Rustenberg John X Merriman 2003

Rustenberg is one of South Africa’s oldest and most distinguished wine farms, with a viticultural history dating back to 1682. In 1941, Peter and Pamela Barlow bought the Rustenberg farm, situated in a prime location on the slopes of the Simonsberg. After taking control of the farm operations in 1987, their son Simon ushered in a new era, catapulting the historic estate to the ranks of South Africa’s winemaking elite.

The renaissance began with a large scale replanting of the vineyards using virus-free clones imported from France, followed by sweeping renovations to the winery and the hiring of new viticultural and winemaking teams. As Wine Spectator recently observed, "Rustenberg has all the qualifications of a world-class wine estate: a long history of winemaking…and ideal terroir, with deep-red, clay-rich granite soils that are located on a variety of slopes and elevations." Rustenberg has achieved tremendous critical and commercial success, and today the celebrated estate’s bottlings are among South Africa’s most iconic and sought-after wines.