{"id":823964,"date":"2025-05-15T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=823964"},"modified":"2025-05-15T16:55:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-15T14:55:12","slug":"two-south-african-brothers-who-built-one-of-the-worlds-top-wine-brands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/823964\/two-south-african-brothers-who-built-one-of-the-worlds-top-wine-brands\/","title":{"rendered":"Two South African brothers who built one of the world’s top wine brands"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Johann and Paul Krige are brothers and owners of Kanonkop Wine Estate, a South African wine brand that ranks among the most admired in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kanonkop Wine Estate, situated outside Stellenbosch in the Western Cape, is one of South Africa\u2019s most respected wine names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the estate, this respect has been built in just a few decades through a commitment to making the best red wine it can offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The farm has been in the same family for four generations. It takes its name from a small hill, Kanonkop, on the slopes of the Simonsberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This slope was where a cannon was once fired in the 17th and 18th centuries to signal the arrival of ships in Table Bay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was the cue for local farmers to pack their wagons with fruit and vegetables and head to the harbour to trade with the crews. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kanonkop\u2019s move into bottled wine came relatively late by South African standards. The first wines with the estate\u2019s own label appeared in 1973.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is thanks to a push by winemaker Jan \u201cBoland\u201d Coetzee and Paul Sauer\u2019s son-in-law, Jannie Krige. Paul Sauer, the founder of Kanonkop Wine Estate, wasn\u2019t easily convinced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He had a strong relationship with Stellenbosch Farmers Winery, which was buying most of Kanonkop\u2019s wine in bulk, and the idea of bottling under their own name seemed like a risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite Sauer\u2019s reservations, Coetzee saw the potential. He\u2019d already begun reshaping the farm\u2019s vineyards, pulling out Shiraz and planting Cabernet Sauvignon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, a limited run of 1973 vintage Cabernet and Pinotage was bottled, and in 1974, it went on sale for just under R2 a bottle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul Sauer didn\u2019t live to see how far those wines would go. He passed away in 1976, before the fourth harvest under the Kanonkop label. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But his influence didn\u2019t fade with him. The foundations he laid shaped the vision and values that his family would carry forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the early 1980s, the estate was entering a new chapter that would be driven by Sauer\u2019s grandsons, Johann and Paul Krige.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Krige brothers\u2019 reign<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Johann and Paul Krige<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

As Paul Sauer’s grandsons, Johann and Paul Krige inherited a responsibility to uphold a reputation that was only beginning to take shape when they were young men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul was the first to move onto the farm. After studying at Elsenburg Agricultural Institute and watching a rugby career slip away due to a knee injury, he joined his parents on the estate in 1984. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His father, Jannie, had retired early to manage Kanonkop with his wife, Mary, who had inherited it from her father. Paul threw himself into the daily life of the farm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johann took a different route. After completing a law degree, he decided courtrooms weren\u2019t for him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He earned an MBA, worked in export marketing at KWV, and eventually joined his brother on the farm in 1990. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That mix of practical farming knowledge and business experience was exactly what Kanonkop needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They said in the early 1980s, like many South African wine farms, Kanonkop was trying to do too much. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It grew all sorts of grapes, reds and whites, and most of its wine was still being sold in bulk to be bottled under other labels,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johann and Paul realised that if they were serious about building a world-class wine brand, they needed to cut through the noise and focus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their decision to stick to red wine, specifically Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinotage, would prove to be one of the most important in Kanonkop\u2019s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon after, they made another big call to stop selling wine to Stellenbosch Farmers Winery altogether. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the 1986 harvest onwards, every drop of Kanonkop wine would be bottled under the estate\u2019s own name. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a financial risk, but one that paid off. That same year, Kanonkop became the first South African wine estate to sell wine futures, offering customers the chance to buy wine while it was still in barrel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This brought in cash at just the right time, helping the brothers invest in better barrels, expand the winery, and grow their brand in a way that was fully under their control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKanonkop isn\u2019t just a business; it’s our family history, identity, and life\u2019s work. It’s something we feel responsible for, not just as owners but as legacy stewards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kanonkop\u2019s secret weapon<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Abrie Beeslaar claiming the International Winemaker of the Year award at the International Wine and Spirit Competition.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

While the Kriges built the business and defined its direction, there was another man quietly shaping the wine itself. He was Abrie Beeslaar, Kanonkop\u2019s winemaker since 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abrie joined Kanonkop in 2002 after working at Swartland Winery, where he crossed paths with Beyers Truter, then winemaker at Kanonkop and already a legend in Pinotage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two connected over a shared love for bold reds, and when Truter stepped back, he passed the baton to Abrie. Since then, Abrie has helped turn Kanonkop into an international name. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s been named International Winemaker of the Year three times by the International Wine & Spirit Competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, in 2018, he made history when the Kanonkop Paul Sauer 2015 vintage earned a perfect 100-point score from British wine critic Tim Atkin. It was the first South African wine to do so, and a massive milestone for the estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This consistency and quality haven\u2019t gone unnoticed. Kanonkop now regularly features in The Drinks Business\u2019s list of the 50 Most Admired Wine Brands in the World. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, it ranked 24th, the fifth year in a row Kanonkop wine has been featured on the ranking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, it was the only South African label on the list and was recognised as the best brand in Africa and the Middle East, jumping 26 spots from the previous year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The list is compiled by a panel of 100 wine professionals\u2014buyers, sommeliers, writers, and educators\u2014who rank wines based on quality, consistency, and brand strength. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Johann Krige, the key to Kanonkop\u2019s success is authenticity. \u201cIt is about telling the story behind your wine,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Inside Kanonkop Wine Estate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The Krige brothers built one of South Africa’s top wineries and have become one of the world’s most admired wine brands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":824011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[22532,22531,22533,853],"class_list":["post-823964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-johann-krige","tag-kanonkop-wines","tag-paul-krige","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823964"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":824058,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823964\/revisions\/824058"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}