Englewold

Our Approach

Human, Not Coproate, Independent Wines.

Our Vision

Safriel House is a family owned wine house that is founded upon a passion for, and working experience of South African grape growing terroir and wine making. Our boutique wines express the climate, geology and wine making styles that make South Africa unlike any other growing region in the world.

Since 1990, Yair Safriel traveled throughout and worked in the Cape Winelands in search of exceptional winegrowers producing wines of great authenticity and true to their terroir. Three decades later, this spirit of discovery and adventure has been given a new inspiration with Lynne Safriel at the helm, a dynamic family team and close partnerships which have been established with some of the most respected vineyard owners. Generous, convivial, accessible are the descriptions that come to mind when discovering these inspiring wines.

Wine has been made in the Cape since the 1600s after the Dutch brought the first vines. Our wines come from some of the oldest geological soils in the world, and from old vineyards that have been farmed by the same families for generations. Our small batch wines honor the 300 years of winemaking heritage of the Cape while at the same time incorporating sustainable, innovative and minimal intervention winemaking techniques. This approach allows us to tell the story of the most honest expression of the vineyards: blending our rich history and modern best practices to produce an award-winning, terroir-driven range.

This allows the winelover to experience a unique wine of exceptional quality and value that were it not for this approach, may not be available for sale to the public.

We match the wines with label art from an extensive art collection that captures the essence of the wine and the art of wine-making.

Our Label

Our labels reinforces our philosophy and our roots. Each label has a unique art work from our family's home that conveys our belief that our wine is an artform interweaving regenerative viticulture and artisanal winemaking. Our signatures signifies our personal involvement in producing our wines. The outline of our family's heritage Cape Dutch gable is in honor of the Cape's 300 years of wine making heritage.

The Manor House

The gable on the Safriel House label reverts back to our old family home in Saxonwold. It forms the crest and label of Safriel House Wines.
Manor House

Saxonwold was originally part of a large farm called Braamfontein which was owned by Hermann Eckstein (a German-born, British mining magnate and banker 1847-1893). He had bought the farm to explore it for minerals. When no minerals were found, the land was converted to a plantation in 1891 and named Sachsenwald (after Otto von Bismarck's estate). The name would be anglicized to Saxonwold at the beginning of World War One.
The stately manor house was commissioned in 1930 and was designed with a gable fashioned along the lines of Vergelegen (the histroic 17th centrury farm house in Somerset West). However, the roof was steeply sloped in deference to the German heritage of the farm and unlike a typical Cape Dutch Gable, the gable did not reach the full height of the roof. The outbuilding consisted of staff quarters and stables. The grounds were terraced in a formal, classic fashion with wide driveway leading to the entrance.
Over time, the stables were converted and the house was restored and expanded in the early 1990's.

In the early 2000's, the manor house was sold, essentially demolished and rebuilt to accommodate a well place, large extended family.