in the yard.
01
Standard
45 minutes · 12 seats
All three current-release wines, poured in order, with the tasting sheet that lists what we got wrong.
- Three wines, 40ml pours
- Estate bread and olive oil
- Fee waived on a six-bottle purchase
R180per person
02
Reserve
75 minutes · 8 seats
The three releases plus two library vintages pulled from the tunnel that morning, poured by whoever made them.
- Five wines, including two library
- Vertical of Vale Cabernet, 2016 & 2019
- Bread, cured kudu, preserved lemon
R340per person
03
Cellar & Cheese
90 minutes · 6 seats
Down the tunnel with a torch, tasting out of barrel before the blend is set, then back up to the table.
- Barrel samples, unfined and unfiltered
- Four farm cheeses from the Wolfkloof road
- One bottle of the current Chenin to take home
R520per person
What a tasting actually costs us
The fee covers the wine and the person pouring it. It is waived entirely if you leave with six bottles, which is what most people do, and it is the only upsell you will hear.
Groups of eight or more need the Reserve slot and two weeks' notice. We do not take walk-ins on Saturdays in January.
Opening hours & directions05 / The slope club
Three cases a year,
chosen by the cellar.
Billed quarterly, cancel before any release. Members get the library vintages that never reach the tasting room and the allocation wines before the list goes out.
Row
Six bottles · quarterly
R950per quarter · R3,800 a year
- Six bottles, cellar's choice
- 10% off all further orders
- Two Standard tastings a year, no fee
- Courier included nationwide
Most joined
Block
Twelve bottles · quarterly
R1,700per quarter · R6,800 a year
- Twelve bottles, including one library
- 15% off all further orders
- Four Reserve tastings a year, no fee
- First call on Vale Cabernet allocation
- Courier included nationwide
Tunnel
Twenty-four bottles · quarterly
R3,200per quarter · R12,800 a year
- Twenty-four bottles, two library
- 20% off all further orders
- Cellar & Cheese for four, twice a year
- Your name on a barrel for the vintage
- Harvest lunch invitation, February
06 / From the cellar
“The 2026 harvest came in eleven days early and two degrees hotter. We picked the Chenin at night for the first time in fifty-one years.”
Marike Roussouw
Winemaker since 2004 · second generation
07 / Why the slope
The stone half of the name
Granite holds heat badly and drains fast, which is exactly what you want when the summer runs to 38 °C. The vines struggle, the berries stay small, and the skins do the work.
The south-facing aspect costs us roughly two weeks of ripening every year. We think that is the whole reason the Chenin tastes the way it does.
08 / Written about
What people who taste
for a living say.
“The Stone Row is the most convincing argument for concrete-fermented Chenin anywhere in the Cape. It costs R320 and it should cost more.”
“Nine hectares, three wines, fifty-one vintages, and not one bought-in grape. There are maybe four estates in the country that can say that.”
“They hand you a sheet listing the faults in their own wine before you taste it. I have never seen a cellar door do that.”
09 / Before you drive up
Visiting, answered.
Where exactly are you, and how bad is the road?
We are on the Nietvoorbij slopes, 14 km up the Wolfkloof pass from the R60. The last 3 km is graded gravel — fine in any car, slow after heavy rain, and not recommended in a low-slung sedan in February when the graders have been through.
Allow 40 minutes from town. There is no cellphone signal for the last 6 km, so download the directions before you leave.
Do you ship, and where to?
Courier is R120 per case anywhere in South Africa, and free on every club shipment. Cases leave on Tuesdays and Thursdays and take two to four working days.
We export to the UK, Netherlands and Denmark through a single agent — minimum six cases, and you will need to email us rather than order through the site.
Can we bring children?
Yes, and they are welcome at the table. There is a grass bank under the oaks, a box of things to play with, and cordial made from the same Chenin juice before it ferments.
The cellar tunnel is the exception — the floor is wet and uneven, so the Cellar & Cheese tasting is 18 and over only.
Are dogs allowed?
On a lead, outside and in the yard, always. Not in the tasting room and not in the tunnel. There are two farm dogs who will find you within about ninety seconds of arrival.
Is the tasting room accessible?
The tasting room, the yard and the accessible bathroom are all step-free, on one level, reached by a firm gravel path from the parking area. The long table sits at 740 mm with clear knee space.
The cellar tunnel is not step-free — there are four steps at the entrance and the floor is uneven. We run the same barrel tasting at the table for anyone who would rather not go down; ask when you book and there is no difference in price.
Can you host a group or a private event?
Groups of eight to twenty take the whole tasting room for a Reserve sitting at R340 per person, two weeks' notice. Above twenty we move it into the barrel hall and quote per head.
We do about six private lunches a year and they book out by August. Email marike@cellarandstone.co.za rather than using the booking form.
What food is there?
Bread we bake, olive oil we press, cheese from the Wolfkloof road and cured kudu from a neighbour. That is the entire menu and it does not change.
There is no restaurant. The nearest proper lunch is 14 km back down the pass, so most people eat before they come up or take a case and a loaf to the grass bank.
Can I cancel a club shipment?
Yes, any time before a release is packed. We email ten days before each shipment with exactly what is in it; reply to that email and we skip you, no fee and no conversation about it.
Membership itself can be cancelled from your account or by one email. There is no minimum term and no joining fee.
10 / The cellar door
One slope. Three wines. One table.
Twelve seats, three sittings a day, Wednesday to Sunday. The drive up the pass takes forty minutes and is most of the point.