Having acquired five renowned Cape wineries, French wine group Advini is making
a significant mark in South Africa’s wine industry. EMILE JOUBERT explores how this synergy came about and pinpoints the wines that likely led to the alliance.
With a history stretching back more than 8 000 years, in the world of wine 15 years is but the blink of an eye. However, this is how long it has taken the French wine group Advini to establish itself as a leading international player in the South African wine industry.
From acquiring revered Stellenbosch wine estate L’Avenir in 2010, Advini systematically expanded its interests to where it today owns four other renowned Stellenbosch wine properties: Le Bonheur on the Simonsberg, the Helderberg’s famous Ken Forrester Vineyards, Stellenbosch Vineyards in the Lynedoch area, and Kleine Zalze Wines in the Stellenboschberg region.
Under the helm of Advini, this brings an impressive association between Stellenbosch and the wine regions of France, where the company owns – in addition to its South African portfolio – 27 wine properties, estates and winemaking facilities in Burgundy, Bordeaux, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Provence, Languedoc and Roussillon, among other locations.
This all makes Advini the third largest wine company in France – excluding Champagne businesses – with some 13% of its revenue originating from the company’s 15-year-old South African business division.
“Sometimes I have to pinch myself at the way our Advini investments in the Cape wine industry have turned out,” says Naretha Ricome, Advini’s Pretoria-born link between the company’s head office in France and its South African wine farms.
As vice-president and head of Advini SA, she has been responsible for all Advini’s acquisitions in Stellenbosch, as well as driving the French mother company’s investments and operations in South Africa.
Naretha’s head office might be in the Advini home town of Saint-Félix-de-Lodez outsideMontpellier,butfromthatbaseshe plies her trade as the person responsible for Advini’s South African portfolio.
“It actually all began right here,” says Naretha, where we are sipping rooibos tea on L’Avenir Estate. “After matriculating in Pretoria, I came to study political science and French at Stellenbosch University and, as many students do, I found myself a part- time job working on a wine farm. For me, that was L’Avenir. At the time, Francois Naudé was making those great wines here, especially Pinotage.”
After graduating from Stellenbosch, Naretha set off for the French south and was accepted by the University of Nîmes where she completed an Honours degree in economy and politics.
“Of course, the south of France is big wine country, and with a cursory knowledge of wine gained while working at L’Avenir, I started doing internships at various wineries in the Languedoc,” she says. “But my aim was to work at some winery in the wonderful region of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.”
This is when things began happening for Naretha at the tempo of a Paris-Marseilles TGV high-speed train. She landed a job at Maison Ogier in Châteauneuf, a winery owned by the Advini group, which has been in the wine business since 1870. When Advini bought out the famous Michel Laroche winery in Chablis, a spark was generated. For included in the Laroche business was L’Avenir, right here where Naretha’s foray into the wine world had begun as a student. With the Stellenbosch estate now in the Advini fold, Naretha put up her hand, requesting to take charge of the French group’s new Stellenbosch interest.
“That was back in 2010 and Advini was actually set on selling up in Stellenbosch and getting rid of L’Avenir,” she says. “But you know, the heart of a patriot continues to beat with inspired vigour. Although I was living in France and professionally immersed in my career with Advini, I asked the company’s powers-that-be to take a look at the investment potential of Stellenbosch as a region and South Africa as a dynamic wine country that can add value to Advini’s interests. I felt that the quality of wines in South Africa and the values of the people in the wine industry were closely aligned with the French wine ethos, and that L’Avenir would thus be a good fit for Advini.”
Naretha’s power of persuasion won and she was told, “OK, you take charge of L’Avenir. And if you show a profit in a year, Advini keeps the farm and the brand.” As per the Advini strategy, the first priority at L’Avenir lay with the vineyards and the farm’s people.
“Advini’s major shareholder is the Jeanjean family, which has farmed in the Languedoc since 1872,” says Naretha. “These are people of the vine, the soil and the land. Wherever we get involved as a group, the land and people come first.” And from that day on the French were stunned by what they found at L’Avenir: terrific terroir. Superb Chenin Blanc and Pinotage. And wonderful people, South Africans whose values, work ethic and love of the soil, vineyard and wine suits the Advini philosophy like a baguette does a picnic basket.
And before you could say ‘coq au vin’, Naretha’s French bosses agreed with her vision of looking seriously at the South African picture and to invest in more farms and brands. L’Avenir was followed by Advini obtaining Le Bonheur, like L’Avenir set in Stellenbosch Simonsberg. Then came Ken Forrester Wines, followed by Stellenbosch Vineyards. And finally, Kleine Zalze.
Naretha underscores Advini’s philosophy of allowing each of its wineries to maintain its independence and identity. “Take your own story and your history, make the best wines from the varieties your terroir is suited to, and back in France we will provide support, especially through sales and distribution.”
And of course, to France’s third largest wine business, profitability is non-negotiable. “Today, Advini’s South African interests represent a substantial part of the group’s profitability, so yes, I am truly proud of the way this has turned out.”
A major reason for profitability is Advini’s access to international marketing channels, where the company exports to 110 countries. This has, for one, allowed Le Bonheur to become the largest white wine brand in Canada. Focusing on Cape specialities Pinotage and Chenin Blanc has seen L’Avenir enjoy formidable success. And Kleine Zalze and Ken Forrester are strong brands
in the UK and Europe, as well as having a tremendous following among South African consumers. “The South African leg has been running well for Advini, and I think our focus on Stellenbosch has much to do with this,” she says. Plans to expand? “Definitely.”
And what about South Africa where, 35 years after sanctions ended, the wine industry is still largely seen as an international supplier of cheap, high-volume wine?
“The image and price of Cape wine has to rise so as to make it profitable for farmers to keep vines in the soil,” she says.
“From Advini’s side, we are working hard to position our South African farms as strong, recognisable brands, which is just as important as getting good wine into the bottle. The current quality of Cape wine is stunning, overwhelming actually – otherwise my French board and shareholders would not be here.
“So, for Advini a top priority is – as it is with our French brands – to expand the reach of our Stellenbosch wines and further entrench them as desirable, premium wines throughout the world,” Naretha says.
FIVE THOROUGHBREDS FROM THE ADVINI STABLE
L’AVENIR SINGLE BLOCK PINOTAGE 2021
This year of 2025 is not only the 15th anniversary of Advini’s involvement in the South African wine industry, but also marks 100 years since the Pinotage grape was ‘developed’ when the legendary viticulturist Abraham Izak Perold crossed the cultivars Pinot Noir and Hermitage (Cinsault).
FROM DAY ONE THE FRENCH WERE STUNNED BY WHAT THEY FOUND AT L’AVENIR: TERRIFIC TERROIR. SUPERB CHENIN BLANC AND PINOTAGE. AND WONDERFUL PEOPLE.
Stellenbosch, where Perold initiated this introduction of a new cultivar to the wine world, remains the home of Pinotage, and over the years a number of wine estates in the region have garnered a reputation for distinctive Pinotage wines that drive the grape’s image as one of the finest red wine cultivars in the world.
L’Avenir is one of a handful of South African estates commanding a position of singular excellence in Pinotage, with its Single Block Pinotage being a prime example of the country’s ability to produce great red wines. Winemaker Dirk Coetzee follows in the footsteps of L’Avenir’s legendary winemaker François Naudé, who put the estate on the Pinotage map in the 1990s. Though Dirk’s wines are slightly richer and more polished than the wines in François’ day.
Stellenbosch estate L’Avenir in the Simonsberg ward was the first South African property to be purchased by Advini.
Planted in 1994, the 1.3ha single vineyard block that produces the grapes for this Pinotage comprises a line of weathered shale soil at 225m above sea-level. In making the wine, Dirk allows the berries three days’ cool maceration, after which fermentation commences spontaneously in old oak barrels and stainless steel tanks. The wine is then aged in 300-litre French oak barrels, 15% new wood, for 24 months. Great Pinotage requires quality grapes from accurate terroir parcels, as well as astuteness in the cellar. Fermentations can be rapid and hot, making for disjointed wines, and Pinotage reacts to over-wooding with uncouth, hard abruptness.
L’Avenir Single Block Pinotage is an example of just how great Pinotage can be when it all comes together. The nose and the flavours are unique to the variety, a slight feral earthiness providing interest and titillation to the sumptuous, deep and eloquent notes of dark berries and plums.
Also, a hint of spice – cardamom – keeps the interest piqued and imprints the wine permanently on the memory.
LE BONHEUR SAUVIGNON BLANC
This picturesque Stellenbosch farm with its pastoral charm set between the imposing elevations of Klapmutskop and the Simonsberg has for long been associated with truly brilliant wines, especially from the period when Le Bonheur was owned by vinous pioneer Michael Woodhead in the 1970s.
Although Le Bonheur’s famous Prima red Bordeaux blend became a sought-after collector’s item, much of the estate’s legacy was established on Sauvignon Blanc, a variety withwhichLeBonheurwasattherightplace at the right time.
The initial Sauvignon Blanc vineyards were planted on the estate in 1978, and when its first wine from this noble white variety was released in 1981, Le Bonheur was one of only 10 South African wine farms producing it.
AS A QUALITY SAUVIGNON BLANC PRODUCER LE BONHEUR MADE ITS MARK ON THE CAPE WINE INDUSTRY.
This ‘new’ South African wine with its expressive flavour profile of tropical fruit, minerality and cut grass was an instant hit among local consumers, and as a quality Sauvignon Blanc producer Le Bonheur made its mark on the Cape wine industry, capturing the imagination of consumers and wine critics alike.
Today Le Bonheur is one of the country’s largest export brands, its Chardonnay leading the South African white wine category in Canada. But fond memories of the early Le Bonheur Sauvignon Blanc wines has many a wine-lover reaching for this wine, which – in today’s overwhelming abundance of local Sauvignon Blancs – is still at the pinnacle of the Cape’s offering of wines made from this variety.
Le Bonheur Sauvignon Blanc is blended from wines originating from two vineyards. One of these is planted at 450m above sea-level ensuring the abundance of cool air this grape variety loves during its ripening phase. Winemaker William Wilkinson’s approach is to make a precise, pure Sauvignon Blanc that expresses the variety’s cool green heart.
The juice is fermented, kept in stainless steel for six months to draw complexity from the lees, and bottled. No skin contact or maturation in wood to deviate from the linear purity.
The result is a whistle-clean Sauvignon Blanc, leading with brisk, bracing freshness that opens to life-affirming flavours of gooseberry, passion fruit and wild mountain herbs. And if you are tasting a bit of fynbos, don’t be surprised.
The natural splendour of Le Bonheur’s environment has earned the estate World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Conservation Champion Status for its overall commitment to sustainability, so those indigenous plants could very well be influencing the superlative tasteandearthlynuancesofthesewines.
KEN FORRESTER WINES FMC
With Ken Forrester Wines, Advini acquired not only a leading winery and brand, but also a formidable part of South African wine history. When Ken Forrester bought his Scholtzenhof farm next to the R44 in Stellenbosch’s Helderberg region in 1993, he wished to pivot from a career as a Johannesburg-based restaurateur to that of winemaker.
And this he did with the single-minded approach worthy of the term ‘force of nature’, building Ken Forrester Wines into one of the most prominent names in South African wine, as well as reviving the fortunes of the country’s Chenin Blanc cultivar.
How did the thing with Chenin Blanc come along? And, more specifically, the decision to use this ubiquitous, traditional work-horse Cape cultivar to realise Ken’s ambition of making the best wine in the world?
When Ken is asked about this, the answer comes along with an open smile beneath bright eyes. “Well, when I arrived in the Winelands the position of Chenin Blanc acolyte was pretty vacant, wasn’t it?” he says.
Absolutely. Chenin Blanc, known as Steen for a large part of the Cape’s wine history, is still the most planted variety in the Cape and for decades formed the backbone of the entry-level, mass-volume wine offering, as well as a base for distilling wine on which the reputation for South African brandy was built. For decades this appeared to be Chenin Blanc’s lot in life.
In the late 1990s, however, Ken began popping up in the media and at wine shows espousing the merits of Chenin Blanc as a premier variety, capable of making the best wines in the country. Not only that – the guy doing the talking was English-speaking and from Johannesburg. He even had a car number plate that read ‘Chenin’.
Less than three decades later, international critics, wine writers and buyers recognise Chenin Blanc as South Africa’s finest white wine offering – and that the best Chenin Blanc in the world is made in Stellenbosch.
The Loire Valley in central France, Chenin’s traditional home, has been dethroned. And Ken’s been the main toppler of that crown.
Today the name Ken Forrester is associated with various styles of Chenin Blanc, as well as some incredible red wines from Rhône cultivars, but if there is one wine for which the winery has earned the international acclaim it deserves it is the FMC Chenin Blanc perched at the top of South Africa’s Chenin Blanc range.
Made from a vineyard planted in 1970, grapes for FMC Chenin Blanc are harvested at various stages of ripeness to provide a diverse palette of flavour and textural profiles for the winemaker and his team to work with. The wine undergoes spontaneous fermentation in French oak barrels, 50% of which are new, after which it is aged on its lees for a further year.
The result is truly astounding, underscoring Ken’s belief that Chenin Blanc is capable of making some of the best white wines on the planet. This the FMC does with a vivid, visceral appeal to so many senses: the shimmering pale gold hue in the glass; those heady aromas of warm ripe apple, oyster shell and lemon peel; the way the wine cloaks the mouth with a lingering glycerol coating, rich and decadent, while piercing flavours of citrus, honeysuckle and grilled nuts elevate the pleasure to the realms of the surreal.
Pure brilliance from a wonderful grape and an astonishing winery.
KLEINE ZALZE FAMILY RESERVE CABERNET SAUVIGNON
Kleine Zalze Wines is one of South Africa’s leading and most prominent premium wineries, harnessing excellence in a diverse range of red and white wines, as well as sparkling Cap Classique, with commercial success in the local and export markets.
The focus is on classic, noble varieties, including Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay and Syrah.
But if one had to select a singular stand- out wine variety in the range it would have to be the Kleine Zalze Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, a cultivar the Stellenbosch region has embraced as its signature red cultivar.
Since plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon began in the region at the beginning of the previous century, Stellenbosch’s terroir of ancient decomposed granite soils and the maritime climatic influence have proven to be spot on for making from this Bordeaux grape wines that command attention globally.
The Kleine Zalze winemaking team is renowned for innovative cellar practices, including using clay amphorae and concrete eggs for the fermentation and ageing of certain wines, as well as experimenting with alternative grape varieties in the Kleine Zalze Project Z range.
IF ONE HAD TO SELECT A SINGULAR STAND-OUT WINE VARIETY IN THE RANGE IT WOULD HAVE TO BE THE KLEINE ZALZE RESERVE CABERNET SAUVIGNON.
But when it comes to handling noble cultivars such as Cabernet Sauvignon, cellarmaster RJ Botha and his crew adhere to the fundamentals of traditional cellar skills aimed at expressing the inherent classic traits for which they are known.
For Kleine Zalze’s Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, grapes are sourced from two vineyards in Stellenbosch’s Helderberg region, one of South Africa’s great appellations for this variety.
Grapes are destemmed and whole berries placed in traditional open-top fermenters. Here punch-downs and pump-overs are deployed during the fermentation process, resulting in tannins, flavours and colour being extracted from the skins and drawn into the juice. Once fermentation is complete, the wine is aged in 300-litre oak barrels, 80% of which are made from new oak, a component that is vital in adding structure and muscular tannins to Cabernet Sauvignon.
The result is a magnificent red wine of power and elegance, refinement and poise, and a superb example of great South African wines’ ability to express the noble stature of the Old World as well as the sun- drenched, fruit-forward charm of the New. Flavours of dark berries, damson and cedar are complemented by a brush of fynbos, so characteristic of great South African Cabernet Sauvignon, while the supple tannins and overall juiciness of the wine make for an exceptional red wine experience.
STELLENBOSCH VINEYARDS LIMITED RELEASE CINSAULT
This large-scale wine operation situated at Lynedoch produces an extensive range of wines, including those under the eponymous Stellenboch Vineyards label, Welmoed – the name of the original estate founded here in 1690 – and the modern lifestyle range Arniston Bay.
On the traditional side of the wine portfolio, there is a delicious Stellenbosch Vineyards Limited Release Cinsault, a grape variety that was once one of South Africa’s most widely planted cultivars, but is today something of a rarity, having been replaced by other reds such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.
Cinsault, however, played a major role in the early Cape wine industry as it is especially suited to the Cape’s sunny climate, growing vigorously in the old soils and bearing large bunches of big, round berries. It also makes a wine lighter in body than most other red cultivars, yet captures a delightful bright- fruited, layered drinkability.
Stellenbosch Vineyards Cinsault is made from one of the few remaining Cinsault vineyards in Stellenbosch’s Helderberg. After fermenting on the red skins, the wine is matured in older oak barrels – 50% second- fill and 50% third-fill – this older oak allowing broader fruit expression and softer tannins.
It is a wine that pays tribute to the Cape’s wine heritage, the silky tannins carrying notes of blackcurrant and plum, coupled with the slight savouriness for which Cinsault is renowned.