Restless River

Restless River wines are hand crafted by the Wessels family on their farm in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, next door to the coastal village of Hermanus in the Western Cape, South Africa. The farm is owned and run by Craig and Anne, winemaker and manager respectively.

With vines planted from 1998, Restless River Vineyards has some of the oldest cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. The soils are extremely diverse, resulting in each small vineyard being unique. The Valley is well renowned for its cooler climate. The farm is only 5km from the Atlantic Ocean, and with the vineyards at 870ft, the temperature is a further couple of degrees cooler. Although challenging, these are great, cooler conditions for making good wine.

At Restless River, things are done differently, and mostly by hand. Probably more like the days before mass production. It takes a long time to make wine this way, so about 1000 cases of each variety are produced every year. This approach results in special, elegant, somewhat rebellious wines that have their own distinctive personality and character shaped each year by that particular growing season.