Our Story
Four generations of
innovative winemaking
est. 1861
Our History of Farming and Winemaking
Dirk Cloete Morkel purchases Bellevue Estate
Pieter (PK) Morkel becomes one of the first wine farmers to plant Pinotage at scale at Bellevue
Bellevue’s Pinotage made from the 1953 block and bottled by SFW under the Lanzerac label, wins the coveted General Smuts Trophy
PK’s younger brother, Danie Morkel, takes over from him.
Under Dirkie’s leadership, Bellevue bottles their first vintage for distribution
“You cannot make good wine with bad grapes. My job and responsibility is to ensure that only the best quality grapes get to the cellar to enable the winemaker to create wines we can be proud of”
Dirkie Morkel
Viticulturist
The Bellevue Wine Estate started out as a livestock farm long before it made history as the center of commercial pinotage cultivation in South Africa. Our characteristic, closely planted bush vines lends itself naturally to sustainable, biodynamic cultivation, while delivering fruit with intense and concentrated flavour.
Dirkie Morkel and Wilhelm Kritzinger incorporate the harvests of these old vines with innovative production methods to produce award-winning wines.
