Somewhere between Tulbagh and Ceres lies a wine farm called Waverley Hills. It’s a winery making, well, waves for various reasons, among them for producing award-winning organic wines as well as being leaders in the recycling of winery waste.

They have another ace up their sleeve, in the form of winemaker, Johan Delport. When we get chatting over some glasses of his Grenache Noir 2015. I find myself soon calling him the Godfather of Grenache as he was the first winemaker in the country to make a single varietal wine from this grape, rather than simply just using it for blending (as all the other wineries were doing at the time).

“In the old days the farmers used to plant Grenache, because it gives very big yields if the vineyards are irrigated quite a lot,” says Delport launching into his story.

“So they used to get big volumes, but the quality of the grapes weren’t any good. The old wineries used this diluted Grenache for light dry red blends or for brandy.”

From overworked vineyards to vinous serendipity. “During my time as winemaker at the then Citrusdal Cellars [now Piekenierskloof Wines], I discovered old Grenache vines in the Piekenierskloof area.”

Delport had spent some time in Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the Southern Rhone Valley (a region dominated by the grape), and so he could see the potential of these old vines. The inaugural single varietal Grenache soon followed.

These days Delport is carrying on the tradition of making good quality Grenache at Waverley Hills. Made from bush vines, the Grenache Noir 2015 has a lovely rose-petal perfume, followed by a juicy sweetness and an almost spicy savouriness. There’s nothing one dimensional about it.