Top image: Andiswa Mapheleba and Danielle Jacobs

Boschendal, the iconic and historical winery in the stable of leading South African drinks company DGB, heads into the 2022 harvest celebrating a promotion within its dynamic winemaking team as well as an exciting new appointment.  

Danielle Jacobs, who has been successfully moving through the ranks of the winemaking team and was the 2020 Woman Winemaker of the Year, has been promoted to the position of White Winemaker. Danielle is the natural successor to take overall responsibility for all white wines, including the flagships of Elgin Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, which are consistently rated as some of the best white wines in South Africa as well as the newly released and highly regarded Suzanne Bordeaux White Blend. 

Jacobs, whose wines have been past winners of the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge Trophy for Best Overall Producer, remarks; “I am truly looking forward to working with the wonderful array of white wines in the Boschendal portfolio, wines that have established a superb reputation for quality with the local and international consumer as well as garnering critical acclaim around the world,” she says. “The Boschendal viticulture team manages vineyards in some of the Cape’s best terroirs for varieties such as Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc and my aim is to do justice to these sites as well as to increase Boschendal’s reputation for premium white wines.”

Jacobs is succeeded by Andiswa Mapheleba as Boschendal’s Cap Classique Winemaker. Mapheleba is no stranger to working in South Africa’s most exciting wine category which is going from strength-to-strength in the local and global market-place. Mapheleba, who holds BSc and MSc degrees in Viticulture and Oenology from Stellenbosch University, says working with Cap Classique at Boschendal is an honour for every winemaker who holds this wine-style close to their hearts.

“Most of my professional experience has been with Cap Classique, where Boschendal has always been one of the reference points due to the wineries history as a pioneer of this category,” says Mapheleba. “With my first harvest already in full flight, I am eager to continue the precise and purposeful standards which has become synonymous with Boschendal.”