Leeu Estates

Franschhoek, Western Cape, opened in June 2016 by Analjit Singh, founding chairman of Max India, who first saw the valley in 2010 when he came to South Africa for the World Cup. He did not build an estate so much as assemble one, joining three neighbouring farms with roots around 1800 — Dieu Donné, Klein Dassenberg and Von Ortloff — with Joyous Garde Wine Estate. Twenty-three rooms and suites now sit on it. It is this Library’s clearest case of a wine-country house made by annexation rather than by construction.

The house

Singh came for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and said Franschhoek gave him “a deep sense of belonging, of energy, a sense of place”. The Leeu Collection dates the work to 2012. Max House stands on land Johannes Petrus Kriel acquired in 1831, its farmhouse probably built between 1805 and 1831 and grown from a T plan into an H; Cellar Cottage, an outbuilding in the 1831 survey, carries a gable dated 1800. The Manor House was the farmstead of Klein Dassenberg, with roots in the late 1800s and a thick-walled dairy at its core; its gable ends are dated 1990 and 1993. Protea House, presumed built in the 1930s, housed Lee Radziwill in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

The wine is a partnership, not an estate label: Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines is the work of Chris and Andrea Mullineux, who also farm Roundstone Farm in the Swartland, and the collection has taken thirty-one five-star ratings from Platter’s South African Wine Guide. Everard Read — Leeu Estates, a gallery of monumental sculpture, sits in the Fynbosch Quarter by DHK Architects, the practice behind the Norval Foundation; Angus Taylor’s “Reflective Resonance”, in bronze and Belfast granite, stands in the Bokkie Garden. La Petite Colombe is headed by Peter Duncan and Le chêne, in the Manor House, by Darren Badenhorst.

What distinguishes it

The estate was assembled, not built The Leeu Collection describes the property as three historic farms joined together — Dieu Donné, Klein Dassenberg and Von Ortloff, dating to around 1800 — together with Joyous Garde Wine Estate. The work began in 2012 and the house opened in June 2016. Almost every guest building was somebody’s farmhouse, dairy or outbuilding before it was a room.

The house gives its own size three different ways The estate factsheet calls it “a working wine farm of 78 hectares (193 acres)”. The heritage page says the estate “is now a five-star destination with 68 hectares of vineyards and gardens”. The 2017 press release says it “sits on just under 100 hectares of vineyards, landscaped gardens and fynbos”. The register records all three and averages none of them.

The wine is a partnership, and it is not made only here Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines is a joint venture with Chris and Andrea Mullineux, whose own Roundstone Farm lies in the Swartland, some distance north. The Wine Studio at Leeu Estates is run by the Mullineux & Leeu team. Thirty-one five-star Platter’s ratings attach to the partnership, not to a single vineyard on this ground.

The oldest fabric on the farm is domestic, and some of the Cape Dutch is recent Cellar Cottage’s gable is dated 1800 and the building appears in an 1831 survey. The Manor House, by contrast, carries gable ends dated 1990 and 1993 over a core that includes a thick-walled dairy. One wall of Pomegranate Cottage survives from a cottage of about 1831 which the estate says may have served as slave quarters.

A gallery of monumental sculpture is part of the plan, not an amenity Everard Read — Leeu Estates occupies the Fynbosch Quarter, designed by DHK Architects, who also designed the Norval Foundation. It carries an artist residency studio and cottage. The estate reports sculpture by South African artists through the gardens, including Angus Taylor’s bronze and Belfast granite “Reflective Resonance”.

Signature rooms and dates

Competitive landscape