Winery of the Week: Bosman Family Vineyards

The wide-ranging achievements, on a large scale, of this Wellington-based, family-based business make it a worthy winner of our Editor’s Award Winery of the Year 2024. The family has been involved in wine production for over two centuries – and this year celebrate 20 years of bottling it under their own label with great success. Not only have landholdings at home increased, there’s also a farm in Hemel-en-Aarde (see Bosman Hermanus listing). Recently, the focus has shifted to organic viticultural practices, with the Twyfeling and Optenhorst vineyards fully certified. A significant moment in ownership came in 2009, when more than a quarter of the overall business was ceded to employees through the Adama Workers Trust; this social investment has been extended with schools, housing, sports and education programmes. Bosman Adama is now the largest wine nursery in the country, and since 2014 includes the Ernita vine improvement programmes. In the winery, cellarmaster Corlea Fourie last year said a regretful farewell to winemaker Natasha Williams who’s landed a fine job at Hasher, but welcomed Maryke Botha.