01
Château Libertas
South Africa’s first classic red blend. Created under Bill’s tenure at SFW and still in production today — a bottle that carries nearly a century of Cape wine history.
Est. 1925 · Fourth Generation · Winshaw
From Kentucky to the Cape.
A Family Built to Last.
The Winshaw story begins with a cowboy who couldn't stay still and ends, for now, with two brothers farming the same land their family has loved for 44 years.
1870s
Kentucky · The American Frontier
Chapter I — The Man Who Couldn't Stay Still
A Cowboy, a Ranger,
a Doctor, a Pioneer
William Charles Winshaw was born in Kentucky when the American frontier was still being written. He became a cowboy. Then a Texas Ranger. Then a gold prospector chasing rumours across continents. Somehow he also found time to qualify as a medical doctor.
“He was not the kind of man who arrived somewhere already made.”
In 1900, when most men of his generation were settling down, Bill Winshaw got on a boat to South Africa — arriving during the Second Boer War, into a country still deciding what it was becoming. For Bill, the uncertainty was precisely the point.
· · ·
Building Something That Would Last
The Man Who Founded
South African Wine
By 1925, after years of learning the Cape's vineyards and building trust with the farming community, Bill Winshaw co-founded the Stellenbosch Farmers Winery. SFW became the engine of an industry.
“He chose the slower wealth — the kind that takes years to mature.”
The brands he helped create entered South African culture: Château Libertas, the country's first classic red blend. Tassenberg, an institution on every dinner table. Zonnebloem, the label that put Stellenbosch on the international map.
Chapter III — The Brands He Left Behind
Three Labels.
A Century of South African Wine.
What Bill built was not just a winery. It was a structure — commercial, communal, agricultural — that shaped how Cape wine grew for the rest of the twentieth century.
02
Tassenberg
An institution. The wine that appeared on more South African dinner tables than any other for generations. Unpretentious, honest, and built to be shared.
03
Zonnebloem
The label that first gave Stellenbosch wines international credibility. A range built on quality and consistency that helped define what Cape wine could be.
1870s
Born in Kentucky, USA
William Charles Winshaw begins life on the American frontier. He will become a cowboy, a Texas Ranger, a gold prospector, and a medical doctor before finding his true calling on another continent.
1900
Arrives in South Africa
Bill boards a ship for South Africa during the Second Boer War. He arrives in a country in upheaval, sees not chaos but possibility, and decides to stay.
1925
Founds the Stellenbosch Farmers Winery
Co-founds SFW and launches Château Libertas, Tassenberg, and Zonnebloem — three labels that will define South African wine culture for a century.
1981
The family acquires Winshaw
The Winshaw family purchases Winshaw on Baden Powell Drive, Lynedoch — a farm on the southern edge of Stellenbosch that becomes the family home farm.
Today
Pierre & JP — the fourth generation
Brothers Pierre and JP farm Winshaw as a single integrated system: boutique wines, farm-to-table dining, and regenerative cattle and egg operations.
Pierre & JP Today
Doing Something
Smaller and More
Interesting
Pierre and JP grew up on this land. They know where the drainage runs slow after winter rain and which vine blocks consistently produce the most interesting fruit. They didn't arrive at farming as a lifestyle choice — it arrived at them, the way family things do.
“Winshaw is not trying to be the biggest wine estate in Stellenbosch. It is trying to do something harder and more interesting: be genuinely itself.”
Their wines carry names that mean something. The Story Range takes its labels from chapters in Bill's life. The Legacy Range bears the names of the family patriarchs — including the Charles Winshaw Cabernet Sauvignon blend, awarded 95+ points by Greg Sherwood MW.
Explore the wines →I
Regenerative by Design
Cattle graze the vine rows. Chickens rotate on pasture. Compost closes the loop. The goal is simple: leave the soil in better condition each year than the last.
II
Family, Not Corporate
There is no board. No marketing committee. Pierre and JP make every decision on this farm — and they’re accountable to the land and to their great-grandfather’s name.
III
Story-Driven Winemaking
Every label in the Story and Legacy ranges carries a name that earns its place. No invented heritage. No borrowed prestige. Just a real family and a real farm.
IV
Farm-to-Table, Literally
The eatery kitchen draws from the on-site butchery, egg flock, and estate garden. The distance from farm to plate is sometimes measured in footsteps, not kilometres.
35 Minutes from Cape Town · Open Wednesday – Sunday
Come and See
What We've Built
Bill Winshaw arrived in South Africa not knowing what he would find. His great-grandsons already know — and they're building carefully with what they have. Come and see it.