For a relatively small winery, producing only about 20,000 cases of wine a year, Nuy Winery is a little powerhouse of quality, variety and innovation.
It’s only when you take in the view of vast vineyards and the Langeberg mountains from its Nuy on the Hill restaurant and tasting centre, just a few metres off the scenic R60 between Robertson and Worcester, that you begin to understand that the Nuy Winery wines are just a small part of a much larger operation.
The operation is co-owned by 19 grape-producing farmers, harvesting grapes across about 770ha of vineyards and producing more than 13-million litres of wine and grape juice a year.
The 90,000 litres that go into the Nuy Winery bottles are just a small fraction of its production, representing literally the cream of the crop, worked by cellarmaster Christo Basson into a range of highly rated dry and semi-sweet still, sparkling and fortified wines, along with a potstill brandy, all at astonishingly good value for the quality in the bottle.
Quite possibly a best-kept secret, and once you’ve done a wine road trip via the scenic R62/R60 route and stopped at Nuy on the Hill, you’re likely not to miss it next time.
The latest innovation to come out of Nuy on the Hill taps into the booming trend of ready-to-go mimosas with the winery’s first product in a can, Nuy Mimosa Orange Sparkling Spritzer.
The cellar focused on quality, using 100% orange juice concentrate, with no added flavouring, colourants or extra sugar, blended with its own Sauvignon Blanc-based sparkling wine.
The result is bright, natural citrus flavours, reminiscent of freshly squeezed orange juice, lifted by delicate bubbles — light and lively, with a low 5% alcohol content.
The Nuy Mimosa, in a 300ml can sporting distinctive citrus artwork commissioned from artist Hildegard Reyneke, based in nearby De Doorns, fits the bill for light, refreshing, convenient and a little playful.
It’s ideal for its traditional brunch setting as well as picnics, braais, sundowners — served chilled straight from the can or in a champagne glass with a slice of orange.
The Nuy Mimosa is available at R25 per can or R100 for a four-pack from Nuy Winery’s online store or at Nuy on the Hill.
Nuy has long been sought-after for its fortified dessert wines, particularly red and white muscadels (it also makes a semi-sweet sparkling Muscat).
Now, to honour Nuy Winery founding member “Oom” Toekie Burger, who died in 2024 at the age of 95, and his special love story, it has released the limited-edition Nuy Toekie My Hartedief Red Muscadel 2025 (R195), also marking the 10th anniversary of the opening of Nuy on the Hill.
The story goes that, as a young man, Oom Toekie devotedly pursued the love of his life, Elna, riding on horseback to visit her for seven years before she finally agreed to marry him.
She called him “my hartedief” (thief of my heart), the term of endearment now immortalised on the bottle along with a delightful photograph of the devoted couple sharing a laugh in their golden years.
Oom Toekie was a much-loved figure at the Nuy cellar, the longest surviving and actively involved founding member of the winery established in 1963.
The team remembers him as an iconic figure, a man who embodied the heritage of the place where he lived and worked his entire life.
He was loved in the local community too, where he worked the family farm De Nuy, his birthplace in 1929, until well in his eighties and was renowned for his entertaining tales of farming life and history.
No doubt the kind of tales that will pair well with his namesake Red Muscadel around a winter’s evening fire.
With sweetness lifted by fresh acidity that prevents it being sticky-sweet, and full-bodied flavours of berries, raisins and fragrant exotic spices, the muscadel pairs really well with the flavours and textures of after-dinner cheese platters.
Or try it slightly chilled with a dessert such as malva or ginger pudding, or pre-dinner cocktails.
- Nuy Mimosa Orange Sparkling, Toekie My Hartedief Red Muscadel, and other Nuy Winery wines, are available in selected liquor retailers in the Eastern Cape and Garden Route. Alternatively, shop online at https://nuywinery.co.za/shop/ for delivery to your door of Nuy’s wide range of great value-for-quality wines both dry and semi-sweet, bubblies, dessert wines, potstill brandy, gin, still and sparkling grape juice, and special offer mixed cases.
