June Mushroom Forage
Delheim Wine Estate
Delheim treasures a delicate
balance between sharing their ‘family passion’ for mushrooms and protecting
their mushroom patches and natural habitat. They limit their mushroom foraging
event to 40 people to avoid swarming crowds carving new trails into the forest
and trampling small plants and precious species during their fungi expeditions. Delheim was the originator of the now-popular
concept of fungi foraging events in the country and has raised awareness of
this activity. Today there are foraging classes, guidebooks, Internet buzz and
even mushroom identification smartphone apps!
Nor Sperling-Thiel and Gary
Goldman an enthusiastic mushroom expert and cultivator led visitors last month on
the ‘wild side’ walk on the legendary Stellenbosch wine estate to indulge in
the magic of mushrooms!
It would be a good idea to book
early for the 2015 event!
Delheim History –
a phenomenal path to great wines
The Delheim sparrow logo is in
recognition of Spatz Sperling
The ** Hoheisen´s dream
retirement home, with its acres of land demanded constant attention; there was
more to farming and winemaking than had ever been imagined. The answer came
when Deli Hoheisen took a trip to Germany to visit relatives. Here it was
agreed that Micheal “Spatz” Sperling, nephew of Deli, would join the Hoheisens
in South Africa to assist with all farming activities. Spatz set sale on the
Winchester Castle, arriving on Delheim Thursday, 19 April 1951.
After 60 years of hard work
and dedication, Spatz has become synonymous with the name Delheim, he also has
an unequalled reputation in the South African wine industry of today.
To remain in the limelight in an increasingly competitive market
required much insight and planning. Viticultural knowledge progresses as much
as wine drinkers' tastes change, and the successful wine producer had to keep
pace with the one and ahead of the other. To safely walk this particular
tightrope, Spatz had to purchase land beyond the Drie Sprong boundaries.
Learning to fly
While Spatzendreck helped
to make Delheim a household name, it was two years earlier that heralded the
first hint of the fine wines to come, and proved to be the beginning of a new
era. In 1959 Delheim wines made their first appearance on the South African
Wine Show in Paarl, and Spatz walked off with the trophy for the Best Dry White
Table Wine.
Vintner’s Cheese
Lunch Restaurant
Another welcome addition to
the farm came in 1976, with the opening of the Vintner's Cheese Lunch
Restaurant. The restaurant was established to cater for the ever-increasing
amount of people visiting the Stellenbosch Wine route. The food served is
designed to complement the farm's wines, and is entirely homemade.
New Horizons – red
wines
April 1971 saw the founding
of the Stellenbosch Wine Route , first of its kind in South Africa, by Spatz
Sperling, Neil Joubert of Spier and Frans Malan of Simonsig. Spatz recognised
the growing consumer interest in red wines in the early 1970's. Realising his
Drie Sprong vineyards would not enable him to compete in the "super red
wine" market, Spatz searched for more suitable land further afield. In
1975 he found his new vineyards close by, purchasing 80 ha of prime land on
Klapmutskop, approximately three kilometers as the crow flies to the north-west
of Drie Sprong.
Spatz Sperling and his wife
Vera are retired, but still reside on the farm.
Victor and Nora Sperling serve as Directors of the company and live on
the farm with their families. The other children, Maria and Nicholas, live in
Europe. Delheim is also home and community to 13 other families who nurture a
strong culture of sustainable development on the farm.
** “The Hoheisen name is synonymous
with one of the biggest land donations every in the history of WWF South
Africa. In 1990 Mr Hans Hoheisen donated
13 833 ha on the Kruger National Park’s western border to WWF. It was on part of this land that the Southern
African Wildlife College was later constructed to train protected area managers
from Africa for Africa.”
“Delheim wine farm - home to the Sperlings and a tribe of Jack
Russells for 70 years”
Stellenbosch,
South Africa
@Delheim
