Collection: La Couronne Wines
La Couronne has been a wine estate for centuries and takes its name from a 17th century French warship thanks to the original settlers who arrived on it from France in 1685, the Huguenots who gave this corner of South Africa a particularly gallic flavour. Franschhoek is, after all, Afrikaans for ‘French Corner’.
It has been through several hands in the intervening 300 years and is now owned by François Smith. It’s 23 hectares of vines are planted with nine grape varieties, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, shiraz, merlot, malbec, viognier, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot, all hand harvested and fermented in a variety of vessels and vats, from French, American and Hungarian oak to polyethylene eggs, overseen by winemaker Henk Swart. The Jacques Mouton label is new, created in honour of those Huguenot pioneers.
