First Pinotage Vines Get a Grip in French Winelands

Although France today stands as the Holy Grail of the wine world, it was outsiders who first planted vine roots in French soil. This was more than 2 000 years ago, when those pesky Romans were busy with their frenetic campaigns of occupation, the legions carrying vine cuttings with them and planting vineyards wherever a patch of foreign earth had been conquered.

South Africans may not be Roman conquerors, yet anyone exposed to the local media cannot fail to notice how besotted my compatriots have become with all things French over the past two decades. And it is not merely a matter of flying from Gauteng to Paris for two weeks to gaze at the Eiffel Tower, wander through the Louvre and chomp on baguettes laden with Camembert and Roquefort. No. South Africans are settling in France by the thousands. They play rugby, work across a spectrum of businesses, buy rural guesthouses and hotels, or keep a second home tucked away in Normandy or Provence.

There appears, particularly among Afrikaans speakers, to be an alluring bridge between South Africa and France — as though elements of the French landscape, culture and spirit speak more directly to South Africans than the grey Germanic stretches of Europe or the studied neutrality of Australia and America.

So hearing that two Afrikaners were living in the French countryside of Bergerac, alongside the famous Bordeaux wine region, was hardly unusual news. Discovering that they were making wine on their own estate pricked the interest a little more, although they are by no means the only ones doing so. But when I dug a little deeper and found out that Petrie and Jaco Terblanche were planting Pinotage on their French property, that is when the lights really came on.

Because that is what Boere do: they make a plan. And just as the Romans once planted their own vineyards on French soil, so South African ingenuity, loyalty and a taste for adventure are now being harnessed to add something new to the French wine scene. Next month, when the European spring begins to stir, one-and-a-half hectares of Pinotage will be planted on Jaco and Petrie’s farm, Château Lestevenie, which they have owned since 2022.

“With our South African roots, Pinotage has always been part of our story,” says Petrie. “After all, it is South Africa’s own grape — born from a unique crossing and deeply woven into the country’s wine identity. And although France is our home — we’ve lived here since 2015 — we remain deeply attached to our identity as South Africans. Just as Pinotage is a ‘South African’ grape variety forever linked to that country, we too are French citizens now, but with indelible roots at the southern tip of Africa. We see Pinotage as a bridge between our new home and our homeland.”

When they acquired Château Lestevenie it was already an established wine estate in the Bergerac region of south-western France, an area best known for Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot on the red side, and Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon for whites. Although both Petrie and Jaco grew up on farms — in Riversdale and Clanwilliam respectively — winemaking does not run through their veins. Before Lestevenie, Petrie worked in financial investments in the United States before being transferred to Paris in 2015, while Jaco still works as an embryologist for a Swedish company, operating from his computer on the farm. Before France he was based in London. They are married and have eight-year-old twins, Nico and Emma.

“Although our move to Château Lestevenie was largely driven by a desire to escape the bustle of Paris and to create a lifestyle destination in the French countryside, we knew from the outset that wine and vineyards would always be the heart of Lestevenie,” says Jaco.

“So we did our homework properly, bringing in local consultants to help with the vineyards and appointing a vineyard and viticulture manager. But Petrie and I are fully involved in the process. What we know now about wine and vines compared to when we arrived here in 2022 is worlds apart. We approached everything very practically: reading, learning, rolling up our sleeves and working alongside local experts. Labour is scarce in France and it’s expensive, so when hands are needed, they are usually our own.”

Although there are a few small patches of Pinotage vineyards in France, the grape barely registers on that country’s planting radar.

“Pinotage in France is almost unthinkable,” says Petrie. “It’s a grape people associate with South African sunshine, red soils and braaivleis — not with French limestone hills. And that’s precisely why the idea gripped us. For us it wasn’t just a wine project, but a symbolic bridge between our past and our new home.

“We wanted to plant a story — literally. A vineyard connecting our South African heritage with the French terroir of Bergerac. After all, we are Terblanches whose ancestors left for South Africa in the seventeenth century.”

Anyone with even a passing knowledge of the French attachment to bureaucracy — particularly when it concerns their proudest industry, wine — will know that planting a new grape variety in a region can be about as challenging as mastering the permutations of French verbs.

Petrie smiles. “Yes, it certainly wasn’t simple,” he says. “Bringing Pinotage to France required plenty of administration and cooperation, as well as a bit of daring. But eventually a forward-thinking nursery near Saint-Émilion in the Bordeaux region agreed to take the adventure on with us. They had never worked with Pinotage before and openly admitted they had no idea how the grape would respond to French soil. But the French also know that the best stories begin with a leap of faith.”

Around 9 000 cuttings were eventually grafted onto suitable rootstocks to produce some 6 000 vines — enough to plant one-and-a-half hectares of vineyard. The soils at Château Lestevenie consist mainly of limestone and clay. Bergerac’s climate bears many similarities to that of neighbouring Bordeaux, although its more inland position brings colder winters and warmer summers.

“Of course we are burning with curiosity to see how the Pinotage vines will take to life here in France — not to mention the first grapes and wines in four or five years’ time,” says Jaco. “If you look at where Pinotage grows in South Africa, from the warm regions of Worcester and Robertson to the cool Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, the grape appears remarkably adaptable. So we’re hopeful it will show its true colours here in Bergerac too. After all, it’s a South African grape — and adaptability is part of the ethos of anything South African.”

Interest in Château Lestevenie’s Pinotage project has been overwhelming.

“The nursery that propagated our vines and the local wine community here are almost as excited about the Pinotage as we are,” says Petrie. “And then there’s the Pinotage Association, whose number we can dial whenever we need advice. The other day we were at Diemersdal in Durbanville, where Thys Louw makes award-winning Pinotage, and when he heard about our project, he immediately said he felt like coming over to help with the planting. That’s the wonderful thing about the global wine community — the enthusiasm, the curiosity and the willingness to share knowledge.”

Since acquiring Château Lestevenie, Petrie and Jaco have also begun transforming the property into a lively tourism destination.

“There’s a strong focus on wine tourism,” says Jaco. “We want to share the farm and the region with visitors. We offer wine tastings, vineyard tours and food-and-wine experiences, and we also host spirited soirées and special functions on the estate. In the future we plan to develop luxury accommodation so that guests can truly feel part of life on the farm.”

And with a glass of Château Lestevenie Pinotage in hand and a thick duck breast sizzling over the coals, those guests will not only be part of the story — they will feel right at home.