Making a dream become reality takes a lion’s share of determination, vision and pure hard work, whoever you are. When you’re the son of a farm labourer in South Africa, even daring to dream takes all that and more. At Klein Goederust, Paul Siguqa has both dared and achieved the first part of his dream, something that as a boy growing up on nearby Backsberg Wine Farm would have seemed out of sight – he’s the first black owner of a wine farm in the Franschhoek Valley.
Having bought the land in 2019, Siguqa took out all the old vines, did soil analysis, put in drainage and fencing, and got advice on the best varietals to plant in each block, then planted anew. What we see now is the result of three years of incredibly hard work and detailed planning, the start of a lifetime’s dream.
She herself had come to Backsberg from the Eastern Cape as a girl, starting as a labourer on the farm, and later on moving into the cellar. Siguqa studied business at Stellenbosch University and went on to work for Media24, but soon this success story changed direction. “The nice thing is we do not have bank debt that chases us to do things quicker, we can take our time. We don’t have investors pressuring us to skip on quality or move things forward more quickly. We decide. We’re not going to harvest until the quality of the grapes justifies it. What’s already in our bottles is of high quality.”
“In 2016 I approached him with this idea of finding a piece of land and he said, ‘I believe so much in what you want to do, I will join you on this crazy journey’.” “Some of my friends in the north, ones I call the peacetime revolutionaries, said, ‘how, as the first black-owner in the area, can you call your place Klein Goederust?’ My answer was simple. We did not name the place, we found it here. We need to embrace the history of this place but also bring in our own identity.” He added the emblem of a Southern ground hornbill to the farm logo, where it stands on arepresenting Franschhoek’s French ancestry. And the date of the farm’s foundation, 1905.
The view from the farm gates up the brick drive lined by 54 rose bushes, with views of the mountains and the Franschhoek township on the slopes behind. Chef Brent Malander slices meat from the lamb which he bastes with a mixture of olive oil, infused with rosemary, garlic, barbecue spices and lemon juice.
Aunty Linda’s response was, “Just so I can tick the box and have it in my obituary, I’ll come for three months and design the menu.” She ended up staying for six months until her knees started giving her problems and she retired again, but she still pops by. Her recipes live on in the delicately spiced pickled fish that is a stalwart of the starter buffet table, and a truly luscious sweet potato roll in a caramel sauce.
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