The Swartland Revolution

For much of its history the Swartland was known for wheat and for bulk wine sold to cooperatives. That changed in the early 2000s.

Eben Sadie began sourcing Swartland grapes from 2000, after working at Spice Route, which Charles Back had founded in the late 1990s. Others followed, drawn by old bush vines growing without irrigation.

In 2010 four producers, The Sadie Family Wines, A.A. Badenhorst Family Wines, Mullineux and Porseleinberg, launched the Swartland Revolution, a festival that brought wine lovers and critics to the region. Their approach was to farm carefully and do little in the cellar: indigenous yeasts, few additions and little new oak.

The festival paused after 2015 and returned in 2025. Several producers in the movement, including Mullineux, have strong links to the Riebeek Valley.