Wine Producers

“My winemaking philosophy is quite simple. It’s input is equal to output. I feel very strong about terroir. One should spend more time in the vineyard than in the cellar because that is where the great wines are made.”

Since ancestor Heinrich Oostwald Eckstein (changed to Eksteen due to Dutch influence) settled in the Cape in 1702, the Eksteens have been involved in wine farming. Bartho inherited the winemaking passion, as demonstrated by his successful career in winemaking.

As a young – and first new era – winemaker in Bot River, he won the General Smuts Trophy (South African Champion Young Wine) in 1996. This was the first time it was awarded to a red wine from ‘the other side of the mountain’. He was a key figure in the rise of Wildekrans Wine Estate, consultant winemaker for Sumaridge and Raka, and initiator/winemaker/director of Hermanuspietersfontein Wingerde (HPF). He believes unreservedly in the terroir of Walker Bay. Bartho and his family own and run their boutique wine business, Bartho Eksteen Wines, in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley.