Bosman Nero
The Bosman Family have been vine growers in Wellington for 8 generations, their proud heritage forming the bedrock from which innovation and sustainability are a natural progression.
The very first Bosman to arrive at the Cape of Good Hope was Hermanus Lambertus Bosman in 1707. He became the “sieketrooster” (caregiver) for the Drakenstein community, starting a tradition of care that has been passed down the generations. The family crest bares the motto: faith, hope and love; and it is these words that inspire the family in the work they do in the community.
The farm Groenfontein, in Wellington (about an hour’s drive from Cape Town), was granted to French Huguenot Philip Drouin, in 1699. It passed through several owners, the Malan family, who married into the Bosman family, purchasing it in 1810. The Bosman family produced wine on the estate up until 1957 when the family turned their focus to their vine nursery, propagating cuttings (or “stokkies”) for the Cape Wine industry.
In 2007, 8th generation Petrus Bosman returned to the long-held family dream and released the first wines from their newly renovated 270-year-old cellar. Today, the descendants of Hermanus Bosman are proud custodians of his legacy devoted to responsible, handcrafted winemaking.
Bosman Family Vineyards is not only a wine producer. The cellar is part of Bosman Adama, an organisation that includes a plant improvement facility, which plays a major role in propagating new, healthy vines; and a vine nursery supplying “stokkies” (grafted cuttings) to grape farmers across the country. We can therefore track our wines right back to the mother plant in an unbroken chain of quality and care.
But this also means that there is sufficient work year round for everyone on the farm from the nursery, to the vineyards, to the cellar. To keep this momentum, Bosman Family Vineyards must invest in people and their potential, focussing on building a cohesive, sustainable community so that all may thrive and collectively create a valuable legacy.
8 GENERATIONS
Bosman Family Vineyards believe in the future of South Africa and its wine industry. In this they are committed to producing wines of excellence both in their provenance and in their process by sustainably growing their community and their environment.
Bosman Adama is an inclusive transformed wine business. In 2009, 260 permanently employed workers received a 26% stake in the business, a significant role player in the vine and wine growing industry of the Western Cape. To date it is the largest land reform transaction in the history of the South African wine industry.
The mutual agreement between the Bosman family and the members of the Adama Trust is to continuously strive to create and implement projects that will build a sustainable future for not only the community, but also for the environment which they all call home.
Bosman Family Vineyards has been a Fairtrade accredited producer since 2009. Fairtrade is a simple way to make a difference in the lives of the people who grow the things we love. The organisation does this by making trade fair, ensuring that the workers involved in production are treated justly. To be an accredited Fairtrade producer, farmers have to ensure their workers enjoy a certain standard of living in terms of housing, education, healthcare, working conditions etc.
For every bottle of Fairtrade wine sold, a small additional amount of the selling price, what they call “social premiums” are collected and paid back to the Adama Foundation. This is a communal fund administered by the farm employees, with mentorship by management, to spend as they see fit, to improve the social, economic and environmental conditions of their own community.
