Journeying down memory lane with Steenberg’s latest red blend

The flavours of Steenberg wine farm’s latest red blend read like a novel. It’s filled with the richness of a vintage tale, the bravery of a lioness and the spirit of one whom have had to face many hardships, yet still flourished.

The original owner of Steenberg Wine Farm was a lady by the name Catharina Ras. She arrived in the land of milk and honey a mere 10 years after Jan van Riebeeck set foot at the most southern point of Africa.

While conditions weren’t ideal for women in those years, the young widow from Lübeck took a leap of faith and came to South Africa – an unknown land – in 1662. Despite various hardships, she persevered and matured, built a family and an enterprise. She faced the loss of more than one husband – one to a lion, the second to a murder and another trampled by an elephant. Yet, Catharina Ras’s spirit could not be broken.

Catharina was given the land now known as Steenberg from Simon van der Stel and cultivated, ploughed, and sowed it herself. She called it Sweet Swaaneweide – a name inspired by the spur-winged geese that roamed the land, which she mistook for swans. Nonetheless, Catharina – who has been described as a fiercely independent woman – was inspiringly determined and made the farm flourish.

Steenberg’s latest red blend, Five Lives, which was officially launched at Solo Restaurant last week, tells her story. Five fragments of her life have been blended into one fine bottle of wine and it seems that no one can tell her story with so much charm and charisma as this wine can.

The blend is bold and full-bodied with a beautiful nose. It goes well with almost anything – from salmon to duck to panacotta. The wine bottles each come with a section of her story, which poses the exciting challenge of collecting them all and journeying down memory lane with Steenberg.

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Catharina’s story has been put into five chapters. Chapter one speaks of her courage coming to South Africa. Chapter two, her maturity. Chapter three encapsulates her perseverance, while chapter four speaks of overcoming her hardships. Finally, chapter five focuses on her success and a flourishing enterprise now known as Steenberg Wine Farm.