‘’The penny dropped for me’’, Francois Hanekom says, ‘’when I was in Burgundy and saw the winemakers’ grape and soil-stained hands.’’ It was the connection that the Burgundian vignerons have to their vineyards that really hit home for Francois and a renewed understanding of terroir and site expression in wine.
A certain Swartland vigneron pointed out to Francois that he ought to make a wine because he has three key things at his disposal: the time to make a wine, the access to truly amazing vineyards and the supporting workforce on account of his day job of managing 200 hectares of vineyards. Encouraged by this, Francois decided to go for it. He was given three open-top fermenters by the aforementioned Swartlander, along with plenty of guidance. Along with the likes of Pieter Walser, Francois felt humbled by all the support and encouragement he received from the winemaking community.
The wine is a red blend of three components. The Merlot is a block of old bush vines growing next to Francois’ homestead, just on the other side of the R44 to that of the Helderberg. The Cabernet Sauvignon comes from a block planted on a granitic outcrop which, according to Francois, is very unique for the Helderberg. The third component is Cabernet Franc. Francois has built up special and valuable relationships with so many people in the winemaking industry. Many of these people are his friends and the source of his Cabernet Franc is something he keeps close to his chest.
For Francois, this wine was only made possible by the kindness and generosity of others. It is for this reason he named it Samaritaan (the Afrikaans for Samaritan). Francois was also struck one day by the image of his son riding one of the farm’s donkeys in the Merlot block. This is the crest of the Samaritaan wine which is delicately stamped into the bottle’s label. As to the design of the interlocking arms, Rohan Etsebeth was commissioned to create it.
The 2019 vintage was the maiden release of Samaritaan.
