Boekenhoutskloof
The seven-chairs Syrah, the cult Chocolate Block, the Wolftrap that quietly outdrinks its price — this is the Franschhoek house that thinks in single grapes but buys fruit across the Cape. Here's what to taste and what to take home.
You've probably drunk Boekenhoutskloof without knowing you had. Maybe it was a Wolftrap on a weeknight, or a Chocolate Block someone brought to dinner. Both come off the same mountain farm at the head of the Franschhoek valley — and so does one of the Cape's benchmark Syrahs, a wine collectors wait a decade on. That spread, from the bottle that pays the bills to the bottle that made the name, is the whole story here.
The estate was revived in the mid-1990s, and the wine world noticed almost at once. Under winemaker Marc Kent it went from an obscure mountain farm to one of the most quietly influential houses in South Africa — the kind other winemakers watch. Never through scale or flash. Through knowing exactly what each wine should be, and hitting it with unusual consistency, whether the bottle is a cellar Syrah or the red you drink on a Tuesday.
The seven-chairs flagships: Syrah and Cabernet
Start with the two wines that built the reputation. Both wear the seven chairs, and both reward patience.
The Syrah is the house's calling card and one of the reference points for the grape in the Cape. It reads cool and savoury — white pepper, dark berry, a graphite seriousness — the northern-Rhône version of Syrah rather than the sweet, jammy Shiraz style you might expect from a warm country. Much of the fruit comes from the Swartland to the north, and it's built to age: tight and coiled young, then unspooling over ten years or more. Buy it in a good vintage and put it away.
The Cabernet Sauvignon is the other pillar — a structured, classically framed Cape Cab drawn largely from Stellenbosch and Franschhoek fruit, with the cassis-and-cedar spine that pays you back for cellaring. Set the two side by side and you have the house style in miniature: dark, composed, unhurried reds that sit as easily next to a Bordeaux on the table as on a Franschhoek stoep.
Boekenhoutskloof's gift is range without dilution — the same clarity of intent in the cheapest bottle as in the most collectible.
The Chocolate Block: a wine, not a chocolate
Say it plainly, because everyone gets caught: The Chocolate Block is a wine, not a chocolate. It's the bottle most people meet first, and the one that lands squarely in this site's chocolate & wine territory — with that one caveat leading the way.
It's Boekenhoutskloof's Rhône-style blend — Syrah out front, filled out with Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault and a small dose of white Viognier, most of it grown in the Swartland. The name is a wink at the character, not the contents: deep, plush, cocoa-dark fruit. Where the flagship Syrah asks you to wait, this one gives it up young — rounded, spiced, generous across a wide table. It's become one of the country's most recognisable exports, the bottle that turns a supermarket browser into a curious drinker.
And that richness makes it a real partner for real chocolate. A square of high-percentage dark meets its cocoa-and-black-fruit register head-on — the natural jumping-off point for the pairings Société Foncée builds around. Just don't expect sweetness from the glass. It's a dry red that happens to speak chocolate's language.
The ranges: Wolftrap and Porcupine Ridge
Below the flagships sit the wines that do the everyday work, and they're unusually good at it. Don't skip them because they're cheap.
The Wolftrap — named for an old animal trap found on the farm — is the value workhorse in red and white: a Rhône-style blend and a white built for the weeknight, not the cellar. Rand for rand it's one of the more reliable bottles anywhere in the country, which is exactly why you find it far beyond South Africa's borders.
Porcupine Ridge is the varietal-labelled second tier — a straightforward Syrah, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet and the like, pitched as an honest single-grape way into the Cape. Neither range pretends to be the flagship. Both carry the fingerprint of a house that refuses to make a careless wine.
| Range | Style | Made for |
|---|---|---|
| Boekenhoutskloof (seven chairs) | Flagship Syrah and Cabernet | The cellar; benchmark Cape reds |
| The Chocolate Block | Rhône-style Syrah-led blend | Plush, approachable; a wide table |
| Porcupine Ridge | Varietal wines (Syrah, Sauvignon Blanc…) | An honest single-grape introduction |
| The Wolftrap | Value red / white blends | Weeknight drinking |
Visiting
Here's the play: go for the cellar, not the scenery — though you get both. Boekenhoutskloof sits at the top of the valley where the vineyards run up into the boekenhout-wooded mountains that name it. This is a working cellar in an amphitheatre of rock, not a manicured tourist estate, which is the whole draw for anyone chasing Franschhoek wine beyond the busy tasting rooms on the main road.
A tasting walks you clean across the spread, from the everyday Wolftrap up to the flagship Syrah and Cabernet. Arrange it ahead rather than dropping in — this is a cellar first, a visitor destination second, and access shifts with the season. Confirm the current format on the estate's own site before you make the drive up the valley.
What to buy
If you want the house at full stretch, take home the Syrah in a good vintage — it's the wine the reputation rests on, and it rewards years in the cellar. For a bottle that delivers tonight, The Chocolate Block is the obvious pour, and the one to set beside a bar of serious dark chocolate. And for everyday, the Wolftrap stays one of the smartest inexpensive reds in the country — proof the same care runs all the way down the range.
A cellar visit here is by arrangement, up at the head of the valley — so build it into a proper Franschhoek day. Here's how to tour Franschhoek: whether to ride the tram or hire a driver, and how the valley tastes end to end.
Common questions
A wine, not a chocolate — that's the catch everyone falls for. It's Boekenhoutskloof's Rhône-style red, led by Syrah with Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault and a splash of white Viognier, drawing most of its fruit from the warm Swartland. Supple, dark and easy to love young, it's one of South Africa's most recognisable bottles. The name winks at its cocoa-dark character. There's no actual chocolate in it — just a dry red that speaks the language.
The cellar sits at the head of the Franschhoek valley, up in the beech-wooded mountains that name it. But Boekenhoutskloof farms and buys like a négociant: Syrah and most of the blend fruit from the Swartland, Cabernet from Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, Semillon off old Franschhoek vines. Think of it as a Franschhoek house with a Cape-wide reach, not a single-vineyard estate.
Look closely at the flagship Syrah and Cabernet and you'll find seven antique chairs on the label. The name Boekenhoutskloof means 'ravine of the boekenhout' — the Cape beech that early furniture makers prized — and the chairs are the nod to that craft. They also stand for the seven original varieties the founders set out to work with.
Yes — if you want to taste one of the Cape's most respected houses across its full range, from the weeknight Wolftrap up to the flagship Syrah and Cabernet. It's a working cellar first and a tourist stop second, so arrange your visit ahead rather than dropping in. Check the estate's own site for the current format before you drive up the valley.
Glossary
- The Chocolate Block
- Boekenhoutskloof's flagship-priced Rhône-style blend — Syrah-led, with Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault and a little Viognier — sourced largely from the Swartland. A wine, named for its cocoa-dark character, not a chocolate.
- Syrah
- The dark, peppery red grape of France's northern Rhône (called Shiraz in much of the New World). Boekenhoutskloof's Syrah is one of South Africa's benchmark bottlings of the variety.
- Boekenhoutskloof
- Afrikaans for 'ravine of the boekenhout' (Cape beech), the wood early Cape artisans used for fine furniture — the source of both the estate's name and the seven-chairs emblem on its flagship labels.