South Africa | Hemel-en-Aarde

The Hemel-en-Aarde Wine Valley in South Africa

Hemel-en-Aarde is widely regarded as one of the most exciting wine areas in South Africa and one of the most beautiful. To many, it is the place for fine, restrained, classically styled South African Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Falling within the Walker Bay “District", It is comprised of three contiguous "Wine Wards" located behind the historic seaside resort town of Hermanus, surrounded by nature reserves, overlooking the cool South Atlantic Walker Bay.

Hemel-en-Aarde means Heaven and Earth in old Dutch and Afrikaans and according to a visiting Moravian missionary in 1899, “Rightly has it got its name because so high are the hills which closely embrace the valley all round, that they seem to touch the sky and you cannot see anything but heaven and earth”.

The Hemel-en-Aarde is home to more than 20 wine producers (and growing) and there are several factors that, in combination, set it apart from other South African wine producing areas. Firstly, the Hemel-en-Aarde is an area of unusual grape varietal focus for South Africa. While there are highly sought-after wines made from a number of different cultivars, plantings are overwhelmingly made up of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Secondly, there are no large volume producers and production is on average small and very high-end. In terms of the number of trophies, classic scores, gold medals and 5 star ratings per case of wine produced, the Hemel-en-Aarde is unmatched. Thirdly, the properties are almost all family owned and operated, by the families that pioneered them from unplanted ground.

Unusually close proximity to the cooling influence of the South Atlantic Ocean and a more southerly location than the traditional South African winelands, makes the Hemel-en-Aarde one of the coolest, most maritime, wine producing areas in the country.