Towards the end of the 19th century, the owner of the vineyard returned from a trip to Cape Town to find his estate ablaze.

His exclamation, ‘Alles Verloren’ (‘All is lost’), ultimately gave the vineyard its name. The current owners of the vineyard – the Malan family – specialise in full-bodied, fruit-forward red wines.

Daniel Malan has been the cellar master at the Allesverloren Winery since 1987 and is one of the most experienced cellar masters in the Cape.

The Allesverloren vineyards are situated on the imposing Kasteelberg in the picturesque Riebeek Valley in the Swartland.

The vineyards lie between 170 m and 350 m above sea level and benefit from an annual rainfall of 200 mm. Cold, wet winters are followed by warm, dry summers, during which the grapes ripen easily and develop a high sugar concentration.

The soils on this Swartland farm are a mixture of slate and weathered sandstone – a stony texture that is crucial to the distinctive character of Allesverloren wines.

After the grapes are harvested, this wine is aged for 18 months in old and, in some cases, new French barriques.