Abrie Beeslaar celebrates 21 vintages at Kanonkop
This year’s harvest was a very special one for our cellarmaster Abrie Beeslaar, as he celebrated his 21st vintage on our Estate. He first arrived on Kanonkop in 2002 as Beyers Truter’s wingman, but he has been at the helm since 2003.
By the time he arrived at Kanonkop, some pretty solid groundwork had been done by his two legendary predecessors, but Abrie followed in the footsteps of Beyers and Jan-Boland Coetzee to become a legend in his own right.
He is equally excited about this year’s crop, and had the following to say:
“The 2022 vintage is showing a lot of potential to become one of the greats. A cool, early season with rain relieving some of the stress on the vines contributed to grapes with excellent phenolic ripeness. We generally had very pleasant weather throughout the growing season, with only a couple of extremely hot days dispersed inbetween. The late-ripening varieties like the Cabernet Sauvignon delivered fantastic ripeness and wines with balanced alcohols.”