ABOUT Friesland
Located in the Bottelary Hills outside Stellenbosch, with 36ha of elevated south-west facing slopes overlooking Table Bay, Friesland is ideally situated in a beautiful, down-to-earth wine-growing region. Friesland is also a province in the northern part of The Netherlands, and hence honours the Dutch heritage of the first Steenkamps that settled in the Cape during the late 1600’s.
VINEYARD PHOTOS
DISCOVER
Our Wines
In a throwback to a bygone era, the red wines are made in the family’s sister cellar, in open concrete fermenters built in 1932, using manual pump overs and push downs, using new oak barrels and making wines the handmade, traditional way.
MEET THE WINEMAKERS
De Bruyn, Marilise, Marie
WinemakersA family affair
As the 4th generation of wine-makers, Friesland is owner-managed by brother and sister duo, De Bruyn and Marie, alongside De Bruyn’s wife, Marilise.
De Bruyn grew up in the Cape winelands on his family’s wine estate. He is a lawyer by trade with a Master’s degree in International trade law, and is a member of the Institute of Cape Wine Masters. He has close to two decades’ global experience in the wine industry, which includes roles as Global Director of Sales & Marketing at KWV and before that various roles with Distell, including a 4-year stint in London as International Business Manager.
Marié’s love for agriculture was predominantly influenced by her late father Kosie Steenkamp, a giant in the SA wine industry, whom she would follow around the farm like a shadow as a child. Years later, as she became a young adult, they discovered they also had a shared passion for wine and the wine industry. Marié says: “He has even been my date to various wine functions!”