Francois and Alida Klomp bought the beautiful 82 hectare property in 1998. The farm was originally granted to Francois Retief, a French Huguenot in 1699, and measured 414 hectares which was later subdivided into 11 smaller properties.

Freedom Hill is a small winery and located on the south western slopes of the Wemmershoek mountain range which is part and parcel of the Paarl wine region. The Klomps named the farm Freedom Hill, inspired by the release of Nelson Mandela from the Victor Verster Prison (now Drakenstein prison) on 11 February 1990 (the prison looks onto the farm).

Well known wine maker, François Naudé, and his colleague, Kowie du Toit have together in excess of 50 years of winemaking experience between them. François spent a large part of his winemaking career at L'Avenir estate where he made a name for making outstanding Pinotage. Chris Immelman has been the viticulturist at Freedom Hill since 2006 and is also involved with assisting François and Kowie in the cellar.

The red wines are made from grapes grown on the farm, and the total production amounts to 6000 cases. The vineyards are located on the mountain slopes with soils comprising of tukulu and oak leaf. At present 19ha are planted, with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinotage and Shiraz, while a further 25ha of high quality vineyard soil is still available for future plantings.

The Freedom Hill Country Restaurant is run by an experienced trio of restaurateurs and being only an hour away from Cape Town is well worth a visit! At the launch, one of the partners and chef, Adrian Buchanan, created a delicious menu to compliment 3 of the new vintages from Freedom Hill.

The main course was a scrumptious beef fillet with gorgonzola and sweet corn stuffed brown mushroom served with a creamy truffle oil sauce! The wine we paired with this dish was the Freedom Hill Pinotage 2007. The pinotage has a velvety ruby red colour with wafts of cherries and spice on the nose. The follow through to the palate enhances the aromas showing perfect balance with a long finish. This is a beautiful pinotage which went so magnificently with the food, so congratulations to the winemaker as well as the chef!

Expect to pay: R70.00

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